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Dell to sell laptops with Linux preinstalled
Now it's official. According to this story on C|Net, Dell is starting to sell notebooks with Linux preinstalled. The laptop models are the Inspiron 7500 and Latitude CPX models. The Latitude models will be available Feb. 4. Prices are the same as with Windows 9x preinstalled. Those models are certified by Linuxcare.
I want to know what is happening to the "extra money" that is no longer a Microsoft tax? Is Dell keeping it as a surcharge for installing linux? Do I get a copy of Windows anyway? Do I get the RH package complete with 3(?) months of tech support?
In short, where is my "extra" $100 going?
Eric
A few /.ers have complained that the price is the same for Win9X installed. I think this makes a lot of sense, particularly if the computer is certified by Linuxcare.
As anyone who has dealt with Linux on laptops already knows well, hardware support isn't quite as easy as on a desktop machine. You're stuck with the hardware you have, unlike a desktop where you can always swap it out for something compatible. And unless another Linux user has the same hardware (or in some cases) the same exact model, you can be SOL.
Having a machine certified can't be cheap; with Windows you sort of get that by default when your license the OS. Microsoft has already taken the opportunity to certify hardware for use with Windows (think certified drivers). That, combined with the fact that Dell will be using a commercial distribution, would easily account for the cost of the OS for a Linux laptop.
Kudos to tell for taking steps; now if only we could get VA to bring back their models.
>However, the support calls should be way fewer with the stability of Linux....
MY GOD, MAN! have you ever worked tech support? how many of the calls to tech support do you think involve actual real problems? if the linuxcare support dell offers is free like their normal tech support, then people will abuse it just the same.
Dell pays between fifteen and twenty dollars a pop for a Windows license (software only, not support). Don't confuse a license as sold to a hardware vendor and one sold as retail; they're entirely different, both in what they cost and what you get.
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There is no premature anti-fascism. -Ernest Hemingway
Geez, didn't any of you guys take economics?
You seem to be arguing that a given reduction in costs to a retailer should result in the same reduction in the price to the consumer. That doesn't really make sense though. What incentive do they have to reduce the costs that way? If the consumer is willing to pay for the product, Dell can charge whatever they wish for it. Especially since they are one of the only major brands that provide Linux laptops -- that's why this is NEWS in the first place. Since the supply of Linux laptops is low, and the demand is presumably high, the retail price should actually be higher than that of a windows laptop, where the supply is quite high, and the demand is lower.
Also here's a link to the Inspiron page at Dell:
http://commerce.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.asp? order_code=890139&customer_id=04&keycode=6W300
Let's say that I'm a company that sells laptops, and I'm considering supporting Linux. I hear that Dell's going down this road, so I check in to Slashdot to assess the community reaction. What would I conclude?
For one, it appears that the community expects the work to be done for no money. They scream because the machine isn't cheaper with Linux on it, even though the amount of work to be done to get Linux to work decently with laptops is considerable, far more than with desktops, and support costs can be expected to be higher (simply because there are far fewer experts on Linux-laptop issues than for Windows-laptop issues).
Second, the community screams because support for all platforms isn't instantly available, even though many laptop components don't have Linux drivers present.
So, it would appear that neither profit nor good will is available by doing Linux support for laptops. The users don't want to pay for it, and they'll hate you anyway.
How many laptops have you installed Linux on? I've done a bunch. There's always something which requires voodoo to get working, whether it's hacking out your own modelines (for the LCD screen!) because nothing else gets it right, starting in framebuffer mode because that's the only way to get X to work, hacking the install disks to move the location of th TCIC controller, or trying valiently (and eventually giving up) to get sound to work. Many laptops I've worked on have had built-in but unusable hardware in one way or another.
Maybe preinstalled desktops aren't very cool, but preinstalled laptops mean that you don't have to go scouring web sites and ftp sites for clues on how to get everything to work. It means that odds are, all the hardware will work! This _is_ a leap ahead.