Rumors are swirling that Dell’s U.S. Web site has stopped selling Ubuntu-based desktop Linux PCs. Here’s what The VAR Guy knows so far, and the potential implications for Canonical and the desktop Linux movement.
Earlier today, one of The VAR Guy’s readers stated:
“DELL stopped selling Ubuntu Desktop (530N) computers, July 2009. Where do we get quality Ubuntu Desktops?”
Skeptical, The VAR Guy surfed on over to Dell’s online store for Ubuntu-based systems (www.Dell.com/Ubuntu). Once inside, The VAR Guy noticed that the store no longer listed Ubuntu desktop PCs. Alas, Dell’s current Ubuntu system options were limited to:
- A Mini 10v netbook
- Inspiron 15n laptop
- XPS M1330n laptop
Hmmm… Is this a temporary situation at Dell? Or has the PC giant truly decided to stop promoting Ubuntu desktop PCs? The VAR Guy has reached out to Dell and Canonical for comment.
UPDATE, July 23, 8:42 a.m. eastern: ComputerWorld reported on July 9 that Dell was sticking with Ubuntu desktops and simply refreshing the PC line. But as of today, the new offering has yet to debut on Dell’s web site.
Two-year Experiment
It has been roughly two years since Dell launched Ubuntu-based PCs. Michael Dell himself tested Ubuntu on his home PC and gave the operating system a thumbs up.
Fast forward two years, and all seemed reasonably well with Dell, Canonical and Ubuntu. During a visit to Dell in June, company insiders told The VAR Guy that Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth and Michael Dell had met recently. The Dell insiders also considered Canonical a strategic partner on the Linux front — though the Dell sources indicated the PC maker had no plans to offer Ubuntu-based servers.
On the upside, Canonical , according to The New York Times, is climbing toward $30 million in annual revenue. Plus, Canonical is introducing storage and cloud services to drive profits.
But skeptics wonder if Canonical can deliver profits. Also, The VAR Guy has worried that both Google Android and Google Chrome would ultimately overshadow Ubuntu.
The bottom line for this blog entry: Fewer Ubuntu choices from Dell could harm market perception around Canonical. But Ubuntu fanatics shouldn’t panic. Smaller, Ubuntu-centric PC makers — such as System76 and ZaReason — continue to back Canonical’s offerings.
Follow The VAR Guy via RSS; Facebook; Identi.ca; Twitter; and via his Newsletter; Webcasts and Resource Center.
Read More About This Topic
Share This Post
Tags: Dell Ubuntu Netbooks | Dell Ubuntu notebooks | Dell Ubuntu PCs | System76 Ubuntu | ZaReason Ubuntu
Interact: Add a Comment | Trackback Link | Permalink
Subscribe: RSS Feed
not nice, but i’ve read they prepare new desktop line with ubuntu so this one was taken down
[...] news that Dell is starting to put less emphasis on Ubuntu for the desktop is not at all a shock to me. They have always been a Microsoft shop. Their only [...]
Chrome isn’t a real operating system (from Google’s own description, might be deliberate deception though..), just some hardware management and a GUI for their web apps. If it was an actual OS with actual capabilities that could replace Win/Mac (such as Ubuntu is), then perhaps. But alas no. It might be enough to kill Ubuntu MIDs but not much else. :p
[...] http://www.thevarguy.com/2009/07/22/dell-no-longer-selling-ubuntu-linux-desktop-pcs/ [...]
July 9, 2009:
http://blogs.computerworld.com/dell_is_sticking_with_ubuntu
Anne Camden, a Dell spokesperson, “We are currently transitioning desktop models, moving from the previous generation desktop (Inspiron 530) to a current generation Inspiron desktop. The Ubuntu Linux desktop offering should be back on the Website soon.”
The UK doesn’t even get that choice – http://www.dell.co.uk/ubuntu just shows the Inspiron Mini 10v at £199 (inc tax). I guess they don’t want to remove it, as a recent campaign shows them “from £199″.
@Anne Camden, yes, as we all know, it takes a degree in rocket science to install Ubuntu.
If Dell wanted to ship a desktop with Ubuntu, they have had plenty of time and manpower to accomplish it. It’s simply a extremely low priority for them. They don’t even ship the latest version, but a mixture of old Ubuntu versions.
Interesting: Dell made that comment about the transition on/around July 9. It’s now July 23… … …
[...] news that Dell is starting to put less emphasis on Ubuntu for the desktop is not at all a shock to me. They have always been a Microsoft shop. Their only [...]
Anne Camden, a Dell spokesperson, “We are currently transitioning desktop models, moving from the previous generation desktop (Inspiron 530) to a current generation Inspiron desktop. The Ubuntu Linux desktop offering should be back on the Website soon.”
TheFamilyMan: You and Jef (comment #5) have put the story in proper perspective, based on ComputerWorld’s coverage. The VAR Guy welcomes the info and thanks you. However, he wonders: What’s taking so long? Camden’s comment is roughly two weeks old… …
What I find interesting is that the FIRST thing you see on their Ubuntu system page is a paragraph and link urging customers to switch to shopping for Windows system instead. Even if Dell stops selling Ubuntu systems, I’m not sure it would mean anything more than Microsoft simply finding a new screw upon which to twist them into submission.
Participants at Dell’s IdeaStorm site have from the beginning complained that Dell HIDES its Ubuntu offerings.
Dell has NEVER _featured_ its Ubuntu systems and could certainly offer the OS on a much broader range of systems than it has to-date.
The excuses of compatibility testing simply don’t wash. Dell, as we see it, remains closely tied to Microsoft to the point of giving little more than lip service to Ubuntu.
It was the push FROM IdeaStorm participants that got Dell started with Ubuntu IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Now, IdeaStorm activity has slowed to a trickle.
REAL change requires patience and persistence.
Want to JOIN us, anyone?????
@Paul Hubert
Lip service is better than no service… amirite?
[...] Missing: Dell Ubuntu desktop PCs. The VAR Guy explores whether Dell has stopped selling Ubuntu desktop computers. [...]
Paul: The VAR Guy thinks you’re being a little hard on Dell. Search Google for “Dell Ubuntu’ and the current systems are easily found. Also, http://www.Dell.com/ubuntu is easily found.
Still, Dell’s current lack of a desktop Ubuntu PC concerns The VAR Guy. Dell has indicated a new Ubuntu desktop is coming soon. But when?
Maybe if Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth and Michael Dell would put a million dollar on a TV advert or news print advert promoting the systems, maybe their revenues and demand for ubuntu desktops will rise. Remember Mozilla firefox million dollar advert in the New York Times. From obscure Firefox browser to a healthy competition to MS IE. What better way to spend $500,000 each.
Seems a little odd to me that any business would pull down a product when they weren’t ready to replace it with something else. I have a hard time believing you’d do this with a product that was profitable and in-demand. That’d be like walking away from a perfectly good job before looking for a new one.
Either Dell is supremely bungling here or Ubuntu was simply not doing well in the desktop form factor. My guess is the latter.
Alan: It’s hard for The VAR Guy to argue your points…
While certainly not authoritative, this exchange probably tells all there is to know right now (nothing much):
02:25:57 PM Agent BE_HY_Naveen_J
“Welcome to Dell’s Sales Chat! My name is Naveen at 1-800-571-3355 at extension: 5770154 or 1866-489-3355 extn 70154 & my e-mail id is naveen_j_kumar@dell.com. I will be your personal Sales Consultant”
02:26:30 PM Agent BE_HY_Naveen_J
Hi Wes
02:26:51 PM Customer Wes Crucius
what’s going on with the Linux (Ubuntu) desktop line of PC? I came to buy one today and they have disappeared from the web-site…
02:28:55 PM Agent BE_HY_Naveen_J
yes Desktops are not available with Ubuntu
02:29:25 PM Customer Wes Crucius
since when, and why not? Are you recommending that I take my money elsewhere then?
02:30:25 PM Agent BE_HY_Naveen_J
this weeks promotions includes no desktops are available with Ubuntu
02:32:05 PM Customer Wes Crucius
you are not answering my question. I didn’t ask about promotions, I’m asking about standard offerings… Are you saying that Dell is no longer going to sell Desktop PCs with Ubuntu or any other form of Linux pre-loaded?
02:33:10 PM Agent BE_HY_Naveen_J
i dont have any information on this as of now
02:34:33 PM Customer Wes Crucius
ok then, I guess I’ll take my company’s business elsewhere. Thanks for not much at all…
02:34:51 PM Agent BE_HY_Naveen_J
Thank you for choosing Dell. Have a wonderful day ahead
Dell’s promotional prices on Windows laptops have seemingly always been less expensive than the same hardware running Unbuntu, so it’s clear Dell doesn’t have much focus on Linux to begin with.
Despite the free OS, Linux laptops are often more expensive to buy.
There is a kind of pervasive mentality in the IT world: A new Boss will replace the old Boss. Try this little thought experiment for a few days. It’s not normal for the desktop nation to be controlled by one operating system. It’s not healthy either. Imagine multiple operating systems all united under common public standards. How would they be dispersed? How would malware be affected.
If the reader is repulsed by the notion of multiple operating systems then DO NOT, under any circumstances, attempt this type of thinking. Brain damage may result.
@Richard Chapman
I realize your “brain damage” comment was made in jest. However … I would *prefer* that people who are “repulsed by the notion of multiple operating systems” suffer brain damage. It’s better for the species!
Or … it could be argued that people who are “repulsed by the notion of multiple operating systems” have *already* suffered brain damage.
OK. I realize I am getting old and grumpy. However …
Dells stance on Ubuntu is supremely confusing. Ubuntu is clearly doing relatively well in the desktop market. There are several smaller vendors building and selling PCs pre-loaded with Ubuntu and doing it well. None of them seem to be going to the wall so they must be doing something right. Some Dell aren’t doing perhaps?
So Ubuntu it’s self simply can’t be the root of the problem.
Which means we need to look at other factors. It was only with the introduction of the Mini 9 Dell started offering Ubuntu as an option side-by-side with Windows. But even then they didn’t really tell people what it was they were offering.
If all you had ever known was chocolate ice cream. Would you try strawberry ice cream if you didn’t know what it was?
Are people overly critical of Dell for hiding their Ubuntu options? I don’t think so. If you were selling ice cream, would you only target people who had already tried it? The fact you’re already selling chocolate ice cream shouldn’t stop you from selling strawberry ice cream.
Almost any other company in the world selling any other product in the world would sell similar products from different vendors side-by-side. They wouldn’t shunt one into the basement.
Now finding Ubuntu based Dells is easy enough if you know where to look and if you know Ubuntu actually exists. But what if you don’t? If all the strawberry ice cream is in the basement and you’ve never even heard of it. How do you try it out? How do you get that first taste?
Lets say you’re out shopping. There’s a nice brightly lit store selling chocolate ice cream galore with all sorts of deals going on. Next to the store are some steps going to a dark dingy basement level with a tiny sign half obscured. It reads “Strawberry Ice Cream here”.
Are you tempted to try the strawberry ice cream?
aikiwolfie: To continue your analogy… The fact is Dell doesn’t want to sell people strawberry ice cream unless the customer is familiar with strawberry ice cream and asks for it by name.
Put another way: Dell does NOT want to market Ubuntu systems to the masses. Dell has been open and honest about this. Dell does not want to “educate” Windows users who aren’t familiar with Linux.
Dell DOES want to sell Ubuntu to consumers and businesses that ask for it by name. But sometimes, The VAR Guy thinks, Dell can do a better job with those efforts.
A prime example: Dell’s U.S. website has lacked a desktop Ubuntu PC option for at least two weeks… Not good…
Dell has no Desktop computers with Ubuntu for the home market as of 25 July 2009. In a few weeks the back-to-school sales start. Is Dell going the way of HP by ignoring those that are ready to spend money on an Ununtu Desktop computer? Maybe in protest we should call Dell and HP by their new names: MS-Dell and MS-HP? These companies clearly are so entrenched with Windows, maybe the merits of their Hardware not longer stand tall with other operating systems that some of us desire.
The Dell 530N with Ubuntu was a sturdy Desktop, if they were going to replace it, don’t you think they would have put product up as they take the other down.
Sadly MS-Dell, like MS-HP don’t get it. They are both are relegating themselves to be not so much independent computer manufacturers, rather just divisions of Microsoft.
correction:
Sadly MS-Dell, like MS-HP are both relegating themselves to be not so much independent computer manufacturers serving their customer needs, rather just they are becoming defacto divisions of Microsoft.
Dells UK web site has lacked Desktop Ubuntu options for the last year. But it’s not just desktop options. It’s laptop options that have gone missing as well. If your in the UK, use Ubuntu and shop with Dell you can choose the Mini 10 or opt for Windows.
Not much of a choice there. Dell have lost a customer.
Still no Ubuntu desktops from Dell. I guess I have to shop elsewhere.
Yo Adrian, you have a point.
JANUARY 11 2010 — Dell ran out of Ubuntu Desktop models! The Inspiron 537ST – N was a nice desktop machine shipped without Windows as of last week. Once again drops the ball when it comes to open source. Imagine them running out of Windoze Machines. They could have at least loaded Ubuntu on their Inspiron 580; but no.
Cozmo: Just double-checking… Are you suggesting that Dell was sold out of Ubuntu desktop models on Jan. 11, 2010? If so where did you get the info? The VAR Guy is listening… and will be sure to check in with Dell based on your feedback.
-TVG
Being Sold Out is the what a Dell employee told me in a one on one Dell chat. I was helping a client attempt to purchase a Dell 537ST n series (Ubuntu) this very evening. Dell is back to having only 3 laptop models in Ubuntu flavor. Just like July through October. It appears that Dell’s commitment to Open Source is sporadic at best.