Microsoft, once an arch-enemy of Linux, has already sold $156 million worth of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server support vouchers to customers such as Wal-Mart, HSBC Holdings, Renault, Southwest Airlines, BMW and others, said Susan Hauser, general manager of strategic partnerships and licensing at Microsoft. However, some vouchers were sold to customers for less than face value, though none were given away for free.

Hewlett-Packard’s new $500 incarnation of the Mini-Note boasts a “92 percent full-size” keyboard, the vendor says, along with unusually large stereo speakers flanking the mid-sized (for a netbook) 8.9-inch LCD display. The Linux Mini-Note variant runs Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.

The four vendors are working with their local business partners in markets around the world to build and distribute a pre-loaded PC offering that features IBM’s Lotus Notes, Lotus Symphony and Lotus Sametime; the Linux operating system of each distributor; and software applications and installation services from the various local affiliates.

Virtualization cannot be that simpler than in openSUSE 11.0. In openSUSE 11.0, Xen Virtualization ins pre-built and all it takes is a few clicks away from up and running with Virtualization in no time.