IBM pushing to get Linux on desktops

Linux is a rising star in the geeky, back office of computing. Its gains have come as an operating system for the data-serving computers that run corporate PC networks and serve up Web pages. On the desktop, Microsofts Windows, which is perceived by many as easier to use, still reigns supreme.

But IBM and the Open Source Development Lab, whose membership includes Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Intel, are beginning a drive to promote Linux as an alternative to Windows on the desktop.

One indication of their more aggressive approach came last week when an IBM executive, Samuel J. Docknevich, delivered a speech at a technology conference outside Boston titled “The Time is Now for Linux on the Desktop.”

The Open Source Development Lab a nonprofit organization to advance the use of open source software like Linux is planning a program to encourage corporate adoption of desktop Linux, set to begin in January. “Were going to push a big desktop Linux initiative,” Stuart F. Cohen, chief executive of the open source lab, said in a recent interview. “Its clearly something our members want.”