Slashdot Mirror
Dell to Ship Linux Desktops in Europe
Anglophile writes "Looks like Dell has launched a new line of desktop computers. The Dell Optiplexes will be sold in Europe, come with the Linspire operating system and include a one year free membership to their download warehouse. "
Something wrong with the big distros?
So are they gonna be $150 cheaper?
This is great ! If DELL is putting their weight behind that will be a major policy shift for *many* corporations.
- People who believe other people have no right to live, got no right to live ...
SCO x DELL
A few years ago, didn't Dell ship desktops, laptops and servers and sich with Red Hat Linux on them, nyet?
does it run linux?
I'm surprised Dell hasn't done this sooner. But then again, Linspire is of recent vintage and was the first to make desktop Linux feasible on the large scale. Now people can obtain an entirely-Linux solution from Dell -- from the server to the desktop -- and all I can say is it's about time.
I never vote for anyone. I always vote against.
-- W.C. Fields
Why Linspire? Why not use a bigger, (dare I say it) better distro. SuSe 9.1 is Europe's biggest distro, why not that? Is there some anger between Novell and Dell?
So Dell returns home to Linux...
I bought several PC's from Dell in 2001 with RedHat preinstalled... They shipped with driver disks too...
Why worry? Each of us is wearing an unlicensed "nucular" accelerator on his back.
Sig changed for readability by G.W.
Download warehouse? is that like an apt-get repository? DAMMIT! It was so OBVIOUS! To get Linux on the market, it had to become paying, then add free offers!
Misleading titles? Inflammatory blurbs? Keep in mind that Slashdot is a tabloid.
looks like this is a bit misleading - in fact, Dell is shipping them, but they are actually being sold by an Italian company called Questar. So while they are technically Dell machines and even shipped by Dell, this is not a big move by Dell onto the European linux market, it's a smaller company taking the initiative in partnership with Dell...
Do they still pay the microsoft tax? I would assume Dell passes the savings of not paying for an OS right into their pocket. Consumers will not see lower prices.
Finally there's a version of the trickle-down theory that actually works.
I'd bet that Dell made this decision because there are many large users (Munich decision, with many more considering) who will be switching over in the work-place.
Many non-techie employees of those organizations will want to have the same environment at home as at work -- two OSs is simply too "confusing" for point-and-click types.
And as more and more large institutions move to Linux whatever reason (there are many), I think we will see more and more pre-packaged systems available on a retail level.
"could basically shut down Dell by not selling to them"
Microsoft COULD do that, but it'd be a blantant violation of their slap-on-the-wrist agreement with the DoJ. They probably couldn't get away with it, and would be forced to start selling to Dell again.
Linspire, previously known as LindowsOS (also Lin---s, pronounced as Lindash), is a Linux distribution based on Debian. It targets the consumer user - its distributors market it more intensively than all other Unix-based or Unix-like distributions except Mac OS X. As Lindows, it was the first Linux distribution to replace Windows in home consumer desktop systems at a substantially lower price than Microsoft Windows.
Michael Robertson, the founder and former CEO of MP3.com functions as the CEO of Lindows, Inc. It is still called "Lindows, Inc" even though the product is now Linspire.
Microsoft Corporation sued Lindows, Inc for its use of the term "Windows", which Microsoft claimed constituted a trademark infringement. In February 2004, a judge rejected two of Microsoft's central claims. Though Microsoft lost the core of its case, and says it will appeal the decision, for uncertain reasons it also called the decision "a victory". (See Microsoft vs Lindows for more information.) Lindows was renamed Linspire to avoid further legal action by Microsoft. Michael Robertson called the legal action "Sextuple Jeopardy", which is like "Double Jeopardy" but sextupled.
Lindows, Inc had the initial goal of developing a Linux-based operating system capable of running major Windows applications as well. It based its Windows compatibility on the development of WINE by the Linspire team. Lindows.com later abandoned its initial approach in favor of making Linux applications easy to download, install and use. They achieved this using an application called Click-N-Run, a program based on Debian's Advanced Packaging Tool, providing an easy-to-use interface and a slightly modified package system for an annual fee (apt-get costs no money, but has less user-friendliness). Click-N-Run has over 1,000 pieces of software for download.
Lindows, Inc sponsors many open-source projects and events, including the Gaim instant messaging client, the KDE-Apps.org (http://www.kde-apps.org/) and KDE-Look.org (http://www.kde-look.org/) websites, and the Nvu project, which has started to develop an open-source WYSIWYG website editor (based on the Mozilla composer code) to rival FrontPage. In the past, Linspire.com has contributed over $500,000 to the WINE project.
Editions
Several varieties of Linspire, known as editions, target different markets. Three main editions exist: Standard, Developer and Laptop.
External links
Maybe Dell can work out a deal where anyone can sell their machines with any o/s preloaded as a ghosted image, provided you send them the CD and you're liable if the image is crap... that would be sweet! Then we could all compete with our favorite o/s's and with wal-mart (to some tiny degree)
stuff |
MS is dependent on its oem retailers probably more than the other way around.
The distro wasn't banned, the courts just made the company change the name.
"All Dell computers sold by Questar will be equipped with word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software and file compatibility with Microsoft Office."
Linspire comes with Open Office 1.1.
While there is a great deal of compatability between Open Office and MS Office, there are still issues
Sounds a little misleading to me.
Linspire is Debian-based and one of the most windows-like distribution. Besides, it has an excellent software upgrade system that is esy to use for everyone. It makes sense.
:).
And I am a Mandrake user and apologist
"That's what Microsoft said too; that's why they sued Lindows. But of course, anyone who suggested that they might just be right about the confusion got flame broiled..."
What really irks me about the anti-MS sentiment on this topic is that it's WAY too late to do anything about it. MS owns the trademark regardless of whether or not they can put a (R) next to it. It'd take years to un-weld it from people's minds. At this point, setting it 'right' would potentially put a LOT of consumers out there in a position where they have to be unnecessarily careful. That's exactly why this whole trademark system was put into place to begin with. Oh, but we MUST SCREW MICROSOFT! BUAHAHAHA!!
Lame. The really really really stupid thing is that Lindows could never ever claim they landed on that name by accident. Their maliciousness in this case needs to be a factor in this as well. They cannot possibly ignore that even if MS had no legal right to trademark Windows years ago they would still be confusing people. You don't want Lindows to win this. It would set a precedent that would give MS the power to do the same thing to somebody else (i.e. Palm). Bad bad bad.
Please don't try to hurt what we've done here. We've brought as many brainless anti-corporate zealots together to form our own little "pretend" community, where we can spearhead a global movement against a non-existant threat. I personally would much rather consider myself a 'revolutionary' than an 'arrogant intellectial with hidden self esteem problems.'
Posts like yours only remind us of that reality that exists upstairs where our parents are working hard to make this dream possible.
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
Checks Irish Site...
No Linux option...
This bugs me especially considering they make the danm things right outside my back door. And yet I will always be the last customer to get bargins.
May the Maths Be with you!
Things may have changed, but in the past, in the US at least, Dell's customers called Dell support for any issue. The Dell Tech determined if the call was a Linux issue or a Hardware issue. Then, if it was a hardware issue, the customer was handled by the Dell tech. If the issue was a Linux issue, the customer was forwarded to Red Hat's tech support.
That was a few years ago, and since then, Red Hat has had some big changes in their support model, and Dell has sent all its tech support to India, and brought parts of it back again, so YMMV.
"Our funds have never taken part in toxic or death spiral convertible financings of any sort" -BayStar's managing partne
While on Slashdot we hear endlessly about Red Hat, Debian, etc., the volume manufacturers are going with Lindows, Linspire, Thiz, and in China, Red Flag. Maybe those should get more coverage. What do the installed base figures look like?
2003: Dell asks MS for bigger discount. MS declines.
2004: Dell starts selling PCs preloaded with Linspire.
2005: MS quietly increases discount for Dell.
2005: Dell quietly withdraws Linspire PCs, claims no market demand.
Irrelevant. Everybody in the South calls a glass of Pepsi a "Coke". That doesn't mean that Pepsi should get a trademark on the word "Coke".
To further confuse things, Microsoft has several variations of Windows like 2000, XP, Me, etc that people are familiar with. Calling it "Microsoft Windows" is not enough by a long shot, especially when compared to "Lindows.Com Lindows".
[ ] Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
[ ] Lindows.com Lindows
If those two choices seem confusing to you, you've got bigger problems than choosing an OS.
What they'd need is a big bold sentence saying "This is not the same as Windows! Watch out!"
And yet they're supposed to read, understand and agree to abide by the 10-page EULA full of obscure legal and technical language.
If Microsoft made a product called Winux, you all'd suddenly change sides on this issue.
I don't see any problem at all with the name "Winux". Notice that the fact that it's not an English word makes it a good choice for a trademark name. I would encourage them to go for it, but unfortunately it seems to already be the name for an Indian Lindows-like product, as well as the name of a recent cross-platform virus.
"Microsoft COULD do that, but it'd be a blantant violation of their slap-on-the-wrist agreement with the DoJ."
And?...
They will never stop until somebody makes the