HP's decision to aim a desktop PC preloaded with Linux at the small business market is an interesting one.

The dx2250 is HP's low-end, AMD-powered business desktop. Well, given that it's in a micro-tower case, I'm not sure that many will end up actually on desks, but you know what I mean.

While HP's web page for the dx2250 still proclaims "HP recommends Windows Vista Business", the company has now announced it will also be available preloaded with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop, trimming $200 from the price. Given that we're talking about $600 rather than $800, that's quite a saving. And since RHEL5 Desktop includes OpenOffice, the effective saving is even bigger than going down the all-Microsoft route.

Sure, you can run OpenOffice on Windows, but that's not really the point.

The interesting thing is that a major vendor thinks small businesses are finally ready for Linux on the desktop. Companies such as Cybersource have been marketing Linux-based servers (and, to a lesser extent, desktops and 'trim clients') to SMEs for years, but when the world's number one PC maker enters the field, you know something's going on.