IBM to offer Open Client for Apple & Linux
Link: IBM to offer Open Client for Apple & Linux
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) is planning to offer an open desktop software system for businesses which will significantly reduce the cost of managing Apple or Linux computers relative to Windows.
IBM’s “Open Client Offering” features software which the company developed in-house and also with partners Novell Inc. and Red Hat Inc.
The new software allows big businesses to offer employees a choice of running Windows, Linux or Apple Macintosh software on desktop PCs, using the same underlying software code. A piece of IBM software called Expeditor enables the different systems to be managed as if they were on a unified underlying system.
Companies using the Open Client software will not have to pay Microsoft for licenses for operations that no longer rely on Windows-based software. Open Client will run on the Windows, Macintosh or Linux operating systems.
IBM will offer its own Open Document Format applications for word processing, spreadsheets or presentations. It will also provide Lotus collaboration, instant messaging, blog tools, and the Firefox Web browser - the main rival to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
IBM believes that the software could reduce the cost of managing applications, maintenance and customer support costs on company networks which need to run not just Windows but other software.
IBM plans to use its “Open Client” software initially on 5% of the desktop computers in its own organization, which employs around 320,000 staff worldwide.
