Not much of a choice there. Dell have lost a customer.

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.

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.

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…

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?