HP denies that they are making an OS to rival Vista, but, they do acknowledge that they are developing software that would bypass some of its functions altogether. HP formed the “customer experience” group nine months ago in an effort to give customers a quick and easy alternative to certain applications. The team is focusing on touchscreen technology where users can watch movies or view pictures.
While HP will not go as far to say that they are developing a complete OS, Business Week claims to have sources that say employees in their PC division are doing just that. A Linux based OS could be “simpler and easier for mainstream users”.
Phil McKinney, chief technology officer in HP’s PC division says the idea is a possibility, but HP is not funding a massive move away from the Windows ecosystem:
“Is HP funding a huge R&D team to go off and create an operating system? [That] makes no sense. For us it’s about innovating on top of Vista.”
Intel and Dell have also recently made strides away from Microsoft, with both promoting Linux based systems for their netbooks.