Ubuntu: brought to you by Microsoft

That is funny...

Are we sure this is funny? Could Microsoft have purchased Canonical while we weren't looking? They've bought out enough competitors in the past.

I doubt it. If they did buy it, Ubuntu would be long gone from Dell's website.

Nah, we'd be swamped with Ubuntu newbies commenting all over the place if that was the case. I'm also pretty sure we'd have 86.435 new stories waiting in the news queue :-)

@kt Correct @Sander Also correct

@caitlyn If MS were to make a move towards buying the company behind a major Linux distro, it would be a real admission that they believe that Linux is winning the war. I doubt many at MS believe that right now, and even more doubt that they'd admit it, let alone in such a public way. I believe that Linux will eventually win the war, but that victory is a long way off and may not become apparent for many years after it has been assured.

> ...but that victory is a long way off and may not become apparent for many years after it has been assured.

I think the victory has already been assured, and has been so for several years now. :) Microsoft is on their way to becoming what Unix has been for a number of years, a specialty operating system used for certain specific tasks.

Collecting Virus' ?

I'll show you my collection of Viruses......oh never mind, windows just crashed again.

Since Ubuntu isn't publicly traded, it's not as much of a target as, say ... Red Hat. I don't think MS could even think of buying RH without a thousand antitrust flags cropping up.

With Novell, MS does have its own Linux product; I'm surprised they haven't done a desktop deal with Dell that pushes out Ubuntu. I don't think they could get away with that on the server — Red Hat is just too strong there — but on the desktop they could definitely make Dell an offer it couldn't refuse.

@Steven_Rosenber I don't think MS wants to tip their hats too much to reinforce their Novell connection by using their influence with Dell to get Ubuntu pushed out in favor of Novell's Linux.

You're probably right; if Ubuntu was really burning it up at Dell, that'd be one thing. But since it's more posturing than actual sales, MS can let it be and not be hurt by the controversy of trying to stop it, or by any loss in sales of Windows and Office licenses.

@Steven_Rosenber Actually, by letting Dell make appearances of selling Ubuntu, Microsoft can say "LOOK! There is competition, we are the underdog here!"

"...you are blathering." Would you like to provide an explanation?

tracyanne, if there is something you do not understand, please let me know -- I will try to convey my thoughts to you in the way you can follow.

It's ok kt it was quite clear, caitlyn made it clear you were suffering from Wishful thinking.

Just going through the various options, Both the Windows and the Linux versions are the same price for the same hardware. You get different additional options, but the base machines are identical except for the OS, that means either Dell is getting Windows for free, or they are paying for Ubuntu.

Mind you the Linux deal is still way better, as it comes with, or should come with a full suite of applications, while the Windows one definitely doesn't.

It occurs to me that the Sell are in fact paying for both Windows and Linux...... Well not exactly Linux, but the license fees for the non free Codecs, so they can ship Linux with said CODECs.

> You get different additional options, but the base machines are identical except for the OS, that means either Dell is getting Windows for free, or they are paying for Ubuntu.

My Mini 9 included the Fluendo codecs, which retail for 28 Euros. If that's also the case with these machines, that's pretty much the same price Dell pays for Windows.

> Well not exactly Linux, but the license fees for the non free Codecs, so they can ship Linux with said CODECs.

Exactly.

> ...caitlyn made it clear you were suffering from Wishful thinking.

I don't think so. Microsoft is sinking. As with any object the size of Microsoft, it's not readily apparent at this point. But the process has started and unless Microsoft changes, and changes radically, it's only a matter of time. It may take 20 years or more, but it is happening.

To carry the metaphor a little further:

Microsoft hit the marketing iceberg when it released Windows Vista, and their corporate ship took a lot of damage. The precise amount may not be known except to a privileged few crew members. What's more, it wasn't really ship-shape, having been designed by "engineers" with no sense of sturdiness or robustness, but the bilge pumps (outside cash reserves) handled that well enough (the "engineers" called it "normal").

Will it sink, or are the bilge pumps big enough? Too early to tell.

They'll borrow the bilge pumps from their marketing department, which has the biggest bilge pumps in the world. Pure bilge pouring forth daily in massive torrents.

Throwing Jerry Seinfeld overboard lightened the load a bit.

... implying there is/was a load involved... in that case, agreed.

MS is on its way down, and has been for years. Their stock price has been in the dumps for ages, and their investment portfolio and fancy accounting tricks have long been used to disguise slumps in revenues from product sales. Seems like their only real innovations are in various forms of deception. They have always paid below-market wages and used stock options as a replacement for wages. Though benefits are great.

The rot is at the top. Big companies never really die, they just coast along in one form or another. Some new leadership that believes in good products instead of ruthlessness and dirty tricks could energize the whole PC industry.

I hope we all agree that Dells's Mini10v looks just a little more attractive (Price vs Hardware) than Mini10 for what these are designed to do -- net. That's the main point I was trying to make. Such advantage for MS does not come by accident. It's not a big deal. Whatever. http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-10/...

As for the wishful thinking, you know, I don't care who wins the market, because Linux is not going away and I don't care how much market share it has. The only thing I care about is that Linux works well. However, it's just common sense to say that Linux can only grow, slowly but surely penetrating all levels of computing. No MS bilge pump can handle an infinite amount of Linux water -- MS does not have an infinite amount of fuel. Anyway, I think it's time for MS to rearrange a few more chairs on the deck or maybe hire a music band.

Meanwhile, I'm off to work to setup another coworker with Ubuntu and get ready for shipment a requested Linux version of our software. Good day.

kt,

Focus on your work and put MS out of mind, that's is the best prescription for putting it out of business, eventually. Inertia is a hard habit to break.

[All (uncharacteristicly) serious]

Txt.

MS is slowly turning into a litigation company.

Cross patent deals - such as with Novell - show this, as well as their patent enforcement in the TomTom case.

Compared to their size and wealth, there's not much innovation coming from Microsoft. So they're slowly following SCO, it seems.

The Dell Mini 10v is still my No.1 netbook choice at present. They sure killed the Mini 9 quickly. I hope they get a little stability as far as their offerings go.

However, I'd be inclined to get the Inspiron 15n -- I actually want to use the machine for, you know, typing ...

But if Dell could keep the price of the Mini 10v at $199 w/Ubuntu, that's an excellent price point.

> They sure killed the Mini 9 quickly. ..

The Vostro A90 is effectively the Mini 9. You'll find it in their small business section at http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/notebooks/laptop-vostro-a...

The Mini 10v in the business section of Dell does have the Ubuntu option but the home section does not. http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/notebooks/laptop-inspiron...

Edit: problem is that, unlike HP, Dell does not allow boosting the SSD or RAM capacity with 10v and is stuck with the maximum the win machine can offer

Update:

Dell now offers Mini 10v with Ubuntu:

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-10/...

OK, I better go back to my parents' basement now before the spelling bee champion ticks off again.

it's interesting to read Dell's reasons for using Ubuntu

Quoting:You might prefer Ubuntu if:

* Your Mini will primarily be used for mobile Web access or you are an advanced computer user interested in open source programming. * You don’t plan on using Microsoft software applications. * You are open to learning Ubuntu email, word processing and spreadsheet applications.

particularly this bit "Your Mini will primarily be used for mobile Web access"

while

Quoting:You might prefer Windows Vista® or Windows® XP if:

* You currently run other Microsoft applications and want to continue using them. * You don’t want to learn how to use different applications for email, word processing and spreadsheets.

when doing other than web access on a Netbook with Windows is a regular pain, while using Linux for all those other things is so easy, Linux could have been created for the low power of the netbook.

> You don’t want to learn how to use different applications for email, word processing and spreadsheets.

But i already use Firefox, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice under Windows. What do I need to learn? Yeah, I know Ubuntu uses Evolution, but you get the idea.