"Depending on whom you spoke with at the recent LinuxWorld conference in New York City, the next frontier of Linux is either at the data center or on the desktop. And as SCO ramped up litigation with a new copyright suit against Novell last month, it's not surprising that licenses, intellectual property and indemnification were also hot topics at the conference.
"Open-source guru Eric Raymond argued during the event that desktops will gain traction within 18 to 36 months, citing Novell's recent Ximian acquisition and Sun's win of a contract with the Chinese government to install Java desktops.
"According to Scott Handy, who directs Linux marketing for the IBM Software Group, the prospects for Linux desktops are better than previous Microsoft Office alternatives because they won't require the same 'forklift upgrades' associated with thin clients. 'The reality is a mixed-mode where you can migrate some apps to the desktop and others to the server, which Linux allows,' he said..."
