"Dell has heard you"

[mtl2002]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6506027.stm

"Dell gives the go ahead for Linux: Computer giant Dell will start to sell PCs preinstalled with open source Linux operating systems, the firm has said. ...."

(as long as they don't start handing out Novell )

[bob]

Let's see now... Dell has a contract with MS who has an agreement with Novell. Dell already provides some servers with SuSE and has techs who have a background in SuSE. Ummmm...I can't guess which flavor of linux might be favored....

[pete_1967]

Originally Posted by bob

Let's see now... Dell has a contract with MS who has an agreement with Novell. Dell already provides some servers with SuSE and has techs who have a background in SuSE. Ummmm...I can't guess which flavor of linux might be favored....

Couldn't care less.

Of 100 000, over 70 000 voted for Linux, that'll wake up other manufacturers as well.

[sdowney717]

I suppose its also a question of tech support. People will call in with problems and the support people will need to know how many different distros?
It is likely Dell will offer only one distro of linux for starters.
Does anyone know which distro is the most popular?

[Adamant1988]

Originally Posted by mtl2002

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6506027.stm

"Dell gives the go ahead for Linux: Computer giant Dell will start to sell PCs preinstalled with open source Linux operating systems, the firm has said. ...."

(as long as they don't start handing out Novell )

I think that it would be wise of Dell to choose a slightly less risky distribution, as with the GPL v3 around the corner the potential problems that Dell could run into with Novell are growing. Ubuntu is not a good choice because it would just fall apart at the support side with all those new users and their systems flooding in. But I suppose it'll either be RHEL or SLED, neither is really a bad choice. (Although the mention of community support being adequate makes me think that Fedora, Ubuntu, or openSuSE will make the installation)

[sdowney717]

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT5816278551.html

A survey claims ubuntu is the most popular linux. It seems to me that the most popular linux would be a logical choice business wise for a company looking to open up linux to the desktop.
I like Fedora but I also wonder if Fedora being more aggressive, always pushing ahead with the latest software would be the best choice.

[pparks1]

Originally Posted by Adamant1988

Ubuntu is not a good choice because it would just fall apart at the support side with all those new users and their systems flooding in.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by Ubuntu not working and falling apart. Care to explain?

Most people regard Ubuntu as a great distro for beginners....and since many people getting Linux preconfigured from Dell would be beginners, it would seem quite logical to use Ubuntu as the version of Linux installed.

[RupertPupkin]

Originally Posted by sdowney717

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT5816278551.html
A survey claims ubuntu is the most popular linux.

Heh, that survey, by its own admission, needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt. As they tacitly admit, anyone could change their IP address and vote multiple times. So fanatical users of distros with a lot of free time on their hands (*cough* Ubuntu *cough*) will skew the results. And does anyone seriously believe that Debian is the 2nd most used distro? Please. With less than 15,000 responses world-wide, their 95% confidence intervals for the true proportions are bound to be huge (that's a bad thing, for those who haven't taken statistics).

The Fedora project has actually done a much better job of estimating how many people are using FC6, and the figure came out to be over 2 million. That estimate undercounted in some situations and overcounted in others, but overall their methodology was far superior than that of the survey you refer to (which I had never even heard of), and that 2 million figure is considered fairly accurate. Combined with users still running older versions of Fedora, my guess is that there are probably 3 million Fedora users. And I'd wager that this makes Fedora the #1 distro in terms of number of users (at least in the "Western" world, since China has their own official "Red Flag Linux" which is probably used by a lot of its 1 billion+ citizens).

In summary: nothing to see here, move along.

[Adamant1988]

Originally Posted by pparks1

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by Ubuntu not working and falling apart. Care to explain?

Most people regard Ubuntu as a great distro for beginners....and since many people getting Linux preconfigured from Dell would be beginners, it would seem quite logical to use Ubuntu as the version of Linux installed.

Well, what I mean is that Canonical is still a small, privately held company. They don't have NEARLY the resources that Red Hat or Novell do to support their desktop product (which is fortunate that community support is OK for this same reason).

However the Ubuntu forums (which are the primary support for most users, right with IRC) are seeing a change in numbers. There are a great deal more newbies with generic questions and problems flooding in, this is all taking place as more advanced users are leaving the community. So Ubuntu's community support is heading down-hill.

Currently Ubuntu's IRC channel for support contains 1074 users, excluding myself. It is already almost impossible to get good support in there unless you have one hell of an interesting problem. The forums are not much different because not many people like answering the same generic questions (how do I get mp3/wireless/flash?) 900 times a day.

So what's happening is that the quality of Ubuntu's community support is degrading, but the company isn't making any real cash that we're aware of so the quality of the professional support probably isn't higher than it would normally be. Now just imagine the influx of new users pounding away at Ubuntu's already taxed forum server, flooding the IRC channel, and using the home-support that would come with the systems. I just don't think the resources are there to deal with that kind of new user flood. That's just my opinion though.

[ibbo]

Be greatfull they are not like HP.

http://enterprise.linux.com/article....30204&from=rss

[o2binh20]

Originally Posted by ibbo

Be greatfull they are not like HP.

http://enterprise.linux.com/article....30204&from=rss

Well what do you expect? When you start sloshing your beer on the keyboard, it gets stickey and of course the warrenty is voided.....

[Dies]

Originally Posted by pete_1967

Couldn't care less.

Of 100 000, over 70 000 voted for Linux, that'll wake up other manufacturers as well.

Not if they can't sell any machines with Linux on them.

Anyone can vote in a survey, talk is cheap. If people don't put their money where their mouth is then this will just re-affirm, in the eyes of some, that people don't want Linux or that there is no money in the market (which is what they already think) and discourage other manufacturers.

On another note if they make the Linux machines more expensive than the same machine with Windows, then who would be silly enough to pay more for the same machine.

[o2binh20]

Originally Posted by bob

Let's see now... Dell has a contract with MS who has an agreement with Novell. Dell already provides some servers with SuSE and has techs who have a background in SuSE. Ummmm...I can't guess which flavor of linux might be favored....

Actually, I kinda like where this is going. The logical next step after offering Linux vs. Windows, is offering a machine with NO operating system. That could reduce costs even more along with many other benefits:

• The manufacturer doesn't have to add the cost to format & image a disk
• The cosumer doesn't have to pay for an OS he won't us anyway
• The consumer won't have to spend the first evening removing all the usless trial software and utilities form the new PC
• I can install an distro of my choice
• I can be free of Micro$oft from the start

Yes, the future is looking brighter.

[pete_1967]

Originally Posted by Dies

Not if they can't sell any machines with Linux on them.

Anyone can vote in a survey, talk is cheap. If people don't put their money where their mouth is then this will just re-affirm, in the eyes of some, that people don't want Linux or that there is no money in the market (which is what they already think) and discourage other manufacturers.

On another note if they make the Linux machines more expensive than the same machine with Windows, then who would be silly enough to pay more for the same machine.

You're right on that, but when such numbers even bother to vote in a poll, and even if they are not planning to go buy one right away when one is available, it does show to everyone that there's potential market out there and encourages them to explore it instead of ignoring. Had it been 70% of 1000, I'd dismissed the whole survey (and so would have Dell as well I guess).

Ultimately success will boil down to exactly what you're saying: how they are priced and do they sell.

[aids]

ya my ass dell is going to sell linux ....... i just got off the phone with a friend that finally got fed up with dell and there locking of vista on her new comp ....... yet when i say just ask for linux they pretty much act like they dont know what shes talking about ..... when i actually see people with linux installed and not being forced with M$ then ill actually not be pestimistic