Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

HP to Globally Launch Linux-Based PCs

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the hitting-the-bigtime dept.

Rade T. writes "Reuters UK reports that HP, the No. 1 personal computer and computer printer maker, said on Wednesday that its putting its weight behind personal computers that run the Linux operating system. I guess this is the first serious step towards solving the problems that Linux faces on the Desktop/Laptop."

5 of 422 comments (clear)

  1. Sun doing the same thing by nuclearmoose · · Score: 4, Informative
    You can now buy PC's with Sun JDS at Walmart:
    Sun Java OS PC's

    $300 for a "complete" 1.6Ghz Duron system isn't too bad...

  2. The HP News Release by El+Cubano · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here is HP's news release. It is mostly marketing fluff, but has a few more details than the Reuter's piece. Their server also isn't melting down at the moment.

  3. Re:Buy with a conscience by Cytotoxic · · Score: 3, Informative
    That's the figure based on the number of people collecting unemployment, which you're only able to do for six months after being laid off. For example, the bulk of the support workers HP outsourced last year would not appear in this figure.
    This is completely wrong. The unemployment insurance numbers have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the unemployment numbers. The government uses a survey, the Current Population Survey (CPS) to determine the unemployment numbers. This is explained in detail at the US Department of Labor's website
  4. Re:Buy by cavebear42 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I do know how HP markets their product. It is not a suggestion. Dell takes the same approach that Redhat/Fedora takes. Home lines are for cutting edge, may or may not work, state of the art. Biz are for tested, tried and true. Dell will guaranty the life of a model and parts for it as well as all the software on it, but only for the biz. Dell further sorts their systems to desktop and workstation for what is used by normal people and system that have raid, dual video cards, and other geeky things.

    Hp has a different approach. they have personal and biz as well. the personal are pavilions and can be sorted into American made (fixable) and foreign made (disposable). check your first 2 chars of serial number if you are wondering what country it was made in. The biz lines are divided into low end, high end, and thin client. these are not sold in store and rarely sold one at a time. if you want them, you need to hook up with an HP salesman.

    I am a certified Dell, HP, Compaq, Apple, IBM ..blah, blah, blah... tech. To be fair I have not been working HP/Compaq directly since shortly after the merger and the way they operate may have changed but I would suspect that they are referring to Brios, Kayaks, ect.

  5. Re:Buy by plaa · · Score: 4, Informative
    I'll probably try to buy a manufactored PC for the first time in 10 years simply to support the principle of having a choice.

    The Slashdot story was, unsurprisingly, misleading.

    In the article (or this press release) I've seen absolutely no mention that they'd be selling the PC's to the masses, only to enterprise customers.

    A few snippets from the press release (emphasis mine):

    "HP is now the first major technology vendor to offer enterprise customers a single, proven Linux solution from desktop to datacenter," said Martin Fink...

    ...across its portfolio of business desktop and notebook PCs...


    It seemed almost too good to be true... and so it probably was.
    --

    I doubt, therefore I may be.