In an effort to challenge market leader Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT), four Linux vendors will announce the release of UnitedLinux 1.0 at this year's Comdex trade show, which kicks off Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The four collaborating vendors are the SCO Group, Conectiva in Brazil, SuSE in Germany and Turbolinux in Japan. This consortium released a beta version of UnitedLinux in late September, which they claim has been favorably received, with more than 15,000 copies downloaded.