[Newark] Dell supplying Ubuntu... or not

[Richard Street]

Dell annoy me with this, because even when they do supply a PC/Laptop
with Ubuntu, it generally costs more than the equivalent XP machine! I'd
prefer them to ship it with no OS.

Just looking at the second link, one of the selection criteria for
Windows is 'if you are new to using computers'. Surely these are the
best people to get on Linux - no prior expectations and all that! At
least you still get the RedHat option when configuring servers.

We've just had some work experience students at our work place, and as
one of their tasks, we had them do a bare-metal install of a desktop
PC. 

We pitched Windows XP (that they were familiar with) against ubuntu
(10.04), and set them the task of getting to a point where they could
use their email, log into facebook, connect to their IM account(s) and
be able to write up their CVs in an office product. 

The Windows install took over an hour and a half - even the fact it was
a Dell PC with a Dell re-installation disk. They still had to find and
install the drivers for getting the NIC/Video/Sound/Chipset all working.
We have the driver disks, so they did not have to get them from Dell
(which would have involved a second, already working, PC to do so).

We also made them download Open Office (not having a licenced copy of
MSOffice available).

By contrast, the Ubuntu install gave them everything they needed in
under 26 minutes. The only thing they needed help with was knowing that
Empathy was what they needed for MSN Live.

All in all a good test. One of the lads even installed Ubuntu over his
home PC a couple of days later (after taking advice on making sure
everything was backed up that he needed), an easy transition for him as
99% of everything he needs it for is online now.

Rich.



On Sat, 2010-07-24 at 13:59 +0100, Steve Caddy wrote:
> Just come across this:
> 
> <http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/07/24/0241204/Dell-Drops-Ubuntu-PCs-From-Its-Website>
> 
> This can not be good news, and follows hot the heels of this little gem:
> 
> <http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/windows_or_ubuntu?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs>
> 
> I chose a Dell PC last time I bought because of their apparent insight into
> using a different OS, and providing hardware that would be compatible, but now
> it seems it's all going out of the window.
> 
> Steve
>