Dell’s Linux strategy includes close relationships with Red Hat, Novell, Canonical and Intel, among others. But during my June 26 visit to Dell, we shifted our attention to Dell’s consumer Linux strategy, which mostly involves netbooks and PCs running Ubuntu. I captured portions of the conversation — including Dell’s early thoughts on Moblin (Mobile Linux) — in this vodcast…
We pieced together the video for The VAR Guy’s sister site, WorksWithU (the independent guide to Ubuntu). But I know The VAR Guy’s readers closely watch open source, so here’s the clip. The Vodcast captures thoughts from Dell’s:
- Todd Finch (consumer Linux system opportunities);
- John Hull (Linux server and desktop trends); and
- Doug Anson (Moblin’s potential for small mobile devices).
Coming Soon
In addition to the Vodcast above, we’ll be back soon with an in-depth blog entry with thoughts from Dell Channel Chief Greg Davis. Plus an update on Dell’s overall corporate and consumer Linux strategy (servers, desktops and mobile) in greater detail.
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The Dell reps in this video are sprouting ‘feel-good’ messages for the Linux community, but actions talk louder than words.
I have had my Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop for two years now, and haven’t been able to get wireless networking working reliably with *any* version of Linux. (I’ve tried most of the major distributions.) Despite the efforts of Intel and Novell (I use openSUSE 11.1) with whom, according to this article, Dell are supposed to have close relationships with, wireless connections on my Dell 1720 remain elusive. I would have thought that, for a system that’s supposed to be Intel Centrino Duo compliant, that Intel would have a clue about how to make it work. The bug submitted to Novell remains open.
All that Dell has done to support me is to tell me (via phone support) that the Dell 1720 was not ‘designed for Linux’, and to ask me whether it worked in Windows (it does). They did point me toward Ubuntu, but it didn’t work then and the latest version still doesn’t. So, the ‘feel-good’ messages in the video rang hollow to me. It would have been different, of course, if Dell had acted in my interest.
unlike Geoff above, I bought 1525N and XPS M1330 Dell laptops for my business that were the first batch of Ubuntu certified laptops.
However, here in the UK, Dell is not being consistent. As Dell/Ubuntu customers – my business received targeted “Buy Windows Vista” campaign material which isn’t good quality CRM.
Also, we’ve noticed that Dell UK have stopped selling higher end laptops certified with Ubuntu – in fact, the 10V is the only notebook/laptop that is available with Ubuntu today. The 1525N and XPSM1330 have been discontinued and their current Vista equivalents are not offered with Ubuntu. It leaves us in a little bit of difficulty when our current Dells reach their lifespan. We’re finding customer service/account managers totally no help when we’re asking about compatibility. They tell me “You should use Vista” – no, it’s my business and Vista doesn’t meet my requirements!
@Geoff F, @callum: Is Dell perfect? Absolutely not. The Dell team told me Ubuntu pre-load decisions are essentially made on a country by country basis. Where there’s demand and potential profits, they pre-load.
I’ll be back soon with some more blog entries recapping my visit to Dell. I do think the company is on the right track with Linux and Ubuntu support. But the company does not plan to start offering Linux as a pre-load option on all systems. I will explain why as soon as I’m able to pull together a few thoughts/blog entries.
I hardly think Microsoft will be worried about any of this. Although half-decent ’shell’ platforms for launching applications, neither Moblin or Ubuntu has the depth of applications available nor the development environment to make those applications possible to make it a sustainable endeavour.
@Segedunum
No facts, no insights, no evaluation of the available evidence. In short, you sound like a cheap shill.
[...] Dell’s Linux strategy includes close relationships with Red Hat, Novell, Canonical and Intel, among others. But during my June 26 visit to Dell, we shifted our attention to Dell’s consumer Linux strategy, which mostly involves netbooks and PCs running Ubuntu. I captured portions of the conversation — including Dell’s early thoughts on Moblin (Mobile Linux) — in this 3 minute video. [...]
“No facts, no insights, no evaluation of the available evidence. In short, you sound like a cheap shill.”
Thanks for the well reasoned counter argument. Much appreciated.
We’ve had talk like this going on for years and it simply hasn’t amounted to anything because all Linux installations tend to exist as an island. The development infrastructure in Ubuntu and Moblin simply isn’t there, it’s impossible to see where a wide range of compelling applications are going to be written to attract users nor how said applications will be distributed to users.
If you have some ‘evidence’ or some ‘insights’ as to why that’s changed, I’m all ears. The video above doesn’t tell me that it has.
[...] to Dell’s consumer Linux strategy, which mostly involves netbooks and PCs running Ubuntu. More here We pieced together the video for The VAR Guy’s sister site, WorksWithU (the independent guide to [...]
Hi all
Why dont you just try linux mint 7 gloria. everything works straight out of the box, I have an HP DV900 a Dell inspiron 6000 for my wife and an old IBM machine wich controls my telescope. All upgraded to running Mint 7.
I have tried many distro’s and have found mint to be the best without any shadow of doubt !!.
just try it…….
chris