HP Will Offer Customized Linux in Notebooks

diegocgteleline.es writes "According with Tom's Hardware, HP is working with Ubuntu to offer a customized GNU/Linux version that works 100% - wireless, bluetooth, IrDA, IEEE1394 - with HP hardware. This offer will be restricted to Europe, Middle East and Africa. The CD includes free support through online resources as well as paid support through Canonical, the developer of Ubuntu."

Comments

NO USA?

[skynetos]

no USA? :(

Re:NO USA?

[Stevyn]

That would be Unamerican! Go back to Africa!

In some semblance of serious though, that is troubling. Why would they not want to offer Linux to their American customers in this program? My hope is they are doing it for business reasons ($$) and not because they were quietly asked not to while renewing their contracts with Microsoft ($$$). Ubuntu is a nice distro that seems to "just work". Kubuntu (which does mean something, just just the standard "k+name" nomenclature) works well and looks damn good. I'm all for Ubuntu ending on laptops and desktops than that Linspire or Xandros crap.

Re:NO USA?

[Anonymous Coward]

It might be easier and cheaper to run the experiment in a smaller more forgiving market. Make it work there, then import it as a more polished endeavor.

Re:NO USA?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you imagine some bug on the level of Intel's FDIV fiasco early in the roll out. (Inconvienent, but stupid and public) The WSJ and Barons pronouncing HP deader than BSD; inviting scavangers to feast on the corpse. That would significantly affect HP's credit, not to mention the consequences for linux on laptops.

hmm

[Turn-X Alphonse]

They really need to try and sell this to the "average old lady", who has no use for games but needs a little browser/e-mail system. Surely if they set the specs right this could compete with the mac mini (on price) and be portable.

Re:hmm

[13bPower]

They aren't installing Ubuntu though, just bundling the CD. Old ladys probably wont like installing an OS no matter how easy.

Re:hmm

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I think a Mac Mini would fit better though, as it supports a lot of free/open software (a lot of these are well-integrated to Mac OS too) AND a lot of commercial software to boot. In comparison, Linux doesn't have much by the way of commercial software support.

Why would they restrict it geographically?

[visualight]

If the cd is available how hard can it be to offer it everywhere? It shouldn't cost them a cent more.

Fair Trade

[Doc Ruby]

Ubuntu probably needs lots of work (eg. power management) to run well on HP notebooks, like any distro on any particular notebook. Some problems are peculiar to HP hardware, and others are just bugs in Ubuntu packages. If the Ubuntu project pulls off a good deal with HP, as they "work together", HP will contribute to modernizing a lot of packages. As the source is open, those patches will be available to everyone. Whether or not they run HP, or even Ubuntu.

Re:how can we show U.S. interest?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Is there a way to tell HP we do want linux on a laptop?

Is there a way to tell HP we do want them to continue making great calculators?

HP is a silly company these days. They screw one thing after the other...

The US is an unfogiving market.

[Anonymous Coward]

Significant troubles would punish HP's already tarnished image. People in those regions who can afford to buy an HP laptop are in all likelyhood a very adept and forgiving kind of customer, with practical expecations. More over, a lot of them are used to getting the occasional shit end of the stick and having to sort it out in time.

It can be started in at least the Middle East and Africa relatively cheaply. The people who are their target customers might well already know about it.

Think of it as HP running an experiment for its US customers, that the rest of the world has to pay for.

Red Herring, It's what's for dinner

[Anonymous Coward]

If you really used Linux you wouldn't be serving us Red Herring. ;-)

she receives funny animated emails from her friends and/or colleagues

These are usually Flash animations. Flash is available for Linux, I use it regularly. If these animations require some custom executable, she's better off not opening the attachment.

a found Word document with the recipe for werewolf in dung sauce that she can't open

Not only does OpenOffice.Org handle Word documents, it's free. Your hypothetical old lady has a better chance with Ubuntu than with Windows of opening that recipe, since Word does not come with Windows XP. If you are lucky, it will be bundled by the OEM, but there's no guarantee.

just bought a "10.000 postcards" CD from CompUSA, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, only to discover they don't work on her you-bun-too laptop.

Software requirements apply to everyone. With Windows, our hypothetical old lady has to make sure that she buys for the right Windows version, and that it's not a Mac application.

Boy, that was a full serving. :-P

Re:Red Herring, It's what's for dinner

[KillerDeathRobot]

Flash doesn't ship with Windows either.

Re:Why not the US?

[Ralph Spoilsport]

It would seem that this could be useful in the USA as well. I wonder why they're not supporting it here? Are they in bed with Microsoft, or do they have an agreement to only use MS in the US?

In bed? Sure - and MS has their arm so far up HP's ass that they can make the lips move. The USA is the fat golden sacred cow to MS and they will fight tooth and claw to keep it that way.

That HP got this far with Linux is a miracle and a testament to how even in a company as Windows centric in practice as HP is, the animosity toward MS is so deep and universal.

A family member works at HP, so I know of what I speak.

RS

Re:Europe vs. USA?

[HermanAB]

The US always lags the technology curve by several years. Linux is far more popular in Europe than in the US.

marketshare

[noldrin]

So in order to get Linux preinstalled on a laptop, you have to ask for it since it's not listed as an option, know to ask for it since they won't tell you about, and you have to live in a couple select countries, one of them not being the United States. And this is for a product that once it has been developed, is free for them to distribute. It's really sad they go to such lengths to hide their product from consumers. It's even more sad that this feels like a giant improvement over how things were a several years ago.

Possible solution. BBB.ORG

[MacDork]

Buy HP hardware (Or any PC manufacturer for that matter). Open box. Boot machine. Decline license. Return machine open box for a full refund. Be refused. Say "And I quote, 'IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE PRODUCT; YOU MAY RETURN IT TO YOUR PLACE OF PURCHASE FOR A FULL REFUND.' It's right there at the top of the license." Be refused a full refund again. Return home, wipe drive, install linux, and use machine. File a report with the better business bureau online. Follow up as necessary. Keep the BBB report unresolved as long as you have not been refunded the full purchase price of the Windows installation. Continue to do so for each and every PC you purchase.

HP only had 50 refund issues last year. That's frickin' pathetic guys. I know more than 50 of you bought an HP last year. You can file a complaint online. It won't take much of your time and if the PC manufacturers are going to rip you off for $85 every time you get a new machine, you should at least make them earn it. They'll have to hire new help to deal with the complaints. Paying an extra $85 is like paying sales tax a second time. It's probably greater than the hardware manufacturers' profit margin on cheaper machines. If PC manufacturers start getting tens of thousands of complaints they might just go to bat for you. HP only received 1500 some odd complaints last year regarding ALL issues. Make those 50 refund complaints explode out to 5000+. That should get their attention. If Americans aren't getting Linux machines, it is because Americans aren't demanding them.