Opinion: Alternative platforms are still struggling to reach critical mass due, in part, to a lack of enterprise-ready applications.
This year, desktop Linux finally emerged to assume a tangible enterprise presence, albeit one that resides more in the marketing collateral of IT vendors such as Sun Microsystems, Novell and Red Hat than on the average mainstream or even limited-purpose enterprise desktop. Still, the Linux desktop products of 2004, including Sun's Java Desktop System, are effective, well-made Windows alternatives, and I expect to see these solutions begin chipping away at Microsoft's desktop monopoly next year.
|