A look at the latest headlines in the Linux desktop arena.

What's a Koobox?

If you're looking to buy an affordable desktop system that comes with Linux and a whole bunch of key free and open-source applications already installed, take a look at the new line of Koobox computers. Koobox computers are a joint offering from Mirus Personal Computers and Linspire. According to the Web site, Kooboxes are "only sold pre-installed, tested and certified with Linspire Linux".

So far, three Koobox systems are available: Essential Koobox, Multimedia Koobox and Performance Koobox. For $299 US, the Essential Koobox offers an AMD Sempron 2800+ processor; 256MB of DDRAM; a 40GB hard drive; CDRW 48x24x48; onboard network, video and sound; five USB ports; an Internet keyboard; an optical mouse; a u-ATX black tower case with a 300W power supply; 90 days limited parts and labor warranty; the Linspire OS; virus protection and Web filtering software; and OpenOffice.org. It also comes with a one-year subscription to CNR, so you can access more than 2,000 free applications. Monitors are available for purchase separately. That's a lot of stuff for $300.

Need Help Deciding on a Distribution?

If you're unsure which Linux distribution will suit your needs best, maybe taking a quiz can help. Zegenie Studios is offering an on-line quiz that tells you which of the major distributions is best for you. Kind of like taking a Cosmo quiz, Zegenie asks a series of questions that weighs your technical and Linux knowledge, your system capabilities and your computing needs and returns a short list of distributions that best fit your responses. The quiz is pretty quick to take and doesn't get in to too much detail, but if you're at a loss about where to start with picking a distro, it can help.

Desktop Linux Client Survey 2005 Results

Open Source Development Labs released the results of its 2005 Desktop Linux Survey in December, which found that a killer e-mail application is needed before Linux can find wider adoption in the desktop arena. Survey results show that e-mail is the number-one computer application, ahead of Internet use and office productivity, regardless of the platform underneath.

Perhaps surprisingly, the top reasons cited for companies switching to Linux are "Employees requesting Linux" and competitors using Linux. Security and availability of source code, which are key concerns for Linux developers, did show up in the responses, but they weren't among the top three reasons cited for switching.

The survey also found that the top three reasons for not switching to Linux are lack of application support, peripheral support and end-user training.

As the survey itself notes, this year's finding are interesting and point to a shift in how the Linux desktop is viewed in terms of feasibility and usability. Most companies no longer need to be convinced that Linux is a viable option for the desktop; they're aware of its advantages. The desktop users are making their demands, and now it's up to Linux developers to meet those demands.