Linux On The Desktop: "HP will offer SuSE's Linux Professional on select Compaq desktop and laptop systems sometime in the second half of the year."

"The bulk of demands by [HP's] largest customers are in relatively specialized areas. 'They're talking about call centers, help desks, and support centers that run E-mail and a Web browser and a single application,' said Martin Fink, HP's VP for Linux. 'They're looking for a client alternative [to Windows]. That's where the interest is right now in the large corporate customers.' "

"[RedHat] 'have made the decision to not pursue the client market at this time. From a desktop and laptop perspective, then, Red Hat is a null set,' he said in explaining why HP turned to SuSE instead. "

Novell acquired SUSE in January.

"With analysts predicting annual growth rates for Linux on the desktop in the 25% to 30% range, HP sees an opportunity, and won't let its competitors--Sun and IBM, especially--get the jump on it. ... Earlier in the day, Novell said it had reached a broader agreement with IBM to pre-install its SuSE Linux Enterprise Server on all IBM server hardware. IBM will now pre-load SuSE's Linux on all its servers at customer request, including the eServer iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, and zSeries lines, as well as IBM's eServer BladeCenter systems."