[Sussex] Dell going with Ubuntu

[linux at oneandoneis2.org]

Quoting "Karl E. Jorgensen" <karl at jorgensen.org.uk>:
>> Looks like they made it official now:
>> http://enterprise.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/05/01/1333205&tid=23&tid=3&tid=13

> I thought that OEMs got kickbacks for preinstalling "crapware" (e.g. the
> AOL icon, some-antivirus etc)? At least this was the reason given in the
> past for why Windows would be cheaper than a free Linux...

True, but I suppose when you think about it, installing all that  
rubbish must cost quite a bit in terms of administration, and just  
getting Windows installed is nowhere near as painless as pro-MS people  
would have you believe.

E.g. when I installed the beta of Vista, after installing the OS I had  
to install drivers for various bits of hardware off numerous CDs and  
download one or two off the net as well.

When I installed Ubuntu Feisty the other day, I needed nothing but the  
Ubuntu disc - everything but the graphics card had out-of-the-box  
support. And the graphics card driver was installed for me as soon as  
I needed it...

I imagine the man-hours it takes to do all that, plus the cost of  
Windows itself, do add up.. And Mark Shuttleworth's probably canny  
enough to have offered some kind of inducements for Dell to keep the  
price down ;o)

> With due repect to Canonical, I hope they won't preinstall similar
> stuff. I'd hate to see an AOL icon on a Ubuntu desktop!

Well, the article does say it "doesn't expect the version shipped by  
Dell to differ from the download version of Feisty" - that's pretty  
hopeful.

> Depends on the demand I guess. But it's going the right direction

Even a percentage point or two can make a difference. ATI and NVIDIA  
have been closely-matched for ages, for example: If one gains a few  
percent on the other, that could be the "upper hand" they've been  
waiting for.

But if Dell are faced with two bits of hardware that work and are  
priced about the same, but one has good Linux support and one doesn't  
- I'm thinking Wifi in particular in this case - Dell has no reason  
not to just switch wholly to the Linux-friendly WiFi across the board,  
because the Windows experience is identical, the Linux experience is  
better, and it's easier to support one bit of hardware than two.

Just knowing that Dell will not use your hardware on some of their  
machines if there's no Linux support ought to be enough to worry some  
hardware manufacturers.

> I presume you mean this one?
>     http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/1/29/345
>
> Reading between the lines, I guess this was aimed at ATI/NVidia (and
> others)...

I'm not sure - He mentioned later -  
http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/free_drivers_faq.html - that he was  
happy with the responses so far from numerous companies, and I think  
that if ATI or NVIDIA had been one of them, it would have leaked out.

> Wasn't there something about Ubunty separating out non-free
> drivers, and not installing them by default?

Yes, but they get auto-downloaded as soon as you enable the 3D desktop ;o)

> And what a nice dream it is :-)

Isn't it just? :o)

-- 
http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org