My Thanks to DELL
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| NoDough May 25, 2007 10:02 AM EDT |
Personally, I want to take this opportunity to thank DELL. They have taken the initiative to market systems with Linux pre-installed despite several factors working against the idea, including, but not limited to... 1. The measurable market share of Linux is very low. 2. The market share of Linux is not measurable. 3. Licensing problems with proprietary drivers, codecs, etc. 4. Lack of Linux support from hardware manufacturers. 5. Headaches and cost of a new assembly line option. 6. Possible backlash from Linux competitors. 7. Last, but not least, the arrogant, whiny, nit picky, paranoid, delusional Linux community. (Yes, I'm talking about myself and others among us.) Despite those challenges and others, they have bent over backward to meet our every request (with the exception of helping Tux500. :) They are using hardware with free drivers where possible. They have openly communicated with us throughout the process. They even placed the announcement on the animated banner on the front page of their main site. So, thanks DELL. You have satisfied my suspicions. I believe that you truly support software freedom. In return, I will show you my support and purchase my daughter's college (Linux) laptop from you. |
| NoDough May 25, 2007 10:52 AM EDT |
Dell, if you are listening, I just placed the order for my daughter's laptop. Order #678335129 :) |
| tuxchick May 25, 2007 11:25 AM EDT |
I agree, NoDough. Sure, we can find all kinds of things to nitpick on, because they're not doing it the exactly perfect way to please the meelyuns of different opinions on how Dell should do this, but they are selling actual Ubuntu Linux desktops and notebooks. They're using open-source drivers, and they've promised to do something no other big Tier 1 vendor has done- pressure hardware vendors to open up their specs or APIs, and to support FOSS drivers and codecs. Have IBM, Novell, or HP done this? As far as I know, they have not even tried. |
| JohnPatDell May 25, 2007 12:10 PM EDT |
NoDough: Thanks for your support, both as a thoughtful member of the community and as a new Dell customer! |
| Abe May 25, 2007 12:28 PM EDT |
Quoting:Have IBM, Novell, or HP done this? TC, I know HP did few years back. I bought two Evo 500s (2nd for a friend) that came with Mandrake at the time (May be it wasn't installed but did have the CDs). I am still using mine. Also, HP right now have all their business desktops available with Free-DOS option that are $130. cheaper than the ones with Windows. You even have the choice to configure exactly the machine but with different OS or Free-DOS which Dell doesn't have yet, or not easily accessible. http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF04a/12454-12454-64... http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF04a/12454-12454-64... I believe HP will be selling Linux pre-installed fairly soon after this good effort by Dell. I don't think they want to lose the Linux desktop sales to Dell. |
| bigg May 25, 2007 12:36 PM EDT |
I'm supposed (emphasis there) to be up for a new desktop at work. I will be getting a Dell with Ubuntu if things go as planned. |
| softwarejanitor May 25, 2007 12:55 PM EDT |
> Also, HP right now have all their business desktops available with Free-DOS option that are $130.
> cheaper than the ones with Windows. You even have the choice to configure exactly the machine but
> with different OS or Free-DOS which Dell doesn't have yet, or not easily accessible. HP also has similar choices on their business line laptops... Unfortunately, the hardware configurations I was interested in (AMD processor, nVidia graphics) are only available in their home line which does not let you choose no OS or a non-Microsoft OS. Because of that I ended up having a custom "white box" laptop built for me (no OS) and installing (k)Ubuntu on it myself. It would be great if all the major players like Dell and HP would offer choice of OS on all their models, but I guess a little step at a time is all we can expect right now. |
| dinotrac May 25, 2007 1:12 PM EDT |
>have all their business desktops available with Free-DOS option that are $130. cheaper than the ones with Windows OOC, which Windows comes with those? Between XP Home and Professional, and Vista (HELP!!! I CAN'T CHOOSE FROM ALL OF THESE BUT I THINK I WANT TO AVOID THE BASIC PILE OF CRAP, RIGHT?) it's really hard to know that that statement means!! And people complain about the confusion caused by Linux distros! |
| dcparris May 25, 2007 1:26 PM EDT |
To be clear, I just want to be sure even the novice users can find the Ubuntu offering fairly easily. I'm fairly sure the Dell folks have taken my thoughts in that light. Hopefully my positive comments in the article kept things in perspective. |
| dinotrac May 25, 2007 2:24 PM EDT |
Rev - I think you helped matters immensely when you edited out the line beginning with "Those greedy blood-sucking capitalist pig thieves..." |
| dcparris May 25, 2007 3:27 PM EDT |
Why thank you for your kind observation! |
| tuxchick May 25, 2007 3:36 PM EDT |
I said nice things and nobody complimented me. Just for that I'm going back to windowze. My face doesn't really need a nose anyway. |
| dcparris May 25, 2007 3:41 PM EDT |
TC: You're just so complimentary! Although it goes without saying. ;-) |
| Scott_Ruecker May 25, 2007 5:03 PM EDT |
I went to Dell about ten minutes ago and typed in "Linux" into the keyword search field and it took me here: http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=gen&c=us&l=en&cs=&k=li... then I clicked the "Introducing Dell PCs with Ubuntu and FreeDOS" link: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/ubuntu?c=us... Then I clicked the "Shop for Ubuntu" button: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=... Pretty straight forward if you ask me..seriously, I've had to work harder than that to find what I want at a lot of other sites that's for sure. |
| jsusanka May 25, 2007 6:32 PM EDT |
YES!! I would like to thank Dell!! Maybe this will start a trend and corporations will actually listen to their customers like Dell has listened. Again many thanks. |
| jdixon May 25, 2007 8:32 PM EDT |
Just in case the Dell folks are reading this, I'll add my voice to the thanks. Good work. Unfortunately, the system I wanted isn't on the list yet (hey, I'm partial to AMD processors, what can I say). I assume it probably will be eventually... Unfortunately my current home machine died Monday night. I'm back up operating on a backup machine (actually, at this precise moment I'm on vacation, and I'm posting from my work machine, which uses Windows since the company only supports a Windows based VPN solution), so I'll need to order a new machine when I get home. That means no Dell for me at this time. :( Fortuantely, lots of folks as me for advice on what machines to buy, so I can now recommend Linux machines from Dell. :) |
| tracyanne May 25, 2007 10:12 PM EDT |
@JohnPatDell, so when can I expect to see Linux computers advertised by DELL Australia? |
| jezuch May 26, 2007 4:55 AM EDT |
Quoting:@JohnPatDell, so when can I expect to see Linux computers advertised by DELL Australia? Or Dell Poland? |
| numbers May 26, 2007 6:28 AM EDT |
The dell.ca website has no mention of Ubuntu pcs, Linux pcs, or open source. I hope it's jsomething they will be fixing shortly. Someone I used to work with had bought a Dell pc through Dell.ca and was suprised to learn the pc would ship from Texas. Either that, or the CSR he was talking to about his order was in Texas. He had assumed since he went through the Dell.ca site that things would be handled here in Canada. |
| Aladdin_Sane May 26, 2007 8:13 AM EDT |
numbers: I can speak from experience that that is an evolutionary thing with Dell, and most corps. Historically, significant amounts of Dell PC's have shipped from the Texas HQ. That has been changing over the years. Plants have sprouted in other parts of the world, but Logistics, Manufacturing, Customer Service, and Sales are very different departments. Not to mention Marketing. Some may called it globalization, but I just see it as business. In my time at Dell I worked in Texas only, but I worked with Dell employees, offshorers, outsourcers, and partners in Panama, England, Ireland, Germany, Canada, India, China, and Tennessee, Utah, Alabama, Idaho, Oklahoma, Washington state and Massachusetts. But that is just off the top of my head. Keep in mind that Dell historically has done most of its business over the phone, thus has a very very sophisticated phone system, larger than many countries phone systems I'd bet. |
| Sander_Marechal May 26, 2007 4:08 PM EDT |
Quoting:Have IBM, Novell, or HP done this? As far as I know, they have not even tried. Yes they did, but not for consumer systems. They all pushed quite hard for the stuff that goes into their blade servers. Fortunately for us, blades share a lot of hardware with modern laptops. Why do you think Linux works so well on laptops? Aside from the video, wireless and in very rare cases a NIC, everything that goes into a laptop "just works" with Linux and has done for years. Ofcourse, to fully enjoy Linux you need that video and wireless as well. Those are the last few hurdles. But all in all it took the Linux community less time to get your average laptop hardware supported than it took to get desktop hardware supported a decade ago. |
| JohnPatDell May 26, 2007 5:47 PM EDT |
Traceyanne & Jezuch -- Wish I had the answers you're looking for. We're still working out our overall Linux plans and there's nothing definitive at this point to pass along. What you've seen this week for the U.S. market is the result of more than three months of 'round the clock work, which is a remarkably short period of time from our perspective. Until we know more, know that your messages have been received loud and clear. |
| Sander_Marechal May 27, 2007 3:17 AM EDT |
@JohnPatDell: In that case, add The Netherlands to the list of interested countries. |
| Teron May 27, 2007 12:15 PM EDT |
Finland, too. I want a new machine this year, and am looking for a high-end laptop that preferably doesn't come with Vista. Being able to show support for Linux by buying a Ubuntu machine would be a plus. A Kubuntu or Ubuntu Studio one even more so. |
| Libervis May 28, 2007 2:20 PM EDT |
It may be interesting to note that exactly because this community is so often what we might call "whiny" that some good things happen in the end. If no-one whined where would the pressure come from? If we didn't make requests, pose doubts and question what Dell was actually doing I think it is possible we wouldn't get all that we are now getting. Dell has been probed and so far it seems to be passing the test. The only thing I see spoiling the grade a bit is Dell's new alliance with Microsoft (which formally validates Microsoft's patent claims), although the technology world appears to know full well that Microsoft doesn't have a case... Still, I will join in thanking Dell for listening and offering what we asked for. It's time to give them some pat in the back, after the rough period of critiques... until next time. ;) |
| dinotrac May 28, 2007 5:18 PM EDT |
>(which formally validates Microsoft's patent claims), I haven't seen the terms of Dell's "new alliance" with Microsoft, but am hard-pressed to imagine how it could possibly validate Microsoft's patent claims. It certainly seems to buy into the marketing angle: that customers want assurance that they can deploy software without undue worry. That doesn't seem like a major revelation. I do know that Dell has had an "old alliance" with Microsoft for years. Microsoft is a major vendor to Dell, and the two companies are in that classic conumdrum: "Owe the bank $100,000 and the bank owns you. Owe the bank $100,000,000, and you own the bank." Each company is too important to the other's business to ignore. |
| henke54 May 29, 2007 5:21 AM EDT |
@JohnPatDell: In that case, add Belgium also to the list of interested countries. http://map.ubuntu-be.org/index.php ;-) |
| pogson May 29, 2007 5:41 AM EDT |
http://dell.com/open, "dell dot com slash open" gets us soon to the Linux devices after jumping over than other OS we can finally choose Linux. Thanks Dell. I will hold off purchasing my first laptop until you sell in Canada. Has anyone here bought one? Any reviews? |
| NoDough May 29, 2007 7:16 AM EDT |
pogson: I have purchased one for my daughter (see above.) An estimated ship date of 6/8/07 is shown, and its current status is "In Production." I will probably post a review, but it will be unique. I have no intention of opening the box. I want my daughter to do that for herself, and have the experience of getting it up and running. I'll only become involved if she asks for help. So, my review will be mostly from the perspective of an observer. My daughter is not a computer person. She doesn't care how it works, she just wants it to work. She has some limited exposure to Ubuntu, because my home computers are always running Linux in one form or another. So, it won't be entirely new to her. Should be fun. |
| alc May 29, 2007 9:59 AM EDT |
"
I will probably post a review, but it will be unique. I have no intention of opening the box. I want my daughter to do that for herself, and have the experience of getting it up and running. I'll only become involved if she asks for help. So, my review will be mostly from the perspective of an observer." That would probably be the best review of all.Finding out how someone with little or no linux skills deals with Linux preinstalled.Both of my kids (one in college and one in her last year of H.S.)both can use linux but when it comes to any kind of problem,it's dad to the rescue. I'll be looking forward to reading about how things went. |
| tracyanne May 29, 2007 1:28 PM EDT |
Quoting:So, my review will be mostly from the perspective of an observer. That sort of review will give us a much better idea of how well Linux on DELL will go down with non techie users. You daughter's impressions would be very useful too. I take it that 6/8/07 means the 8th of June and not the 6th of August as I read it. |
| rijelkentaurus May 29, 2007 2:20 PM EDT |
Quoting: So, my review will be mostly from the perspective of an observer. I'd like to see that sort of review for Vista. **rolls on floors, gasps for breath** |
| NoDough May 30, 2007 5:52 AM EDT |
Quoting:I take it that 6/8/07 means the 8th of June and not the 6th of August as I read it. Yes, you are correct. My apologies to the non-US crowd. I didn't think about how provincial date formats can be. |
| Sander_Marechal May 30, 2007 7:54 AM EDT |
That's why I usually mark my dates (in filenames etcetera) as YYYY-MM-DD. It's above ambiguity. Another reasonably good way I read is to assume that dates spaced with slashes are US MM/DD dates and the ones separated with dashes are DD-MM. Works most of the time. |
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