Thu Sep 4,12:02 AM ET

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By Michele Gershberg

NEW YORK (Reuters) - He's nine years old, bright-eyed and hungry to learn. Meet Linux (news - web sites), or a human embodiment of the computer operating system, in a new television commercial by International Business Machines Corp. The ad airs next week during the U.S. Open (news - web sites) Men's Finals and the National Football League's kick-off on Sunday.

Advertising and technology experts say the ad, created by WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather, shows computer maker IBM is staking its claim to be a leader in the freely available software system and seeks a wider audience to make that point.

"This would be a move to take a growing trend that they can associate with and lead its adoption by telling people why they should care about it," said Jeffrey Jones, chief executive at LB Works, a Leo Burnett ad agency that specializes in building technology brands.

In the IBM commercial, a blond, blue-eyed boy sits mum as a stream of celebrities ply him with information on everything from plumbing to the mysteries of the universe. The more knowledge the boy absorbs, the more it benefits humankind, it says.

"Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community," Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. advises the boy in the ad, recalling the ethos of the programming community behind Linux.

The ad closes with the slogan "Linux. The Future is Open. IBM."

LINUX AWARENESS AT "TIPPING POINT"

Such commercials, including past IBM ads, show how companies must explain the value of complex technology to consumers who may be unaware of the capabilities of their personal computers or mobile phones.

The need to reach a diverse audience is growing, as studies show that technology buying is more frequently decided by business managers rather than technical specialists.

In IBM's case, that message must also communicate why the company would advertise a technology it does not own, but which plays a crucial role for its business.

IBM has championed Linux in recent years as part of a wider strategy to win over more sales for its computer servers. Sun Microsystems Inc. computers run Sun's Unix (news - web sites) operating system software, and other companies such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. sell computers running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.

Lisa Baird, head of global advertising at IBM, said the company believes awareness of Linux has reached "a tipping point" and that the advertisement aims to show "a future of software where everybody can grow and learn from the best."

"We are only one of many companies committed to it," Baird said. "We are certainly doing everything to increase the momentum of that interest."

IBM was behind a "Peace, Love and Linux" guerrilla marketing campaign in which a Linux penguin logo was spray-painted over city sidewalks in San Francisco, New York and Chicago in 2001.

Big Blue also became closely associated with Linux when in recent months it became the target of a lawsuit by Unix developer SCO Group, which said IBM pumped up Linux code by using some of its Unix operating system code.

Baird said Linux would be a component of other company messages in the future and that the new campaign includes newspaper, Internet and direct advertising. In July, IBM reached a three-year sponsorship deal with the NFL.

"IBM has seen that Linux opens doors ... it takes expenses away from IBM, it makes life simpler" because the software helps unify IBM's diverse products, said Dan Kusnetzky, vice president of systems software research at International Data Corp.

"IBM sees that by making the Linux market bigger, IBM's slice of that market will be bigger," he said.

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