IBM has made available a Linux-based collection of virtual desktop applications that run on a server without the need for desktop hardware--or Microsoft software, according to a report on Wednesday on The Wall Street Journal's website.
The Linux-based software package, which is available now, runs on a back-office server and is accessible to customers on thin clients, the paper reported.
The Virtual Linux Desktop ranges in price from US$59 to US$289 per user, depending on the level of software and service desired, according to the report. IBM estimates the software package could save corporate customers up to US$800 per user when compared with the cost of maintaining Microsoft's Vista operating system, Office suite and collaboration tools, the newspaper said.
IBM is counting on the prevalent economic pressures to help make its "Microsoft-free" suite more appealing.
"Deploying your technology this way is going to save you something more than 50 percent of your total costs," Jeff Smith, IBM's vice president for open source and Linux, told the paper. "As customers face an increasingly challenging economic situation, they're looking at everything they're spending money on."
Cost aside, however, corporate customers may not be ready to embrace an environment where their data is stored centrally instead of locally.
This article was first published as a blog on CNET News.com.
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