Dells' technical details of bundling Ubuntu

[loathsome]

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archi.../21/15563.aspx

Interesting stuff

[Polygon]

i really hope that dell convinces companies to release open source drivers, that would be really awesome

[maniacmusician]

Hmm, no proprietary codec support yet. At least they're considering it.

[az]

Hmm, no proprietary codec support yet. At least they're considering it.

Linspire? CNR for Ubuntu? I wonder if they are talking?

[jrusso2]

Not installing the codecs is going to pose problems for anyone not familiar with Linux and is going to lead to a lot of support issues.

Dell really needs to rethink this

[loathsome]

Not installing the codecs is going to pose problems for anyone not familiar with Linux and is going to lead to a lot of support issues.

Dell really needs to rethink this

Um, it's actually really easy to go to Apps → Add/Remove and then do a search for e.g. "codecs." Both the Gstreamer and Xine packs will appear, and they can be installed without any hassle.

I think Dell should include a notice saying something like this.

[prizrak]

Yeah lack of codecs is a bad thing, they put them on Windows why not Ubuntu?

[eentonig]

Because Windows paid for those licences to include them. Most linux distro's don't.

[prizrak]

Um, it's actually really easy to go to Apps → Add/Remove and then do a search for e.g. "codecs." Both the Gstreamer and Xine packs will appear, and they can be installed without any hassle.

I think Dell should include a notice saying something like this.

Still wouldn't help with lack of DVD playing support. It's dependant on documentation sure but at the same time their Windows machines come with all that enabled by default why should I (user) have to jump though hoops?

[Brunellus]

Yeah lack of codecs is a bad thing, they put them on Windows why not Ubuntu?

Because they're offering preinstalled Linux as a path of least resistance. Dell wants to preinstall Ubuntu and do it in the most painless (to them) way possible. That means bare Ubuntu, no extras, no crapware, and no further hassles to Dell.

Any software that Dell installs over and on top of a bare Ubuntu install becomes their responsibility to support. Why the heck woudl Dell want that nightmare?