Whereas many such offerings , however, a new program from the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is aimed at students and others who are relatively new to the technology.

Called "," the program will be adopted by schools, educational authorities, training centers, and others beginning in June 2012.

"Linux is ubiquitous and plays a significant role in the server room, on our phones and tablets, cash registers and, of course, embedded devices everywhere," explained Jim Lacey, LPI's president and CEO, in the group's official announcement at last week.

"With our Linux Essentials program, we're going to create the first global generation of users who are as comfortable with Linux as they are with any other operating system," Lacey added.

A Certificate of Achievement