HP to sell Linux-based PCs in Asia

SAN JOSE, Calif. — In a blow to the dominance of Microsoft's Windows operating system, Hewlett-Packard Co. announced Tuesday it would sell Linux-based desktop PCs in Asia.

HP plans to begin shipping Linux-based computers within several months to nearly a dozen Asian countries, including fast-growing China and India. HP will sell the machines to Asian businesses that buy thousands of desktops for employees, Michael Jennings of Turbolinux Inc. said Tuesday. Turbolinux will provide the operating system.

Although the deal doesn't target consumers who buy home PCs, the announcement by the world's largest computer maker could greatly boost Linux on desktops and laptops.

HP, based in Palo Alto, Calif., sells about 17 percent of all computers worldwide. It will sell Linux-based computers through equipment vendors, not in Asian consumer electronics stores or traditional retail outlets, Jennings said.

Neither HP nor Turbolinux would disclose how many computers they hoped to sell through the deal. They would not release pricing or branding information, but Turbolinux said the machines would come with the most updated operating system, office productivity software, Web browser, e-mail and instant messenger applications, software for digital cameras and other features similar to those bundled with Microsoft Windows.

For several years, HP and rivals Dell Inc. and IBM Corp. have been selling Linux-based computer servers, and companies have used them to perform complicated tasks such as online card transactions or to store sensitive customer data. But pushing Linux-based desktops marks a new challenge for Microsoft, said Roger L. Kay, vice president at research firm IDC, based in Framingham, Mass.

"We're getting closer to the moment when a lot of people will wonder whether Linux can be their client operating system," Kay said. "When you've got HP and IBM championing Linux on desktops, I'd say the fighting gloves have come off, and it's going to be a great battle."

A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company would not comment on HP or other computer vendors' plans.

In November, IBM chief information officer Bob Greenberg wrote a memo to employees challenging them to switch from Windows to Linux-based systems, and the computer giant, based in Armonk, N.Y., already uses more than 10,000 Linux-based PCs in offices around the world.