Linux vendor SuSE is leading the open source charge against Windows' desktop stronghold with the launch of its Linux Office Desktop tomorrow.

Set to demonstrate later this week at the LinuxWorld Conference in New York, Linux Office Desktop can be installed alongside Windows on a PC to run Windows applications.

SuSE has bundled Acronis OS selector and CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office in order to transfer and run Microsoft Office and other Windows applications.

"The Windows applications transfer tool is absolutely crucial," said Graham Titterington, senior analyst at Ovum.

"The vast majority of people use Windows and Office because of familiarity and the desire to transfer information easily with other companies - and they can still do this."

Titterington added that the desktop was the obvious place to go as Windows has over 90 per cent of the market.

Linux Office Desktop goes on sale at the end of January with a single-system recommended retail price of £89, including 90 days of installation support.

Rival Linux vendor Red Hat also plans to release a desktop package before the spring.

Dan Homolka, technical sales manager at SuSE, claimed that the vendor's Linux environment actually runs Microsoft Office faster than Windows "mainly because Linux is much better at context-switching".

He explained that Windows takes over the whole disk when it is installed even though it does not need it.

Acronis OS selector will downsize the disk space allocated to Windows XP or 2000 partitions, creating space to drop in the Linux desktop.

Using CrossOver Office, users can then take across Microsoft Office and some other existing Windows applications.

"CrossOver Office has focused on a number of Windows products such as Microsoft Office to make sure they work as well as they can. Not all software can be transferred," said Homolka.

In addition, the SuSE system assistant known as Yet another Setup Tool automatically takes across drivers for existing hardware components such as printers and sound cards.

For older Windows versions (95, 98 and ME) it also proposes how hard disk space should be reallocated and which Linux software to use ahead of applying Acronis OS Selector.

The software, which complements the SuSE Linux 8.1 server operating system, includes Gnome 2.0 and KDE 3.1, the two leading open source graphical desktop environments.

Both are needed since some applications use the Gnome libraries while others use those from KDE.

For users without Windows software, Linux Office Desktop includes Sun Microsystems' supported StarOffice.

Homolka explained that SuSE considered StarOffice a little more polished than its open source equivalent, OpenOffice, and said that it offered a broader set of fonts.

For email, the Evolution and Kmail email clients are provided. Other Windows products available for Linux include IBM Lotus Notes and the Microsoft Visio 2000 drawing tool.

Open source software is increasingly finding a place in the business world.

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