Dell Releases First Consumer Product with Mandriva

WindozeSux writes "Dell Laptops(Latitude 110L) are now shipping with Mandriva Linux pre-installed. Mandriva says this represents a milestone to make Linux more available to consumers. From the article:"This product shows the world that Mandriva is today ready for the consumer market. We've been developing products for the corporate and enthusiast markets for years. Addressing the needs of the consumer market is a different challenge, because it is all the more difficult, as you don't have a system admin or professional technician at home", said François Bancilhon, Mandriva CEO"

Comments

This is irritating

[Dark_Link2135]

It seems linux distos like Mandriva and Red Hat have totally and completely forgotten their roots. Isn't the goal of Linux to provide a QUALITY os to people for FREE and have it OPEN SOURCE so the Linux community can make their own modifications to the code? And yet to get a x86-64 version of Mandriva, its going to cost me $150, plus shipping. WTF is that. Winblows is cheaper than that. I mean yes, they need to make some profit to keep going and cover packaging costs, but holy shit....I mean seriously. They are turning into another money grubbing microshaft corporation. I've seen so many linux distos now that dont offer half their products as a free download anymore. but what do I know....

Re:This is irritating

[pyros]

so basically they are saying that if somebody buys a $150 package of their software, they have the complete freedom to distribute it to anyone they want at will?

yes

doesn't that completely kill their money-making opportunities?

No, businesses (including both for coporate desktop rollout and OEM repackaging for sale preinstalled with a computer) will want to pay for copies so they get support.

Re:This is irritating

[pyros]

Here is a link to buy a copy of it for $9. copies

Re:This is irritating

[Hosiah]

Incidentally, I downloaded Mandriva disks 1,2, &3 from LinusISO.org and burned 'em to disk and it's running on one of my computers like any other free distro.

What irritates *me* about Mandriva is the complete lack of compiler/C library support. Don't even think of getting a source tarball and doing anything meaningful with it if you're running Mandriva. But the games rock, and it saved my butt today (by running the only Python version that'd be compatible with Blender's script tools), and it installed itself while I took a nap, so I love Mandriva anyway.

Re:News.... yeah.. I guess.

[rm69990]

dedhat and winblows....how very mature indeed. How old are you exactly...12?

Re:This is a Good Thing

[GeekTek]

I agree - this is a Good Thing. However, isn't there a potential backlash when new users bring their shiny new Ubuntu laptops home and figure out that there's no easy way to install a printer?

I'm all for Linux on the desktop, but confusing new users by having no GUI for Printer configuration (among other omissions and inconsistancies) can't help the cause.

Re:Maybe desktop Linux will just always be niche

[Hosiah]

I don't mean this to troll, but why does Linux have to dethrone desktop Windows to be considered successful as an operating system? Why can't it just live happily as a rock-solid server OS with a desktop component that some advanced users use?

GOD, finally! Somebody else said it, too!

Yeah, some of us geeks are happier being "advanced users" with our advanced system that we don't have to dumb down ^-99999.111 IQ points so that Joe Sixpack likes it. Joe Sixpack isn't gonna do anything but surf the web and play games anyway, I was never in a hurry to convert him to begin with.