Most of you already know that Dell is going to possibly (keyword) be pre-installing Linux on select versions of it's computers. On Digg, released about a day ago and has since been removed, and image on Dell's website (http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/unbuntu?c=us&cs=19&l=en&) showed that Ubuntu would officially be the first pre-installed Linux OS ever to be pre-installed by an OEM. In Dell's support website, there's even an article on how to install Ubuntu on your Dell computer. (http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&l=en&s=gen&docid=2F0A15EB21C7E5DDE040A68F5B285AAE&cs=)

I've lost the article and link, but all this pointing towards Ubuntu only seems logical because even the big man himself, Michael S. Dell, uses Ubuntu on his rigged out laptop! Michael Dell is the first billionaire CEO to ever use and support the open source Linux operating system! In your face, Mr. Gates! Just admit it... Linux will rule the world. Windows will fail. Why? Just take a look at the Linux and Windows forums here at Astahost to understand why!

All these hints are pointing to the fact that Dell will soon be pre-installing Ubuntu very soon. Hopefully within the end of the month or sooner. Dell quickly responded to bringing back Windows XP on most of its systems, a sign to Microsoft that Vista sucks!

Personally, I'm not the die-hard Ubuntu fan. I really honestly hope that Dell will also sell computers pre-installed with Fedora Core. Also, found on Digg, that Toshiba (Italy) is rolling on out systems pre-installed with Linux. http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9644921792.html

It just goes to show, Linux is starting to become very popular. One of these days, Windows will be #2 in the market.

[N]F

Doh! I feel like I have been trampled over. I guess I should not have bought my Dell laptop when I did a month back. I am now stuck with the freak OS, Windows Vista. I am not even sure if I can go ahead and install Ubuntu 'cause, it is covered by a year warranty - and it might go null and void.

I have already seen $400 PC's in supermarkets. Now, it would be interesting if a big company as Dell sells computers with Linux pre-installed, instead of helping Crosoft making money.
This would be a gread step frontwards on the road of Open Systems, I'm really happy with that.
Linux people will not be any more some strange guys using strange computers, we will be normal people buying normal computers.

I've been waiting for Linux to overtake Microsoft for the last 8 years...hasn't happened yet and isn't going to anytime soon. I'll go another step further and say it's not going to happen. Liniux killed Unix in the server room. Any hope of Linux making a big dent in the mainstrem commical/end user's life was headed off at the pass by a little company called Apple.

I know far more people that switched from Linux to MacOSX a number of years ago (me...well in my case it was BSD to MacOSX, but still), and havn't looked back. It still goes back to that little point that OSX's Unix based core is friendly enough to run just about any OSS software outthere that Linux users have and has commercial outfits like Adobe and Intuite (quicken/quickbooks) which makes it attractive to small business owners like me that are willing to pay a premium upfront not to have the other issues associated with Windows.

Granted I am in the video production world and use Final Cut Studio...so it's not like I have a lot of platform choice there.

Dell has long been locked into the Microsoft licensing hell. They were rather late into the Linux server market. I don't think it's hurt them all that much, but still they were one of the last major vendors to support it after IBM basically dumped AIX for Linux and clearly took an early lead.

Then there was the marriage to Intel. It's only been in the last year (maybe two) that Dell began offering computers with AMD chips. I'm more of an Intel man myself, so that never bothered me, but still I heard so many people say: "I would buy Dell if..."

First it was Linux...then it was, "Well I'd buy a dell with linux if it ran on AMD". I'm wondering what the excuse will be now?

I've dealt with Dells a lot over the year and they generally build a good computer. But I've also had some issues with them. For instance I was working earlier this year with a Medical supply company. They were upgrading their systems and the software they were considering ran on XP, it was not yet Vista compatiable. The company had to wait until March to buy the system and then the only thing they could get from dell for the workstations was Vista. Maybe we could have gotten a couple boxes with Linux installed then walked over to Best Buy and get a couple XP Pro boxes. Still, though, that would have been more expensive than going with the local company that built the systems from scratch. (Not my first choice, but small business to small business transaction...my client's wouldn't listen to me...but everything worked out so far)

why is dell stooping so low ? they are putting junk Filipino made amd processors ( AMD ) in some systems instead of intel. why choose something inferior? and as everyone knows ubuntu is a terrible distro of linux i mean it is absoulutley brutal! why would'nt they try and install red hat? the best working linux distro out there or another old and established distro that has lots of functions but few bugs.

I hope Dell doesn't start using Ubuntu. In my view Linux is inferior to Windows.

Argue all you want using illogical creeds but there is NO proof that Linux beats windows. Just ideologues who hate Microsoft.

The only reason to preinstall Linux would be that its cheaper than Windows.

i totally agree i mean some linux distros are better than other so i mean the could choose a better one. but the main problem is that linux is free so we all know that they are going to try and make mad cash off of these things. i bet if it's for commercial use ubuntu might not be free but who knows.... Mac OS > Linux.

How much cheaper would computers and laptops be, as a % ?

You can go ahead and install Ubuntu or whatever other operating system you want. This shouldn't have anything to do with the warranty as it's purely a software thing. If you are worried and actually do encounter problems (related to hardware that is), just reinstall Vista...unless Dell didn't provide the install CD It still shouldn't void any warranty though because nothing physical was damaged or opened up inside by you.

Depending on if the price goes down and by how much, this may be worth the "hassle". This is good news for those that bash Windows and stick with Linux. For those of us that want to have Windows, we will have to settle buying it (either from Dell or elsewhere).

Ubuntu has a pretty fast growing audience from what I have seen lately. Lots of users are giving it a try and even if it has bugs in it, I'm sure it will be fixed if users are reporting it.

It's a matter of "taste" (no pun intended ) whether one operating system is better than another. Dell had a forum where they asked users what they wanted...well, that's what started this

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/05/01/13147.aspx

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Ubuntu, especially on Dell systems. I'm currently running the latest release of Ubuntu on an old PIII made by Dell and the default theme for the GUI has progress bar issues. Unfortunately, Windows does have better drivers for many pieces of hardware than Linux, and that includes Ubuntu. I have noticed, however, that some other releases of Linux (most notably Fedora) do not have as many issues with drivers. No idea why this is, but whatever. One of the main issues I see with Dell preinstalling Linux is that a majority of Dell customers are people with little to no technical experience. And maintaining any Linux OS, even with the Synaptic Package Manager is more difficult for generic updates than for a Windows system, not much more, but a little more. Also, the Synaptic Package Manager provides easy access to software that directly violates intellectual property rights. Granted, it must be selected, and isn't by default, but it's very easy to find. I have no problem with preinstalling Linux, but I do think care should be taken to make sure that drivers, at least for the specific hardware that comes with the OS preinstalled should be updated on a normal schedule. Which means Dell will need to force some hardware providers to do so. And intellectual property violations should not be made easily available. And I don't see why a great majority of people would want the Linux system, especially since Dell caters to people who want to use their machines for entertainment, and few large companies make games for Linux, and to my knowledge, there are no truly legal DVD players for Linux with proper codecs, but I could be wrong on that.

~Viz