What Dell needs from a Linux distro
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Steven_Rosenber Jul 31, 2007 1:13 PM EDT |
Make no mistake, I'm a huge Ubuntu proponent. I've thrown on a half-dozen new distros in the past week, and most tend to make Ubuntu look pretty darn good in comparison. But we all should remember. The average LXer reader and the average Linux user is pretty tech-savvy, not adverse to a little tinkering with config files, and he or she probably has a pretty good idea why Ubuntu doesn't launch the first time with support for everything from Flash and QuickTime to MP3 and WMV. And as a supporter of free, open standards for audio, video and data, I agree with the way Ubuntu, Debian and others handle these formats. But for the person looking at Linux for the first time, for the only Linux offered by one of the world's biggest computer makers? I think all that functionality needs to be there out of the box. Users who are buying a preloaded Dell PC should at least have the option of playing back all the popular formats that are out there -- especially Flash and MP3. I know it's pretty easy to add this functionality to Ubuntu, but there are distros out there that already do it for users (for Ubuntu derivatives, Mint and Mepis come immediately to mind). I'm not saying that Ubuntu shouldn't be offered by Dell, but I think they need to add a distro that makes out-of-the-box multimedia work for those who wouldn't know an OGG or VORBIS if it hit them in the head. After all, if it's about choice -- the choice between Windows and Linux (and, in the case of Dell, FreeDOS), shouldn't there be a choice in Linuxes as well? Dell could go with SLED or RHED, but they could just as easily adopt Mepis, PCLinuxOS (not sure where that one stands on multimedia), or even a version of Ubuntu with all the Automatix stuff added. So if Dell made a move, which distro(s) should they add? |
| tracyanne Jul 31, 2007 1:21 PM EDT |
Quoting:Dell could go with SLED or RHED, but they could just as easily adopt Mepis, PCLinuxOS (not sure where that one stands on multimedia), or even a version of Ubuntu with all the Automatix stuff added. Mandriva. |
| azerthoth Jul 31, 2007 1:26 PM EDT |
Quoting:Mandriva. or derivative, read PClinuxOS. Which according to the entirely arbitrary data from distro watch is about to usurp Ubuntu. |
| tracyanne Jul 31, 2007 1:40 PM EDT |
My only problem with PCLOS is that it didn't have the depth that Mandriva has, but then nor does Ubuntu, and it seems to do really well. But PCLOS is by far and away a much better distro than Ubuntu. |
| dinotrac Jul 31, 2007 1:59 PM EDT |
Am I the only one getting sick and tired of whining and hand-wringing over Dell? First, they wouldn't sell Linux PCs. Now they sell Linux PCs. Then, the prices didn't seem to match up, and specials available for Windows seemed to bypass Linux. Dell is a big company with many pieces, but those complaints were handled pretty quickly. Now Dell isn't selling Linux hard enough? Linux isn't easy enough to find? I've been to the Dell site more than a few times, and Linux PCs ain't that hard to find. I would go so far as to say that somebody who couldn't find Linux PCs on the Dell site has no business trying to run Linux in the first place (Wait! I can't find Outlook or the Windows Explorer or Windows Media Player. What's wrong with my computer?). Face it: Most users don't want Linux. It's not the way I'd prefer it, but it's the way it is. |
| tuxchick Jul 31, 2007 2:12 PM EDT |
I better check me for a fever, 'cause I agree with Dino. Having a Tier One vendor making all this noise about Linux is a good thing, and if they keep their word about pressuring hardware manufacturers to support open drivers they will have more success than all the lone FOSS dev teams have had in all their years of trying. Not to minimize the success the various FOSS devs have had in getting hardware companies to open up, but Dell has way more clout than they do. The buzz so far is that Dell Linux has been successful, and they will be rolling out Linux desktops in other countries. It hardly matters which distribution they choose because they can tailor it however they want. Ubuntu makes sense because it's backed by a real businessman, and because it has the most name recognition and cool factor. Matt Hartley writes rubbish. |
| jdixon Jul 31, 2007 4:27 PM EDT |
Guys, as TC points out, we're talking about Matt Hartley here. Does anyone expect him to actually make sense? And Ubuntu is fine for Dell. Face it, there are only three companies out there they could deal with who offer the support needed: Red Hat, Novell, and Canonical. Of those, only Canonical offers a real desktop version. That makes their choice rather obvious, doesn't it? Sure, I'd love to see them offer a choice of PCLinuxOS, Debian, Mepis, Ubuntu, Gentoo, and Slackware; but that's not going to happen anytime soon, if at all. |
| Bob_Robertson Jul 31, 2007 4:42 PM EDT |
One nice thing about the Dell Linux-based offering, is that they're putting standard hardware together for it. So even if you don't like Ubuntu, get the Linux PC then install what you do like. You can thereby be assured that it will have Linux supported hardware! (eg: No Dell Broadcom POS wifi card, but Intel 1495 or whatever the number is.) Newbies get to try Linux on known-good hardware, and those who are already wedded to a Linux distribution get... known-good hardware. It's a Win-Win either way. And once people have tried Linux, even Ubuntu, they will be less concerned about trying another Linux distribution. |
| Scott_Ruecker Jul 31, 2007 9:00 PM EDT |
Sorry to chime in late, I was on TLLTS show a Wednesday or so ago and I was asked about Dell selling Linux and if it would help or hurt other retailers who have already been selling computers with Linux on them and I said something to the effect of; Dell selling Linux is good, period. It means that many, many, many more people are going to hear about Linux that never would have otherwise. There are still a lot of people who have no idea what Linux is and if Dell selling it gets their attention and makes them look into it more, then so be it. The Linux 'wave' has a long way to go before it even comes close to cresting. The more that people hear about Linux the better, which makes the particulars of price and models meaningless in the long run. We are still too close to the start of the 'race' to worry about how much and what choices a vendor makes available for Linux computers. When every major and minor vendor is selling Linux computers, then we can worry about price and choice of models and such. |
| hkwint Aug 05, 2007 7:46 AM EDT |
Quoting:Face it: Most users don't want Linux. So what? Like computer manufacturers care what the costumers want? Cauz you know, Face it: Most users don't want Vista either. Nonetheless I agree to the Chick and the Dino it's a good thing people who don't want Linux don't end up with it. However, looking at Vista, the OEM's are creating demand that doesn't exist. The same could / should happen for Linux, creating demand isn't that bad. Quoting:there are only three companies out there they could deal with who offer the support needed: Red Hat, Novell, and Canonical. Not true, these are the three: Mandriva, Linspire (though we might not like that) and Canonical. It's probably most of the people here are pretty USA-centric, and don't follow what's happening in for example France, but please don't forget the first Linux-laptops from Dell were sold to French studens (only) and were pre-installed with Mandriva (the Ubuntu hype didn't exist back then). Mandriva is also the only Linux-provider I'm aware of that delivers lots of proprietary software pre-installed if you pay them, so you can have flash and java out of the box (apart from Linspire maybe), and they have a seperate distribution tailored for Linux-newbies. From what I've seen and heard, Mandriva is more suited to new Linux-users than Ubuntu. That, and because it's French for a big part, are probably the main reasons it's used in French government all over. |
| jdixon Aug 05, 2007 12:19 PM EDT |
> Mandriva, Linspire... OK, Mandriva I'll grant. I don't think Linspire could handle it though. |
| Steven_Rosenber Aug 05, 2007 8:37 PM EDT |
Don't count out Red Hat on the desktop. SJVN updates what they're doing here: http://desktoplinux.com/news/NS4294334547.html |
| hkwint Aug 06, 2007 2:38 PM EDT |
Well, it seems I have to take back what I said about Suse (not being amed at individual PC-users), since I read Lenovo is 'probably' going to sell Suse laptops, also to individuals, in the future. No further info available at this time, sadly.Quoting:I don't think Linspire could handle it though. Agree to that. On the other hand, sir Robertson did make a bid to provide 150 thousand (if I remember correctly) desktops with Linspire for the Dutch Government, for only 6 million Euros! Dutch as the Dutch government is (which means more patriotic than G.W.Bush himself) they only spoke with Microsoft, behind closed doors, and after that bought for 156 million of MS software. |
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