Australian telco Telstra is looking at Linux as a possible new standard platform for its 45,000 desktops, according to a report by ITnews Australia. Telstra at the moment is just considering Linux and Sun StarOffice as possible candidates for its corporate standard, but a deal of this size would be a major boost for open source on the desktop, particularly as, ITnews reports, Telstra is Microsoft's biggest Australian customer.

Telstra recently opted for Sun and Java 2 as its web services platform, and of its existing suppliers, IBM, HP and Sun are all putting forward Linux over Windows.

ITnews also reports that Telstra CIO Jeff Smith recently cited Sun's Scott McNealy as his most admired IT figure in a magazine interview. But hey, nobody's perfect. ®