Sokraates
January 24th, 2008, 05:26 PM
This is an article translated from Futurezone, the IT-section of the ORF (the Austrian Broadcasting Agency, about what the BBC is to the UK).
I have translated the whole article, though only the final bit is truly interesting. So here it is, for those, who don't want to read everything:
"In the near future the producers [HP and Lenovo] would themselves offer notebooks with Ubuntu preinstalled, therefore the installation from prepared mediums has been chosen as an interim solution."
So it seems the rumors are true. :D
You can find the original article (in German) here (http://futurezone.orf.at/tipps/stories/251610/).
Below is the translated version. The comments in square brackets are my own.
Wednesday, 23.01.2008, 12:26
Low priced notebooks for the University of Vienna
New service offered by the Zentraler Informatikdienst [A.N.: Central Service for Informatics]
Starting in February the Zentraler Informatikdienst (ZID) of the University of Vienna will offer students and employees a new programme called u:books through which low priced business notebooks can be bought.
In cooperation with the „Neptun“ programme of the University of Zurich the experts have selected three devices respectively from the producers Lenovo, HP and Apple. According to the University the first period for selling will start February 25th and end March 23rd. In the future sales should start at the beginning of each semester.
The exact prices for the devices are not fixed presently. According to the ZID, some prices are still negotiated. On enquiry by the ORF [A.N.: Österreichischer Rundfunk, the Austrian Broadcasting Agency] the responsible employee of the ZID, Christian Marzluf, therefore declined to comment on prices of the devices, but they should be significantly below the prices which end users would have to pay on the free market. Each member of the university may only buy one device.
ZID: u:book [A.N.: http://www.univie.ac.at/ZID/ubook] (http://www.univie.ac.at/ZID/ubook%5D)
ETH Zürich: Neptun [A.N.: http://www.neptun.ethz.ch/] (http://www.neptun.ethz.ch/%5D)
Three categories of devices
The devices in question are not consumer machines but sturdy business notebooks with a tree year warranty. "For example from Lenovo we offer devices from the ThinkPad-series", says Marzluf.
From each producer an ultramobile device, a "workhorse" and a powerful mobile workstation will be offered. The ETH Zurich as already announced on January 18th that the MacBook Air will be offered in the context of the Neptun-programme. Marzluf: "It will also be available from us."
The service package of the ZID will include preconfigured network settings (wireless LAN and VPN-client) and the first-level-support by the helpdesk of the ZID. Also software with univerity-licenses and a university-wide printing system will be available.
Vista, XP, Mac OS, Ubuntu
At universities the question of the operating system with which the notebooks will be delivered came up. "We offer the machines with Vista and a downgrade-option to Windows XP", says Marzluf, "but there is also the option to order the devices from HP and Lenovo with FreeDOS and have a version of Ubuntu preparded by us installed."
In the near future the producers would themselves offer notebooks with Ubuntu preinstalled, therefore the installation from prepared mediums has been chosen as an interim solution. During the selection the devices special attention has been paid on their Linux compatibility.
(APA | futurezone)
I have translated the whole article, though only the final bit is truly interesting. So here it is, for those, who don't want to read everything:
"In the near future the producers [HP and Lenovo] would themselves offer notebooks with Ubuntu preinstalled, therefore the installation from prepared mediums has been chosen as an interim solution."
So it seems the rumors are true. :D
You can find the original article (in German) here (http://futurezone.orf.at/tipps/stories/251610/).
Below is the translated version. The comments in square brackets are my own.
Wednesday, 23.01.2008, 12:26
Low priced notebooks for the University of Vienna
New service offered by the Zentraler Informatikdienst [A.N.: Central Service for Informatics]
Starting in February the Zentraler Informatikdienst (ZID) of the University of Vienna will offer students and employees a new programme called u:books through which low priced business notebooks can be bought.
In cooperation with the „Neptun“ programme of the University of Zurich the experts have selected three devices respectively from the producers Lenovo, HP and Apple. According to the University the first period for selling will start February 25th and end March 23rd. In the future sales should start at the beginning of each semester.
The exact prices for the devices are not fixed presently. According to the ZID, some prices are still negotiated. On enquiry by the ORF [A.N.: Österreichischer Rundfunk, the Austrian Broadcasting Agency] the responsible employee of the ZID, Christian Marzluf, therefore declined to comment on prices of the devices, but they should be significantly below the prices which end users would have to pay on the free market. Each member of the university may only buy one device.
ZID: u:book [A.N.: http://www.univie.ac.at/ZID/ubook] (http://www.univie.ac.at/ZID/ubook%5D)
ETH Zürich: Neptun [A.N.: http://www.neptun.ethz.ch/] (http://www.neptun.ethz.ch/%5D)
Three categories of devices
The devices in question are not consumer machines but sturdy business notebooks with a tree year warranty. "For example from Lenovo we offer devices from the ThinkPad-series", says Marzluf.
From each producer an ultramobile device, a "workhorse" and a powerful mobile workstation will be offered. The ETH Zurich as already announced on January 18th that the MacBook Air will be offered in the context of the Neptun-programme. Marzluf: "It will also be available from us."
The service package of the ZID will include preconfigured network settings (wireless LAN and VPN-client) and the first-level-support by the helpdesk of the ZID. Also software with univerity-licenses and a university-wide printing system will be available.
Vista, XP, Mac OS, Ubuntu
At universities the question of the operating system with which the notebooks will be delivered came up. "We offer the machines with Vista and a downgrade-option to Windows XP", says Marzluf, "but there is also the option to order the devices from HP and Lenovo with FreeDOS and have a version of Ubuntu preparded by us installed."
In the near future the producers would themselves offer notebooks with Ubuntu preinstalled, therefore the installation from prepared mediums has been chosen as an interim solution. During the selection the devices special attention has been paid on their Linux compatibility.
(APA | futurezone)