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Dell Releases First Consumer Product with Mandriva

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the maybe-they-do-have-a-soul dept.

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"

15 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Tomorow's News: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    First consumer angrily sends back 'discount' Dell computer for not having Windows.

  2. Step 2: by MagicTom · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fly a plane over Sun with the banner "YEAH, WELL WE HAVE MANDRIVA!"

  3. This is a Good Thing by poofyhairguy82 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Desktop Linux needs support from the big computer makers more than anything to succeed. Its interesting that Dell is pushing Mandriva with its laptops and HP recently began doing the same thing with its laptops and Ubuntu. I know from experiance that Linux on laptops can be tough, but mostly thats because the hardware won't work. If I can buy an Dell or an HP laptop with some distro of Linux on it that works with wireless and suspend hardware that works with Linux, then it really doesn't matter which one is on it when its shipped to me. I can put whatever I choose....avoiding the biggest problems with laptops and Linux!

    I say bring them on Dell, HP. You might have found a way to make me (and many other geeks) customers again.

    --

    Open Source Sushi

    1. Re:This is a Good Thing by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I know from experiance that Linux on laptops can be tough

      I previously ran Mandrake 10 on my HP nx9010 laptop. Hardware support was not the best. Power and sound did not work correctly.

      I recently installed Ubuntu and hardware support is now much better. This makes me wonder if HP have been directly helping the debian/ubuntu people with ther drivers.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
  4. Available in USA or just France? by baomike · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can the machines be purchased in the USA?

    1. Re:Available in USA or just France? by rlauzon · · Score: 5, Informative

      It doesn't look that way. I just checked out Dell USA's web site and didn't see an available option for Mandriva. It was Windoze XP all the way. Oh, well... Emperor Linux still does a really good job with laptops and Linux.

  5. Sadly... by Dankling · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Sadly I don't think the availability of Linux systems that is holding the average consumer or business person from buying one. If the IT guy of a company wants the employees to have Linux, they get Linux - no matter how easy or hard it is made.

    then the average consumer... of course "line-ux?"

    --
    Slash-for-Thought
  6. So we know how it all works then .... by Alain+Williams · · Score: 5, Insightful
    One of the big pains with a laptop is getting everything to work, ie include power management& stuff. Dell would have made sure that this all works, so pretty soon $YourFavouriteDistro will support everything on these Dell machines.

    Whatever you think of Dell, this is good for Linux.

  7. Re:This is irritating by phoxix · · Score: 4, Informative
    Erm

    Get to know Mandriva before flaming it ...

    First, Mandriva is TOTALLY open source. In fact, of the major commercial distributions Mandriva was the first to do so. Go read section 4-6 of Mandrakesoft's 8 Golden Rules

    Not only is it fully OSS, but they give you all the instructions and such to fork your own Mandriva based distro easily (look at the popular PCLinuxOS as an example) Google for "mandrivasoft wiki" and have ball forking your own.

    Secondly, if you've actually engaged with the Mandriva community, you'll notice that it is comprised of both employees and non-employees. The non-employees deal with real packages and stuff, and not bull-shit non-important packages.

    Sunny Dubey

  8. My list of Linux desktop companies by cyber_rigger · · Score: 5, Informative


    http://www.addonshop.com/
    http://www.sub300.com/
    http://www.linare.com/
    http://www.linspire.com/
    http://www.linuxcertified.com/
    http://www.microtelpc.com/
    http://www.outpost.com/
    http://shoprcubed.com/
    http://www.systemax.com/divisions.htm
    http://www.walmart.com/
    http://www.xandros.com/
    http://tuxmobil.org/
    http://www.us.debian.org/distrib/pre-installed
    http://www.linux.org/vendor/system/index.html

  9. Must be Vista OEM pricing time. by PAPPP · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having seen dell in action "considering" AMD in hopes of squeezing more discounts out of Intel, and seeing as Microsoft has a new version of Windows coming along, my guess is that this is just posturing to squeeze better discounts out of Microsoft on Vista OEM pricing.
    It's a nice thought, but probably just a ploy.

    1. Re:Must be Vista OEM pricing time. by heffel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've said it before, It doesn't really matter if Dell is doing this to get a discount from Microsoft.

      If this is really the reason they are doing this, it is because it is an effective strategy to get those discounts. The fact that it is an effective strategy is reason enough to celebrate.

      --
      Expert Java EE Consulting
  10. Re:This is irritating by rm69990 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, no, there is no goal in Linux that says that all providers have to provide their products for free. Perhaps you should retake GPL 101. Actually, since you are cheap, just skip the course (doesn't really exist btw) and read the GPL.

    If this really was the goal of Linux, perhaps releasing it under a license that specifically allows you to charge money for the software wasn't such a good idea, no?

    Oh, and just to let you know, Red Hat and Mandriva do in-fact provide full source code for every open source component in their products, as they are required to by copyright law (they cannot distribute others code unless adhering to the attached license).

    It really disgusts me some people around here. Half of you that bitch about Red Hat are sitting there running kernels and other Open Source packages that contain code that Red Hat paid to have contributed to these projects so you could use them FOR FREE, yet you get in a huff when these companies try to make some money. Quit being so fucking selfish I say. Don't want to pay for something...great I say...Red Hat could care less. Let all of the companies and enterprises that do value Red Hat's value-add pay for their services. If I were you, I'd be happy Red Hat is doing this. It lets them continue to pay people to improve code you are using.

    Oh, and one last thing. You can download Mandriva x86_64 edition for free.

    PS I'm not saying you HAVE to pay for Linux....I am running a free distro myself, one that is based extremely heavily on Red Hat's products (CentOS). But to use their code and complain when they try to make money is really low.

  11. Yes... by SheeEttin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, but does it run Li--Oh, wait...

  12. Maybe desktop Linux will just always be niche by cgenman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

    --
    The ______ Agenda