ZDNet UK

CBS INTERACTIVE UK BUSINESS SITES:
BNET UK
silicon.com
ZDNet.co.uk

You are here: ZDNet.co.uk > News > Software

Desktop platforms Toolkit

The power base of Linux

Stephen Shankland CNET News.com

Published: 22 Jan 2004 10:35 GMT

Do you have any government customers in your advisory community?
We will shortly be announcing some governments that will become OSDL members, but we are not at liberty to announce them today. There are a number of government agencies around the world that are interested in participating, because they have technical requirements, they have market requirements, they have deployment requirements -- whether it is for Data Centre Linux, for Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) or for desktops. They are very interested in getting involved in our process, not only to get their requirements heard but also to network with the other members of the organisations and the open-source community.

Why does Linux appeal to government customers?
It is different around the world.

I think that in the United States, they are very focused on the total cost of ownership and flexibility. In Europe, they seem more focused on the open-source concept of where Linux comes from. In Japan, I think that they are focused more on the import-export ratios -- they would like to see more exporting of software versus importing of software. I think that in China, they are interested in using what they build, and they are building Linux-based applications today, because their PC penetration is rather low, compared to the United States. If people get PCs for the first time, they would like to see them running software that is developed in China and based on Linux.

In the desktop effort, can we expect news of that to come out at LinuxWorld?
Yes, we have said that we would make an announcement in January about our desktop initiative, and that is our plan.

Will that focus on technical requirements such as Windows interoperability?
We are in the midst of finalising that now, but we will take a broad view of the usage models. We will be looking at the desktop in a broad definition. The desktop is not only email and calendaring, but it is also client-server applications, it is point-of-sale terminals, it is branch office, it is help desk, it is the IT department and engineering department, it is grid computing.

And we can expect a similar model to what you have done with CGL for telecommunication companies, and with Data Centre Linux for use of Linux and in back-end servers?
We will have a steering committee, we will have a technical work group, and we will have a marketing work group. I would anticipate that we will have a technical and a marketing workgroup specifically for Japan... and for other markets around the world.