HP - Linux for the desktop tipping point?

Clearly, HP is attuned to the market demand for open source and attributes $25 million in hardware sales for its support of the Debian distribution in its Europe, Middle East and African market, (see HP: Debian Cha Ching!). It's never been a question of when brand name PC's come pre-loaded with Linux, but more a question of who will be the first to lead the way.


So it's clear there is consumer demand and profits to be realized in leveraging the free software community. To help move things along, the Free Software Foundation is working to get hardware vendors to take advantage of ripening conditions by making their products work optimally with free software and that their drivers are easy to operate and maintain. In a recent white paper, they make a case for hardware manufacturers to do the following:

• provide free software drivers
• remove proprietary BIOS locks
• ship hardware with free BIOS and provide free BIOS support
• end the "Microsoft Tax"
• discard Digital Restrictions Management

In return, the FSF claims vendors will realize increased sales, and the free software community will have hardware that meets its ethical requirements. To this end, FSF has pledged their assistance in helping vendors make the changes outlined in the paper.

Could these developments be the sign the Linux tipping point is near? No one can say for sure, but things are looking positive.

Tags: Dell, desktop, Free Software Foundation, FreeSoftwareFoundation, hp, Idea Storm, IdeaStorm, linux, news, open source, OpenSource