14 DAY TRIAL // Red Hat announces global availability for its forthcoming Red Hat Global Desktop. According to Red Hat officials' statements, the new version will be released this September, it will run on cheap whitebox Intel PCs and it is designed mainly for the small business users and local government agencies and it will not be a Windows clone as some have rumored.
On Red Hat's website there is also available a press release regarding Red Hat's Desktop Plan, and which presents the latest projects and initiatives the development team is focused on right now. According to the press release, it seems that the RH Global Desktop version should have been ready by August this year, but they've decided to postpone its publishing until September, in order to run more tests upon it and polish it better.
Highlights:
- affordable: Red Hat Global Desktop provides most of the applications a user needs from a desktop at an affordable price. Global Desktop is aimed for users in small businesses and local government agencies;
- faster refresh: Unlike the other Red Hat enterprise software, which is refreshed once every two years, the Global Desktop will be refreshed yearly providing its users quicker access to new versions of applications and new hardware drivers;
- a large distribution channel;
As I've mentioned earlier, Red Hat will provide its new Desktop version in partnership with Intel through Intel's channel of whitebox vendors.
" We have partnered with Intel to deliver Global Desktop via their vast channel of system builders because the reality is that most of the world buys from whitebox vendors. Whitebox vendors are in a position to better understand this market's needs, what they can afford and then deliver that solution.", writes Red Hat on their website.
Through this partnership, Red Hat also claims to support Intel's growing lines of low-cost PCs and contribute to the expansion of the distribution channels to the whitebox markets.