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Open Letter to DELL

Posted by NoDough on · 35 comments
LXer; By Lane Beneke (aka NoDough) 		Mail this story
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LXer Feature: 03-May-2007

When the timing is right, things just naturally seem to fall into place and work for good.

Open Letter to DELL

I can't remember who it was that said, "The secret to comedy is good.... ti----m----ING."

Actually, that's the secret to a whole lot more than comedy. In the 90s, Novell tried to replace their Netware operating system with a UNIX based system. Great idea, bad timing. Shortly thereafter, you (DELL) attempted to sell computers preloaded with Linux. Great idea, bad timing.

When the timing is right, things just naturally seem to fall into place and work for good.

How ironic is it, then, that you will be offering pre-installed Linux again, but this time around your release, prompted by IdeaStorm, will coincide with the first running of the Indianapolis 500 to feature the Linux Penguin on one of the entries?

There is a way to maximize the effect of this coincidence. You can seize upon the opportunity to thrust Linux into the world limelight, boosting your own efforts in the process.

The method I’m thinking of is to help the guys at Tux500.com gain primary sponsorship of the Indy500 entry piloted by Stephan Gregoire. This will serve to ‘mainstream’ Linux in the public’s perception, which should be a boost to your sales.

Would you like to further boost the effort? How about helping the Tux500 crew with sponsorship and adding your own sponsorship? Imagine Linux and DELL flying down the speedway together at over 200mph in front of millions of viewers worldwide.

I am not in marketing, but it seems like a no-lose proposition to me.

Thank you for doing what none of the other top-tier computer manufacturers would. Thank you for recognizing the inherent quality of open-source and making a commitment to it. The FOSS community is grateful.

I hope that I am not being presumptuous in asking you to take that commitment to the next level. Nonetheless, I am asking.

Thanks and best regards,
Lane Beneke (aka NoDough)

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Comments (35)

15 earlier comments in the full thread.

devnet ·
Yep...evidently I was spamming him from my government websense blocked job that I work 45 hours a week at...see, I have nothing better to do than that. I don't have any projects at all with open source like getting http://www.pclinuxos.com back up and running and redesigning their website. I have no projects like technical writing for http://www.pclinuxos.com. None like http://mag.mypclinuxos.com PCLinuxOS Magazine. Nothing like all those active projects on http://mypclinuxos.com. None. Hell, I don't even need to mess around with my 9 year old son...afterall, he doesn't need me. Spamming and obsessing on everything Penguin Pete does strikes me as the best use of my time...forget the family, to hell with the job, and be damned all ye projects!

:)
dinotrac ·
devnet -

Glad to see you are setting aside work, family, outside interests, and, in all likelihood, sleep to spam PP. I hate to see the unimportant impede those things that truly matter.
VincentCorleone ·
Sorry Guys,

my Name is Vincent Carlos Corleone. Its a usual name where i come from. And i am not Pete. Just for info.

Greetings

Vince
NoDough Story submitter ·
Thanks for clarifying, Vince.

Sorry to have doubted you.

Can you expound on what you meant by the following...

Quoting:Thx for this business Blog Post from Acceleration Marketing
tuxchick ·
"Thx for this business Blog Post from Acceleration Marketing"

wow, how could anyone mistake that for a spam?
dcparris ·
I'm curious about the reference myself.
tracyanne ·
I think PP is useless drongo, who rorts the system to suit himself. He's been trying to white ant the Tux500 project from the get go, and I think that to some extent he has succeeded, unfortunately.
jdixon ·
> ... white ant ...

That's a new one to me. Is that Oz speak or a general Britishism?
tracyanne ·
White ants tend to eat trees or house stumps from the inside out, until all that's left is a shell.
jimf ·
White ants = termites over here.
jdixon ·
> White ants = termites

Ah. That makes sense. Thanks.
tracyanne ·
Yeah but it sounds better when you accuse some one of "white anting"
Aladdin_Sane ·
> The gentleman I met at the Dell booth at SCaLE 5x I have repeatedly e-mailed asking for an opportunity to interview someone, anyone at Dell concerning Open Source and Linux.

Scott_Ruecker: I'm curious about this. I did not know that Dell had a booth there, but I figured that follow-ups would be forwarded to "appropriate department" for action.

It seems at LXer there is a way to get Dell to respond "officially" as DC has just shown.

Me, I'd try using the links at http://direct2dell.com/.

Sometimes it seems to me like job searching: Pestering and poking sticks into enough holes until a response comes.
hkwint ·
IMHO, Dell can't say anything about Linux because that would make Microsoft angry. It seems Microsoft tells Dell what they are allowed to answer and what not. That's why IBM and HP are sponsoring Linux, and Dell not: Sponsoring it will lose them more money from Microsoft than it will gain them from Linux-users, they gamble.
Scott_Ruecker ·
I have to agree hkwint.

I think that for all the noise they are making it is just that, Noise. Nothing real or substantial that they have to stand behind and they can still walk away from the whole thing without losing face with M$.
kozmcrae ·
Of course the final twist of the bayonet from Dell would be some kind of patent infringement deal with Microsoft. I really want to see Dell selling Linux computers to the general public, but until that's going along smoothly for a few months I'm holding my breath.

As far as Dell helping out with Tux500, I would rather not see any corporate support. I would rather not be beholden to any corporation for the success of Linux. That could only lead to trouble down the road. Having said that I know IBM and Red Hat have done a great deal toward helping Linux get a towhold in the public mind. But I think the community, in some fashion, needs to present themselves to the public as a united entity, sans corporate identity, so that they have something to latch onto when they hear to word Linux. The concept of Linux and Open Source is nearly impossible for the mind of John Q. to grasp.
Scott_Ruecker ·
Quoting:The concept of Linux and Open Source is nearly impossible for the mind of John Q. to grasp.


Unfortunately you are right. Members of my own family have a hard time understanding that "Linux" is not a company but that companies and individuals use it.

I have spent way too much time trying to explain that one..
helios ·
Darn. I don't want to start a new thread and this one is already so long. I hope it isn't buried. this is a good idea and if anyone besides me will take it and run with it, I would appreciate it. Dell has already notified us that they will not be participating in this effort. That's fine...they could change their mind but I doubt it. some mararkey about restrictive budgeting. BUT...

If you look to the right and half a page up, there is a comprehensive list of computer manufacturers that offer linux machines pre-loaded. Now, if those people were lobbied heavily...Know what I mean jelly bean.....

There's a bunch of em. You think they would all say no? I could use some help there. Email me if you have some time.

h
kozmcrae ·
Dell twists bayonet, and grins.

I hate it when I'm right, the DRBs.

Link: http://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp?S=6476999&nav=menu484_2
helios ·
My Friend Rich Chapman sent me this in the wee hours. A scant 4 hours ago it seems and I have been pondering the ramifications since. None of them have a positive or good outcome for this community. I said it in the thread started on the LXer posted article itself. And yes kozmcrae, what a true case of prophetic posting. MS is not going to allow Dell to offer Linux without standing over them and watching every move. This is a move with any cooperation by dell I believe to be the result of back-room coercion. In fact...never mind. Not now.

If MS is going to follow their playbook, the next move they make will send ripples of outrage through this community with an intensity never before seen.

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