Robert Pogson

Dell has announced that it will sell in the United States of America (I wish these guys had come up with a better name…) laptops and desktops with Ubuntu GNU/Linux installed in the factory. That is good news for the market because Dell has a fairly large market of home/business/school customers and the more exposure the idea of a Windowless PC gets, the better.

It remains to be seen whether Dell’s products will be advertised or only made available to the dedicated Linux lovers out there. Currently, if you browse dell.com/linux, you find very little and “Dell recommends Windows” is prominent. Also their site search function fails to find Linux. They did, however, make XP available again, so there is hope that this is not just window dressing but a real market initiative that will offer choice to ordinary consumers.

I really want to see this choice made available to schools and in particular as thin client/server arrangements. Dell is not doing much for that yet.

Dell’s prices are starting to reflect an absence of the Windows tax for similar models with and without Windows, so this could be a breakthrough in pricing. I am from Winnipeg (although I have lived and worked elsewhere many years) and love a bargain. I would hate to see a Dell machine with Linux selling for more than a Windows machine.

I am an optimist but this situation still faces harassment by MSFT, market acceptance (Will we see TV spots???), and a profitable line of business for Dell. There sure is room for growth. In the consumer society, new and better often gets the ball rolling. I wish Dell well in this new enterprise. I hope it works.