Red Hat launches desktop Linux offering for emerging markets
May 10th, 2007 by jamesAn Ars Technica article discusses Red Hat’s new desktop Linux offering, the Red Hat Global Desktop. An excerpt:
Designed to support a wide range of hardware, including minimalist budget computers, the Red Hat Global Desktop platform is highly scalable and will include open-source productivity software and a modern user interface. Primarily intended for local government and small business adoption in developing countries, Global Desktop, which will offer a very competitive pricing model, was developed in collaboration with Intel to ensure that it would be compatible with Intel’s Classmate PC and other low-cost hardware lines.
To me it just sounds like a bunch of marketing, considering that there are numerous Linux distributions out there and a vast majority of them are completely capable of being used on low-end budget PCs and yesterday’s hardware. They all more or less run the same software. There is no need for Red Hat to start selling a Linux distribution aimed at people who can’t really afford the software, let alone a new PC, when there are many distros already available for free that accomplish the same thing.
I’m not anti-Red Hat, though I do not like their Linux distribution very much, but can they really do something better than has already been done?
Posted in linux |
May 11th, 2007 at 5:19 am
I think you are right on this one. They are blowing a lot of smoke, but not much is new.