http://www.theinquirer.net

IBM AND THREE MAJOR LINUX distributors (Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell and Red Hat) will attempt to create a Vole-free personal computing world by 2009.

The four companies are reportedly collaborating on the development of a PC slated to be pre-loaded with Linux, IBM’s Open Collaboration Client Solution (OCCS), Lotus Notes, Symphony and Sametime.

Consumers and independent software vendors will also be encouraged to develop applications for the new PC via Lotus Expeditor – a software framework based on the open source Eclipse programming model.

Kevin Cavanaugh, vice president for IBM Lotus Software, explained that the ” slow adoption of Vista among businesses, coupled with the proven success of a new type of Microsoft-free PC in every region, provides an extraordinary window of opportunity for Linux.”

Scott Crenshaw, Vice President of the Platform Business Unit at Red Hat expressed similar sentiments. “Customers are demanding a Microsoft-less PC, and we have responded with our reliable, secure Linux solution.” µ