IBM looks to scrap Windows by 2009

IBM has said it wants to see Windows free computing by 2009, replacing the operating system with pre-loaded free alternatives from the likes of Novell, Red Hat, and Canonical/Ubuntu.

Since Microsoft currently accounts for around 93 per cent of the market share, this will be no small task. The success of such a venture will be largely dependant on whether consumers and independent developers take up the mantle and produce new software for the system.

“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,” said IBM Lotus Software vice president Kevin Cavanaugh.

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