Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest PC manufacturer, has announced it will start selling Linux-based PCs from $AU600 in Australia.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop will come pre-loaded on the HP dx2250 desktop computer -- an AMD-based model. The PC itself comes with a range of AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core, Athlon 64 and Sempron processors. “With the cost of proprietary systems continuing to rise, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop minimises acquisition and ongoing deployment costs, leaving more money and resources for other high-value projects and tasks,” said Max McLaren, General Manager at Red Hat in Australia and New Zealand, taking a clear dig at Vista.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop also comes with OpenOffice preinstalled, Firefox for web browsing and Evolution for email . Red Hat will also offer Level One, Level Two and Level Three technical support for the solution.