Dell Listens to Reason, Will Adopt Linux on Its PCs and Laptops

Published: April 4, 2007

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Server and PC maker Dell announced its own personal blogosphere, called IdeaStorm, to gin up ideas about what Dell can do to fix itself. As part of the frenzy of criticism, a few weeks ago, Dell asked people to take a survey about Linux, and over 100,000 people did just that.

And not surprisingly, 70 percent of the people who took the survey said that they would use a Dell machine configured with Linux for either their home or office use. They also said that rather than have a few measly machines configured with Linux, they wanted a selection of iron to choose from. In other words, they want a real, credible, supported alternative to Microsoft Windows. And because the Linux community is fairly self-reliant, they nonetheless said that community-based forums would be sufficient tech support for a Dell machine that had been tested and validated to run a particular Linux variant and release. They also told Dell that getting better hardware support--meaning, more peripherals supported on particular configurations--is as important as having multiple Linux distributions. To put it bluntly--and anyone could have guessed this--customers want choice in the laptop, desktop, and server that they plunk Linux down on, and they don't want to be restricted to just one Linux variant.

"Dell has heard you and we will expand our Linux support beyond our existing servers and Precision workstation line," the company said in a statement. "Our first step in this effort is offering Linux pre-installed on select desktop and notebook systems. We will provide an update in the coming weeks that includes detailed information on which systems we will offer, our testing and certification efforts, and the Linux distribution(s) that will be available. The countdown begins today."

Way back in 2001, Dell cut off support for Red Hat Linux on its PCs without saying anything about it publicly after a few years of having a go at peddling Linux, which kinda fizzled back then on the desktop. And rightly so considering the complexity of Linux at the time and the lack of applications for it. But desktop Linux has come a long way since then, and it can offer compelling value to people who are willing to try something a little different. Server buyers, long accustomed to esoteric mainframe and minicomputer operating systems as well as myriad flavors of Unix, did not have as hard a time moving to Linux as desktop users do. Then again, they are paid to adapt. So this also stands to reason.

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