Should Linux desktops be standard areas where a browser and email is all that is needed?

Implications: 1. Saving money in areas where basic computing is sufficient will increase in the coming years. 2. Linux is in the server room making support a possibility.

Analysis: In a year where cost reduction is a discussion and probably a requirement, it is probably worth looking at Linux as a cost reduction strategy.  This is particularly true if you have a large group of users that just need access to a web browser and email to do there job.  An example of that is the accounting department where the only system they use is a web-browser based ERP system such as Oracle or SAP.  Or the purchasing department or shipping and receiving.

It is possible in some cases to eliminate Windows and Office from these machines, install Open office and Linux, and do not pay maintenance to Microsoft.  More importantly, you can reuse those Microsoft licenses on new PC's that you buy saving even more money. 

Even a few years ago this idea would have been something that most CIO's would not have considered.  But since that time almost all systems have migrated to a web-Browser or at least a Citrix-based solution.  This makes it possible to consider Linux desktop software for almost all applications.  This means that there is now an emergence of options open to CIO's to reduce expenditures and also interoperate with Microsoft Windows in the enterprize.

On the other hand, I would not replace Windows laptops with Linux because the cost of training knowledge workers on how to use Linux is not worth the savings the Linux brings over Windows.  But wherever commodity computing requirements exist, the temptation to eliminate the cost of Microsoft is much more compelling.

I also find that most people who work in your helpdesk area are certified on both Windows and Linux, so there should be no increase in staffing costs.  In fact, this could also provide a training ground for your future Linux server administrators.

So maybe the increase in Asus Linux machines in a sign that more people are revisiting the total cost of a computer and realizing that a multi-platform strategy makes sense in certain situation.