Red Hat CEO questions desktop's relevance in Linux debate

Linux has achieved success on servers, but can it make a go of it on the desktop? Panelists at a technical conference Tuesday evening debated the question, with a Red Hat official wondering whether the issue is even relevant anymore.

Representatives from organizations such as Red Hat, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and Fidelity Information Services offered perspectives on Linux and open source on the desktop during a session at the InfoWorld Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) in San Francisco. The session was entitled "End Users and Linux: Do We Have a Participation Problem?".

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Red Hat's CEO Jim Whitehurst pointed out several issues with running Linux on the desktop, including financial concerns the company has as a Linux vendor.

"First of all, I don't know how to make money on it," Whitehurst said. "Very few people are running a desktop that's mission-critical," so they do not want to pay the company for a desktop OS, he said.

There is some money in the Linux desktop, but not much, Whitehurst said. "We do have a desktop [version of Linux], but we typically sell it to big server customers who want some desktops." Red Hat offers its Red Hat Enterprise Desktop product, but Whitehurst added he was uncertain how relevant the desktop itself will be in five years, with the advent of concepts such as cloud-based and smartphone computing and VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure).

"The concept of a desktop is kind of ridiculous in this day and age," said Whitehurst. "I'd rather think about skating to where the puck is gong to be than where it is now," he said, using a hockey analogy.

Interoperability issues also are a hindrance, according to Whitehurst. "There's a reason Microsoft doesn't want to certify Evolution [a Linux mail client] hooking into [Microsoft's mail server] Exchange," he said. Microsoft has key control points locked up on the desktop, he said,

"There's a desire [to use desktop Linux] but practicality sets in," said panelist Vinod Kutty, associate director of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. "There are significant barriers to switching."

Even Linux developers he has known prefer a Macintosh to a Linux desktop, Kutty said.

Another panelist, Timothy Golden, senior vice president for Unix engineering, security, and provisioning at Bank of America, concurred with Whitehurst. "I have to agree with Jim on this one," he said. How people view the desktop is going to change, said Whitehurst.

But another panelist, K.S. Bhaskar, senior vice president of Fidelity Information Services, gave a thumbs-up to Linux on the desktop, adding that his family even uses it at home.