Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to become the first company to trumpet personal computers that run the freely distributed Linux operating system in Asia, HP's Japanese unit said Tuesday. Other details, such as when the sales will begin, haven't been set yet. The move by HP, the world's largest PC maker with a global market share of about 17 percent, could be a threat to Microsoft Corp., maker of the leading Windows operating system. For its Linux PCs, HP "will target emerging markets, where Windows PCs are not used so widely," an HP spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires. But, he added, "We don't know whether we will sell them here in Japan."
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