Is HP building a custom Linux distro for home computers?

by Brad Linder Sep 12th 2008

Business Week reports that sources inside HP claim the company is readying a custom operating system based on Linux for home computer users. There are practically no details about the rumored OS at this point, aside from the fact that it's supposed to be "easier" to use than most Linux distributions.

Why would HP, a company that has made billions of dollars by selling machines designed to run Windows want to build its own operating system? Two words. Vista and Apple.

First of all, Microsoft is in the process of killing off its most popular operating system ever, Windows XP. But many home and business computer users are reluctant to install Windows Vista. So if HP wants to continue selling computers over the next few years while waiting for Windows 7 to arrive, it might not be a bad idea to offer customers an alternative to Windows Vista.

The Business Week article also quotes someone who claims that Apple could be preparing to enter the sub-$1000 laptop game soon. That's an area where companies like HP, Dell, and Acer haven't really had to worry about Apple so far. But one of the reasons Apple laptops have been gaining steam in the last few years is because the same company is behind the software and the hardware. That means you don't run into the kind of hardware compatibility issues you find with Windows Vista. A custom HP operating system could ensure that as long as you buy HP peripherals, everything you plug into your computer will work.

HP has already begun dabbling in Linux. Earlier this year the company released the HP 2133 Mini-Note, a low end ultraportable laptop designed to compete with the popular Asus Eee PC. The cheapest versions of the Mini-Note run SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.

[via Electronista]

Tags: apple, hp, hp-mini-note, linux, suse

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

kojo87 said 4:39PM on 9-12-2008

why dont they just offer Ubuntu like Dell is doing?

Mike Cerm said 4:39PM on 9-12-2008

Why doesn't everyone just offer Ubuntu! Linux is hard enough for users to learn as-is. Most people are scared away by anything that isn't XP. Having a different distribution tailored for every different laptop makes it difficult for even people who are familiar with Linux to get comfortable with a new device.

Stuart Halliday said 11:28AM on 9-15-2008

Have you tried to read Ubuntu documentation?
It's a real mess.

You can't expect to give away a OS without proper documentation.

Sure, you'll say you don't need to read it. But I bet you're not in a company trying to distribute the OS to thousands of users. You need to documents.

Unfortunately most open source software projects play little heed on how to writing down how to use it or even how to configure it correctly.

Johnny F* said 8:19AM on 12-01-2008

Why should everybody run Ubuntu? I do though (LinuxMint Felicia based on 8.10), and I love Ubuntu, but isn't the idea with bug #1 to get rid of MS 90% market dominance, not to create a new one, even if it's a FOSS-based one..?

I love the idea with HP creating their own distro specially made for their computers. Look at Apple, although not free, the idea with OS X, making an OS for specifik hardware and thus making it all fit thightly together and making it work as good as possible - well, that's a very good idea.

All of us GNU/Linux-enthusiasts know that it isn't as easy as everything works with everything, you'd rather have a intel wifi-card than an Atheros a.s.o. and delivering a computer specielly built for a good distro, that's a good start.

Also, if HP puts a lot of cash into this there's several good things about it. 1st, the rest of the GNU/Linux distros will benefit from the development done by HP. 2ndly, a HP distro will further open peoples eyes about GNU/Linux as something to replace Windows.

Give it a year. Next autumb, with Ubuntu 9.10 and mandriva 2010.0 and alike, I bet GNU/Linux is so good people will have a hard time finding a reason to run a 8-9 year old Windows XP install (if they're not dependent on some Windows-only software or gaming) - and who belives that MS will get their shit together with Windows 7 until then? Not me, seen it all a couple of times already...

S4Rs said 4:39PM on 9-12-2008

HP also offers an Instant-On version of linux to play media on their Voodoo Line Notebooks.

LeeH said 4:39PM on 9-12-2008

Of course HP has a long history with UNIX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-UX) although not on the desktop.

Todd said 4:39PM on 9-12-2008

Yes HP please do it!!! Oh man its like a scene from Julius Caesar (III, i, 77)...Everyone turning on Microsoft and driving their knife in! lol

Et tu HP!?!?!?

epobirs said 6:45PM on 9-12-2008

This is really dubious reasoning. If HP is going to brand their own Linux (A collaboration with Canonical would make sense in terms of maximizing investment value) it will be as an addition to selling Vista, not as a replacement. HP already sells plenty of Vista licenses on a daily basis. The online whinefest creates an illusion of a rebellion that simply doesn't exist. Vista adoption is moving along at a good pace among the clients I visit.

What is holding back using Vista on new systems in the majority of cases I've witnessed is the incompatibility of some horrible but mission critical apps. There are numerous fields where one vertical app has no real competition and so the vendor can get away with terrible coding standards and dragging their feet for years before fixing the problems. I have one client that would happily deploy Vista on new systems tomorrow if not for this kind of situation.

To give you an idea how badly this app is written, if you enter certain portions of it without a printer (even a virtual PDF printer will do the job) installed, the app blows up and dumps the user back at the desktop. I suppose we can be grateful it doesn't manage to take down the whole OS. In Vista, their problem is that they do stuff in the registry that Microsoft said should never be done back when XP first launched. Since so many companies did it anyways (Intuit is one of the biggest offenders) Microsoft made this recommendation an enforced law under Vista. So, no more registry trashing but a lot of stuff stops running until a new version ships.

Anyway, the idea that consumers are going to switch to an HP Linux and then switch back when Windows 7 arrives is just silly. For one, other than incorporating the performance upgrades that have already been released for Vista, there is nothing to suggest that Win7, which is building on the Vista base, is going to be radically different.

Second, customers whose mission critical app cannot be run under Vista are not going to be any better off under a Linux derivative. If anything, they'll lose access to yet more apps. A few things will run under WINE but we're talking about thousands of vertical market apps to get running to make this viable for mainstream desktop use. A big difference between rolling your dedicated app suite for a net book and replacing the immense infrastructure the corporate market relies upon.

The vertical app vendors will fix their Vista problems or find themselves against competition for the first time. The speed with they deliver their updated version will determine that.

Mysterius said 11:38PM on 9-12-2008

I must say that your comment makes more sense to me than the post.

invalid said 12:16AM on 9-13-2008

Laptop vendors are offering Linux distros for 1 reasons and only 1 reason - to be able to shave $100 off their advertised prices...
Vvery few people want to buy a Linux laptop...this isn't a huge win for consumers...this is HP marketing...

Frank said 9:12AM on 9-13-2008

I have to disagree, I bought an Asus Eee 901 with 64gig SSD for my father to take to Europe on vacation to keep in contact and use Skype. It has the Linux OS and worked like a charm, he is not strong on computers and had the little laptop up and connected to wireless in 10 minutes out of the box. I think the issue is how the OS is packaged. Asus nailed it with the big "easy buttons". Not perfect for everyone, but for the mass majority, doing email, Skype and web browsing, it was very impressive.

If HP packaged the OS correctly, it might have it's own niche market.

Alex said 12:38PM on 9-13-2008

Company who will not upgrade their driver or are too slow to do so will pay the price in the end when they start losing their customers with window vista start gaining more respect, people will soon understand it wasn't window vista causing the problem it the company who will not update their own driver to vista.

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