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IBM's New Desktop Push

Usually, this newsletter is all about Microsoft. Today, though, it's mostly about IBM with a little Yahoo tossed in. So let's get started.

IBM once owned a big chunk of the desktop. There was the original IBM PC, PC-DOS and finally OS/2, which almost became the de facto PC operating system.

Since then, IBM has slowly lost ground. OS/2 is dead, as is any IBM-made PC. It has no real PC OS and, after buying Lotus, both SmartSuite and Notes have lost more market share than Pet Rocks and Pokemon put together.

But IBM just won't give up and is reportedly trying to get hardware makers to build PCs that run Linux, along with Notes, Lotus Symphony (the revived, old office tool), and Sametime messaging.

Gartner has its pretentious probability ratings, so I'll steal that pompous idea and give IBM a one-in-fifty chance of any kind of success.

Would you use Linux PCs in your shop? If so, why? Shoot your thoughts to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on August 06, 2008


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