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.

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.

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.

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: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