Dell will sell Linux Desktop

[Antarctica]

Interesting news for Linux lovers.:)

-{ Quote: " Dell contacted DesktopLinux.com on March 28 to let us know that the company will be releasing select desktop and notebook systems with pre-installed Linux as an option in the coming weeks." }-

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS8436091466.html

[ErikAlbert]

Not a bad idea.

[cheater87]

Oh man haha I had to get mine last year.

[Alphalutra1]

Although I don't care about the fact that linux is preinstalled (except for saving people money from having to pay exorbitant fees for a so-so OS ;) ), it is great to know that they are shipping laptops with full linux support, while the desktops doesn't really matter for the most part since everything they use is pretty standard. However, I doubt they would preload all the laptops with ndiswrapper, since that would be a supreme PITA, so linux friendly wireless cards will be preinstalled which is nice

Cheersm

Alphalutra1

[coolbluewater]

Just an FYI, the Knoppix version can be run live from your CD/DVD drive (even on machines without a hard drive installed) and will detect hardware including your NIC for Internet connectivity - no installation necessary:

http://www.knoppix.org/
http://www.linuxcd.org/view_distro.php?id_distro=17

I've used it on both a desktop and laptop with zero issues. :)

[Pedro]

I think it's odd that Dell only does this on user request. Are they well managed? Sure, i bet they make tons, but what about the long term?

I say this because, if you're really serious about it, you can't be stuck on one OS, one company, Microsoft. What long term goals do you have?

Of course, this can be said about all manufacturers, that seem to get only the short term. Considering this, Dell seems better, way better.
I'm ignorant here, what other manufacturers do something of the sort, major players?

Technology is another thing, note, but this should be critical in long term planning. Do we want to be more dependant on a software developer? Surrender, and follow? Or do we want to be active, and explore alternatives, so we can be prepared?
Maybe for some reason (not sure how), that's not that important to hardware manufacturers, but i recall from Porter some key points about the Competitive Forces Model, one of them being bargaining power of the suppliers, which in this case is Microsoft supplying the pre-installed OS.
Not sure.

Even more puzzling is other software developers, like imaging, graphics, games, etc. Isn't it obvious the Microsoft is going to step in your business?
Imaging their own OS is an obvious expectation.
Games: already with their foot in. They should be steping in with the other in following years.
etc.

It's all based on one OS, and that company will make sure they'll sell everything on one package. Do you think users will look for alternatives? (the masses).

Don't you want to be multi-platform? ???