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HP To Sell PCs With Mandrake 9.1
theoddball writes "HP just announced a new PC model (HP Compaq d220) that's available preloaded with Windows or Mandrake 9.1. The machine appears to be targeted to business users, although it's on the lower-end of the scale - specs are here. Mandrake also has a press release announcing the deal, which will grow to include four other HP models. Is this a sign that top tier manufacturers are taking Linux more seriously, or at least seeing a profitable niche?" We commented on MandrakeSoft's status update yesterday.
Well it's about time HP started listening to their user base. I've been using HP computers for several years now (the very best, in my opinion!) and I've had a lot of problems on the times I've tried to run Unix on them. Their customer support for that sort of thing was sorely lacking, as I'd spend an hour on the phone when them after installing Red Hat Unix over the Windows operating system that came with the computer, and then not being able to get Office to work. They kept telling me to reboot the computer over and over again, but Windows wouldn't come back up.
Now that they're using Mandrake Unix, which from the statistics I've seen is the most popular Unix in the world, maybe their tech support will improve.
The only thing that worries me is that I heard Mandrake was a French company, and therefore there might be some issues with importing a french operating system into the U.S., given the impending embargo. Also, the French government is pretty strict about their language and culture, so that could be a big problem. I don't think many American Unix users are going to like having to double click on "Mes Documents" to get to their files!
Regardless, I hope HP is successful in this. A lot of people on Slashdot have said you need a big, well-known name like Microsoft to stand behind something like Unix so idiot bosses in corporate america will accept it, but I think HP brings enough clout, along with the proven success of Mandrake Unix, to make a good go at it now that HP isn't going to sell windows anymore.
Consensual sex is boring.
If everyone other than me in my family had to use linux, they would stop using computers.
It's windows and macs for those folks.
Personally, I think Linux is fun to play with occasionally, but I wouldn't want to try to do something serious with it... say, edit video, create artwork, manage source code, create product to send out to clients.
This was a test of the Slashdot moderation system.
Here's how the test works: You take a strong statement made by a previous poster that compares the relative value of Linux and Windows and swap the words "Linux" and "Windows" and post it. This should flip the "Troll" bit.
As you can see, Slashdot moderation is working properly. Thank you for your cooperation.