Looking at desktop applications for Linux these days has become a bit of a balancing act; on the one hand, there is the obligation to review all of the features objectively. One the other, it has become clear that it is necessary to examine how desktop applications will fit into the corporate environment. While we cannot ignore the home users, there is growing evidence that this will not be the arena where Linux will grow on the desktop.

It will be the corporate desktop where such evolutions will occur, and maybe not as quickly as some in the Linux community would hope. There is a strong and growing movement to insert Linux in the organization in the server arena as many CIOs and IT managers are beginning to understand what Linux users have known for quite some time: that on the back-end, Linux is a dominant force for server processes.

Ultimately, it will be this server adoption that will lend some effort to the adoption of Linux on the desktop, as admins impressed with Linux's performance on the servers will begin to wonder how they can get that performance to their client machines.

If there is to be a successful migration to the desktop on Linux, this is my scenario of how it will happen.

This series of reviews on spreadsheets for Linux is evidence that in more and more critical business areas, Linux apps are becoming very ready for that desktop.

All they need is a better look.

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