Searching LXer

It doesn't take a genius, or even Smarty Jones, to figure out what's been happening in the hallowed halls of Microsoft Corp. and Dell Computer the last few hours. A bit of background, for those new to the situation: Linspire and Dell Italian channel partner Questar jointly announced that they are making available pre-loaded Linux desktop computers at a fair price.

The reseller taking orders for Dell Optiplex workstations with an open source operating system claims that its website has received over 200,000 hits in the past 24 hours. Italian reseller Questar is buying workstations from Dell under a custom factory integration agreement.

Dell today distanced itself from system builder Questar's announcement yesterday that it is offering Linux-based Dell-manufactured desktop systems - and doing so with the PC giant's approval.

A PC dealer in Europe has begun selling Dell desktops equipped with Linux, but Dell emphasized that the systems were customized by the dealer and that this isn't the first time this has happened. Questar, an Italian-based computer seller, has begun to ship Optiplex business desktops loaded with Linspire 4.5, a version of Linux, and a copy of OpenOffice, an open-source alternative to Microsoft's Office software package. The basic Questar computer, with a 2.4GHz Celeron processor, sells for about $562.

Questar Corp. today said an Associated Press story distributed Tuesday, July 6, erroneously stated that the Salt Lake City-based natural gas company was in a partnership with Dell Inc. to market Linux-based desktop computers in Europe. The AP subsequently corrected the story to indicate that another company named Questar -- identified as "a virtual unit company focusing on software sales" -- was partnering with Dell in the European venture. The Utah-based Questar is an integrated natural gas company with $4 billion in enterprise value.

Dell today introduced its first line of Linux-based desktop computers in Europe through its partnership with Questar. Each computer will be shipped by Dell, pre- installed with the English or Italian version of Linspire 4.5 operating system and include Dell's gold technical support. To view the entire product line of Dell Linux-based computers, please visit dell.questar.it .

Lindows, Inc. today introduced an Italian version of Linspire to Linux desktop and laptop computer users around the world. LinspireItaliano delivers the same features and cost-savings as Linspire and is fully localized for Italian customers wanting to experience Linux in their native language. To place an order, view screenshots or learn more about LinspireItaliano, please visit Questar, Lindows's exclusive Italian partner at http://www.questar.it/linspire.