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 Channel Futures

Open Source


IBM, Canonical Declare Ubuntu Linux War Against Windows, Office

  • Written by Joe Panettieri 1
  • December 4, 2008

More than a decade after IBM’s OS/2 lost the corporate desktop wars to Windows, Big Blue is back. And this time, IBM is armed with Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux and a $49 per-user price point. A new, virtualized Ubuntu-driven solution initially targets IBM’s financial services and government customers. Here are the details.

According to a press release, IBM, Virtual Bridges and Canonical have released “a Linux-desktop solution designed to drive significant savings compared with Microsoft-desktop software by amplifying Lotus collaboration software and Ubuntu to a larger user base through virtualization.” Translation: IBM is declaring war on Windows AND Microsoft Office. And this time, Big Blue should be taken seriously.

According to the IBM release:

“This solution runs open standards-based email, word processing, spreadsheets, unified communication, social networking and other software to any laptop, browser, or mobile device from a virtual desktop login on a Linux-based server configuration.

A virtual desktop looks like a traditional desktop but is not limited to a single physical computer. Instead, many virtual Linux desktops are hosted on a server.

The combined solution, according to IBM, includes:

  • Virtual desktop provided by Virtual Bridges called Virtual Enterprise Remote Desktop Environment (VERDE);
  • Ubuntu, the worldwide leading Linux desktop operating system, from Canonical; and
  • IBM Open Collaboration Client Solution software (OCCS) based on IBM Lotus Symphony, IBM Lotus Notes and Lotus applications. IBM Lotus Symphony is built on the Open Document Format (ODF).

Virtualized Ubuntu Goes Corporate

Now here’s the most important point of all. IBM says the new Ubuntu solution is “now a key component of IBM’s financial services front office transformation offering as well as part of the IBM public sector industry solution framework.” In other words, Big Blue and IBM Global Services are pushing Ubuntu into the corporate market.

This is NOT a consumer or small business push: The IBM-Canonical-Virtual Bridges solution costs $49 per user in 1,000-user quantities. And prices drop lower for those who make larger volume purchases.

IBM is also aggressively promoting alleged price advantages over Microsoft-based desktops. The IBM press release included multiple tidbits that are going to drive Microsoft crazy, including:

  • Licensing: cost avoidance of $500 to $800 per user on software license for Microsoft Office, Windows and all related products;
  • Hardware: cost avoidance of around $258 per user since there is no need to upgrade hardware to support Windows Vista and Office 2007;
  • Power consumption: cost avoidance of $40 to $145 per user from reduced power to run the configuration and $20 to $73 per user from reduced air conditioning requirements from lower powered desktop devices annually; and
  • IT services: 90 percent savings of deskside PC support; 75 percent of security/user administration; 50 percent of help desk services such as password resets, and 50 percent for software installations, which are replaced by software publishing.

There’s no way for me to confirm or check IBM’s claims above. And of course, user costs will vary greatly from company to company. But the fact that IBM has gotten serious about Ubuntu proves Microsoft’s corporate monopoly is under duress. And, in my opinion, it the Windows-Office duopoly will fall within the next three to five years.

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Tags: Cloud Service Providers Digital Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Mobility Open Source

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11 comments

  1. Avatar Zac December 5, 2008 @ 6:56 am
    Reply

    “…Windows-Office duopoly will fall within the next three to five years.”

    Bring it on!

  2. Avatar Simplicius December 5, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
    Reply

    Have a look at Ars Technica:

    Windows Mobile’s share of the smart phone market shrank from 12.8 to 11.1%. Doesn’t sound like much? It’s about 15% decline!

    http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081204-apple-rim-winners-in-shrinking-smartphone-market.html

    Add that Symbian will be FOSS and that the first Android phone is doing better than expected with more Android offerings coming and in mobile too Windows is under siege from open source.

  3. Avatar Joe Panettieri December 5, 2008 @ 2:33 pm
    Reply

    Simplicius: Rather amazing that Apple was abble to launch the iPhone App Store only a year after the iPhone’s launch — and Microsoft never thought of such an idea early on. They spent so much time focused on pocket versions of Word, Excel and PPT, that they forget the online store to add value to their own platform.

  4. Avatar Adam December 5, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
    Reply

    This is hardly a war. It’s just another chink, another blow.

  5. Avatar Joe Panettieri December 5, 2008 @ 10:23 pm
    Reply

    Adam: You certainly stated the situation a bit more diplomatically.

  6. Avatar AndyCee December 8, 2008 @ 10:22 am
    Reply

    About time Ubuntu was packaged for big business.

    Err…I’m not sure about the predictions of Microsoft Failing in 5 years. Improving the product is more important than predicting the fall of competitors.

    Now all IBM need are customers…will they appear on workswithu.com?

  7. Avatar lancest December 9, 2008 @ 7:14 am
    Reply

    Alot of people have a hard time imagining that the Windows-Office duopoly could be challenged. Alot rests on proving document compatibility. Also I don’t see many businesses moving to Vista or Windows 7. Surely IBM is going to do well over time if they use good marketing. I think in 5 years it will be fun to look back at the lock MS used to have on the desktop computing world. Mobile phone devices and UMPC’S will proliferate with several varieties of operating systems too.

  8. Avatar aikiwolfie December 18, 2008 @ 3:38 am
    Reply

    People might have a hard time imagining it. But something is happening in the market. Apparently Windows market share has fallen below 90%. Dell, Lenovo and HP are offering Linux on their PCs and Toshiba has opted to partner with Sun to offer openSolaris on selected laptops and both Apples and Linux market share continues to rise at the expense of Windows.

    Things are changing for the better.

  9. Avatar Canonical, Ubuntu Get A Virtual Lift - My Site! May 26, 2009 @ 9:23 am
    Reply

    […] Virtual Bridges and Canonical first announced their joint efforts back in December 2008. Today, the trio provided an update on that work. During the first quarter of 2009, sixteen new […]

  10. Avatar My Site raquo; Blog Archive raquo; Canonical, Ubuntu Get A V June 1, 2009 @ 11:17 am
    Reply

    […] are embracing virtualized Ubuntu desktops. IBM, Virtual Bridges and Canonical first announced their joint efforts back in December 2008. Today, the trio provided an update on that work. During the first quarter of 2009, sixteen new […]

  11. Avatar Canonical Again Pushes Desktop Ubuntu for the Enterprise | I September 2, 2011 @ 5:19 pm
    Reply

    […] were marketed for the business channel more than a decade ago, and as early as 2008, Canonical partnered with IBM to deliver a virtualized desktop solution aimed at […]

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