IBM and the lead company behind the
popular Ubuntu Linux operating system announced plans to team up for
cloud-based desktop services that will be available in the United
States.
Canonical, the quiet backer behind Ubuntu, hopes
to gain higher market presence with the use of a cloud Linux
desktop suite designed for netbooks and other low-end PCs. The
IBM Client for Smart Work originally launched in South Africa – it
is designed for emerging markets -- but is seeing higher demand in
North America and Europe.
The software package for U.S. users
includes Lotus Symphony, which includes word processing, Lotus Notes,
LotusLive.com collaboration tools, and LotusLive iNotes.
It's
an interesting working agreement since the OS will give users the
benefit of cloud computing, but also has a physical operating system
environment for users to interact with.
The IBM-Canonical
partnership comes before the much-anticipated launch of Microsoft
Windows 7, which Microsoft hopes will erase the bad memory of its
Windows Vista OS.
Research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey
recently conducted a survey in which 51% of large companies asked
said they'd standardize Windows 7 installations on desktops and
notebooks, with 38% of those surveyed saying netbooks will have
Windows 7 in the next couple of years.
"Our data shows a
remarkably high number of organizations planning to standardize on
the new Windows 7 operating system in the near-term," Chadwick
Martin Bailey VP Chris Neal told USA Today. "Those who are
holding back for the time being are more commonly staying with XP,
rather than Vista.”
