Dell to choose Ubuntu (Now official)

[DC@DR]

Edited by OP: Now it's official that Dell will sell PCs with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed. Link on Ubuntu.com: http://www.ubuntu.com/news/dell-to-offer-ubuntu

Check out this link, guys: http://desktoplinux.com/news/NS8661763902.html. Even though it hasn't been officially announced from Dell yet, but this info sounds pretty good for Ubuntu, doesn't it?

Some quotes from the article:

According to our sources, Ubuntu will be released on a Dell e-series "Essential" Dimension desktop, an XPS desktop, and an e-series Inspiron laptop.

Sources also indicated that Dell has decided to go with Ubuntu because a large number of people who answered its Linux desktop survey indicated that they wanted Ubuntu. While Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, recently said he can't comment on whether or not his company has been talking with Dell, sources close to the company indicate that Dell and Canonical have been having talks for several months now about Ubuntu running on Dell's computers

[Sunflower1970]

If this is true, and from what I've read on and off from here, Digg, and Dell's site, it probably is, I'm still going to hold off jumping for joy until I hear an official announcement

(there is one minor inaccuracy in the article though. Dell's main offices are in Round Rock, not Austin )

[Churnd]

Great news! It's been speculation up to this point as to which they'd choose, but it looks like they've got their sites set on Ubuntu. =D> =D>

[aysiu]

I've retitled the thread to be a bit more accurate. There is no official announcement that Dell is preloading Ubuntu.

Great news! It's been speculation up to this point as to which they'd choose, but it looks like they've got their sites set on Ubuntu. =D> =D>

It still is speculation at this point. The odds are looking good for Ubuntu, but there's nothing definite.

[Crakie]

Interesting, although I am not popping the champagne yet. The question is, will the choice for Ubuntu result in a lower priced Dell computer? It should, but it will not be necessarily the case. Dell is making money on the OEM versions of Windows it is offering.

In another thought, a big pc vendor even considering to offer Linux means we are again a step closer to Desktop Linux. With a rising marketshare, will I actually have to run a virusscanner in two years?

[Sunflower1970]

If it does happen, it'll be interesting to see if our local paper will do a story on it. Dell is big news around here, whatever they do seems to make headlines...

[BuffaloX]

The most interesting is not if it's Ubuntu or something else.
But how well it will sell.
Will Linux finally be good business for hardware vendors.

Ubuntu is the best choice IMO, and would come as no surprise for several reasons.
The primary being that Dell probably can get it for free, and support from Canonical probably much cheaper than from Suse.
Suse has a serious image problem right now,
and I don't really see any other contenders than Ubuntu and Suse.
The industry has also complained about the lack of a clear "leader" amongst the Linux distros,
Ubuntu is that leader right now, and is for this reason alone the most obvious choice.

Congr4tz and Th4nx to 3\/3rybody that has contributed to making Linux come this far...

[Churnd]

Interesting, although I am not popping the champagne yet. The question is, will the choice for Ubuntu result in a lower priced Dell computer? It should, but it will not be necessarily the case. Dell is making money on the OEM versions of Windows it is offering.

Sadly, probably not. I don't see how they can financially unless they decide to become huge advocates of open source. I hope they market it in terms of Beryl/Compiz as well as an OS immune to viruses and spyware.

[DC@DR]

If this comes true, it would definitely the first solid step ahead for Ubuntu to fix the bug No.1 that Mark Shuttleworth mentioned here: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1. I do hope that other big vendors like HP, Acer and Lenovo will follow Dell to join the Linux world of freedom

[Lord Illidan]

The most interesting is not if it's Ubuntu or something else.
But how well it will sell.
Will Linux finally be good business for hardware vendors.

Ubuntu is the best choice IMO, and would come as no surprise for several reasons.
The primary being that Dell probably can get it for free, and support from Canonical probably much cheaper than from Suse.
Suse has a serious image problem right now,
and I don't really see any other contenders than Ubuntu and Suse.
The industry has also complained about the lack of a clear "leader" amongst the Linux distros,
Ubuntu is that leader right now, and is for this reason alone the most obvious choice.

Congr4tz and Th4nx to 3\/3rybody that has contributed to making Linux come this far...

I think the issue here, is "will it sell?" and also, will DELL do its best to make it sell well?

What are the advantages for choosing Ubuntu over Windows? Is the price difference (if any) enough? Is it worth it, considering that software may be incompatible, and will it offset the time taken to learn a new system? Does the fact that it is free mean that it is worse? Is it reliable? Can I solve problems with it? These are the questions likely to be asked by customers.

Sadly, probably not. I don't see how they can financially unless they decide to become huge advocates of open source. I hope they market it in terms of Beryl/Compiz as well as an OS immune to viruses and spyware.

Can they market an alpha product, knowing full well that their customers will have problems with it?

EDIT : Please, I am not trying to come out as overly negative...I love Ubuntu as much as anyone else.. i am just being a realist.