Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Novell's Uphill Comeback Trail: Page 4 of 11

And there's no guarantee that everything will work together or that users will like it. "Most companies have millions of documents, PowerPoint presentations, and Excel files, and it isn't until you actually make the migration to Linux and open those on a Linux desktop that you discover if they're compatible or not," notes Gary Hein, an analyst at Burton Group. One hour of wasted time fixing a presentation could blow the $90 per year of savings from discarding Windows.

Linux Desktop and OpenOffice also lack applications and features that Windows users have become accustomed to. "OpenOffice today is where Microsoft Office was a few years ago," says Gordon Haff, a senior analyst at research firm Illuminata. On the other hand, Linux Desktop and OpenOffice improve with each new version.

Novell does see specific areas of opportunity for Linux Desktop, however. One is Europe, where anti-American and anti-Microsoft feeling is rampant and SUSE is still perceived to be a German company. "There's political pressure to not be beholden to this big American monopoly on the desktop," notes Haff. Developing countries, particularly in the Far East, are another potential market for Linux Desktop. In these emerging markets, Windows isn't as ingrained and software cost is a huge issue.

In the United States, Novell sees a niche for Desktop Linux as an OS for special-use computers, such as shared computers in libraries, PCs on manufacturing shop floors, airport kiosks, and other setups where plug-and-play integration with a broad set of applications isn't necessary. Burton's Hein has a few customers that are using Linux on the desktop in controlled environments, such as a manufacturing floor or a remote office that uses only Web-based applications. "In most of these cases, it was done either out of spite for Microsoft or as an experiment," he says. It's likely that Novell could dominate these limited markets.