Comments on: Dell Netbooks: Windows XP Beats Ubuntu on Value

By: mememe

mememe — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:49:32 +0000

Looks like the ubuntu workstations are gone from dell?
I was going to buy one today and I guess I’ll go somewhere else. Maybe sytem76 or pogolinux will have what I need.

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:53:56 +0000

Jason: In Dell’s defense, the specs and prices do morph based on (A) nearly real time supply and (B) nearly real time demand.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:49:06 +0000

Dell is so weird…is it me or do specs and prices seem to morph at will? Makes you wonder what kind of deal you are really getting.

By: josvazg

josvazg — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:01:56 +0000

Of couse it WAS a ATI problem, but the user experience (specially A Windoze user) is “with Windows I didn’t need an NVIdia card, but with Linux…”. I heard the ATI drivers are getting better… unfortunately the damage is already done for me.

What about the X.org & Intel because of GEM regressions?

I AM very angry with this issue. I was able to run GoogleEarth flawlessly in Xandros on my eee901. But I didn’t like Xandros (too Windowsy closed system for me), so I installed ubuntu and had to give up using GoogleEarth because some guys didn’t follow the simple rule when building new infrastructures:

“Don’t rewrite the old driver, instead write the new one beside and force migration ONLY when the new driver really OUTPERFORMS the old one”

AND this is a linux kernel, intel AND x.org issue.

By: Socceroos

Socceroos — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:16 +0000

@josvazg

As aikiwolfie said, the problem you’re describing is ATI’s problem, not Linux’s.

By: aikiwolfie

aikiwolfie — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:52:16 +0000

Hang on a minute. “Linux” is lagging behind because ATI can’t produce a decent set of drivers? Nvidia drivers seem to work just fine. I don’t think it’s “Linux” that’s lagging behind. ATI perhaps. But not “Linux”.

Coincidentally ATI have been struggling for quite some time. However I hear their drivers are much better now.

Windows isn’t free even when it’s pre-installed and heavily discounted. There are always hidden costs. The Windows license and all the support and testing OEMs need to provide can actually add up to most of the cost of a PC.

Nothing is free. Not even Linux.

By: josvazg

josvazg — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:59:10 +0000

Hey guys! come on! How come you DON’T know that Windows & Office are FOR FREE… I mean that people DON’T PAY (directly) for them.

You either have it for free on your new machine or just go to Emule and download it (and MSOffice) for exactly $0.

M$ probably knows that piracy is on their side, but maybe not as much as it really is. Come to Spain, for instance, and try to find a single Windows user who payed directly for their Windows OS, even when it is NOT the one that came with the machine, or ask if they use OpenOffice… they will say “what for? I just got MSOffice for free at ‘EmuleMart’”.

And Linux is still lagging behind in some aspects. For instance, a few years ago I bought a Dell Dimension E521, with some ATI graphics card… it came with Windows or Windows, so I installed Ubuntu on it (later). Then I had to buy an NVidia card to replace the ATI because I wanted to use the cool Compiz stuff. So in the end the Dell+Ubuntu increased my costs. A really sad story.

By: Albert

Albert — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:47:48 +0000

Hi,
can anyone let me know if windows xp home edition includes MS Office ?
provided office is not included, people will have to spent more bucks on it.

By: Abe

Abe — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:01:21 +0000

This is all shenanigans done by all OEMs. HP does it in similar ways. They all are taking advantage of the uninformed customers and they truly believe in the saying “There is a sucker born every minute”. The current economic situation will hopefully wake up the consumers.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:53:12 +0000

aikiwolfie wrote: “Right now Dell are a company that I feel are taking consumers to be mugs. Their sales strategists are stuck in the 80s. They still think customers have no knowledge and understanding of technology.”

That could be what experience has shown them. As someone who has worked in tech support recently, I can verify that there is no shortage of the clueless.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:04:20 +0000

I know this doesn’t help the PR side of things, but M$ has the money to create the perception that more systems are being purchased with windows. If I were in the market, I’d buy the less expensive (read more value) one and if it had M$ on it and replace the OS with Ubuntu. Then go to all the blog sites and let everyone know it also. Eventually word will get out that users want value, not perceived value.

By: Sokraates

Sokraates — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:05:20 +0000

Regarding Dell no longer offering Ubuntu Laptops:

It seems that they have been added again.

Last week I’ve been searching Dell’s US and some European sites for Ubuntu laptops and I only got the Inspiron 9 and 12 to chose from.

I wonder why they have been removed in the first place. Whatever, it’s good to have them back. I desperately need a new one.