Slashdot Mirror
Dell Opens Up About Desktop Linux
An anonymous reader writes "Michael Dell explains his company's Linux desktop strategy in an interview at DesktopLinux.com. He says that it's not practical for Dell (the company) to support numerous distributions due to their incompatibilities, but that he doesn't want alienate large segements of the Linux community by selecting a favorite Linux distro to standardize on (Ubuntu appears to be his favorite, at the moment, by the way.) What he'd really like to see, is for the popular Linux distros to converge on a common core platform, according to the article."
The guy makes sense, IMHO. After all, how many times have you seen slashdotters whining about various installers and packages, etc? As far as standardizing the core system, that's what the LSB is for, and POSIX to some extent.
C|N>K
I don't need Dell to support linux in the traditional sense. And I don't even need them to sell me a PC that doesn't have windows.
All I want from Dell is a commmittment to ship hardware for which open source drivers are available -- for them to say, for example, we need open source audio drivers or we won't ue your soundcard/integrated chipset, or your graphics chipset, or whatever. If Dell leaned on vendors, they'd give open source developers the info they need to support their products.
The not having to pay for windows thing is tricky, and I know it bugs a lot of people. I understand why. But for me the bottom line is that I just want stuff to work, and a Dell with a windows license is still a good machine at a good price, even if you don't use the license.
It would be cool if Dell could make sure that dual boot people could reinstall windows in a differently sized partition, though -- if they could make sure that you get the installation CDs or whatever else you need to do that. I haven't really been following things, but I hear that some people get machines with ghost backups of windows instead of a real install CD. That sort of thing is a problem from a practical point of view for a linux guy who wants the ability to dual boot.
You're free to make your own distro that will take 80% market share any time you like! Ahh the beauty of Linux!
Thats good for you. But for the other 98% of the population want a PC that is already up and running with all the apps, drivers, and configuration set. So it's the much larger market that Dell will chase to sell too. The real money is in companies that buy 20,000 identical systems with a huge service contract. Not us computer geeks that tend to build our own anyways.
http://www.leadmagnet.50megs.com
Funny, thats what most haven't-quite-switched-yet Linux users want too...
No they don't - they want hardware that works out of the box on the distro they chose.
I'd be happy if Dell supported one distro (or hell, even netBSD). It would mean that other distro's could look at the drivers used & have an easy time supporting Dell.
Its not rocket science Michael, don't try to make it harder then it really is. Support one distro (my suggestion is Debian, as you get a nice slow moving target, or Ubuntu, for predictable release cycles) but it doesn't really matter which one you support
My pics.
I don't see what is incompatible between the various Linux disros at the hardware level.
As long as all the hardware in a computer has linux drivers (preferably open source, but
I'll live with things like Nvidia's drivers), then any version of linux with a suitably
recent kernel (i.e any current distro) will work with the hardware.
Any incompatibility between the distros is a result of different file structure etc.,
this isn't a Linux (i.e. kernel) issue.
When I buy a budget computer from Dell I feel that I am gambing on the hardware being
operable under Linux (and I've lucked out so far).
Why hasn't anyone thought of that before?
We could call it the Linux Standards Base or something like that.
just provide the drivers... the community will deal with the rest...
Which drivers? I've seen WiFi drivers work on one distro and not another. I've seen them work in one version of say SuSE only to fail to work on upgraded versions. The kernel has a lot to do with what works. I'm all for Dell supporting the hardware but they would have to provide several versions of the same driver to make this happen. Like or not, he has a point. He might be using it as an excuse, which is another matter, but he makes a valid point. You can't bitch about Linux not being on the desktop when there are such varying varieties. I'm a huge Linux fan and have used it since about '99 or so. Yet, the Gnome/KDE wars along with the "this distro does X and this does Y" is both a great feature and a sticking point.
If Dell starts shipping every box with some Linux distro, that distro will immediately become the "common core platform".
Paid Q&A/Research
Besides; it'll be a cold day in hell when the Linux community converges on a single distribution. Distributions like Gentoo will always be popular with people like me who are sick of the dependency hell of Redhat, the crippled nature of Debian (which doesn't ship with mplayer or mp3 support, fer christsake), or whatever. And there are a ton of people who think compiling everything from scratch is obsessive and takes too long.
In GoboLinux, binary and source packages are both first-class citizens, which is nice, but talk about diverging from the norm -- geez. *I* like Gobo, but there's about as much chance of it becoming The Linux Distribution as... well, as G.W. Bush has of being accepted by MENSA.
I'm not surprised that Dell doesn't grok the Linux community; if he did, he'd understand the parent poster's point, but you have to understand the fact that the Linux community is largely comprised of DIYers.
--- SER
The key to Linux is diversity and who cares if we alienate Mr AOL etc. Everyone everywhere seems to be trying to tell the community what to do atm yet we are still here plodding on in our own directions some totally contrary to others and yet still making great things happen our own ways.
Thats what made Linux and OSS what it is in the first place by not conforming to someone in a suit who probably types with one finger and assumes to know what is best for us.
RPM is non interactive which means an RPM can't ask any question about how to resolve an issue APT is interactive
APT is a program which was originally designed to handle the Debian packaging format.
RPM is a packaging format.
There is APT-RPM out there, which lets you use APT to handle RPM files.
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" P. J. O'Rourke
Oh, give me a break.
.DEB drivers that could theoretically work with any distro - well, then that would be a TRUE win for Linux.
The PARENT is right.
The Linux Community needs to listen to Dell, not the other way around.
Are we "clients" of Dell? Yeah, sort of, but let's face it, if Linux disappeared overnight it would not make a bit of difference to Dell's bottom line. There is simply no profit motive for them to listen to a bunch of whiny, "gimmie gimmie gimme Micro$oft SUXORS!" idiots who can't even agree on a common desktop environment.
On the other hand, if the Linux community listens to Dell - who, personally, is obvious sympathetic to Linux - and agrees on certain standards that would make it possible for Dell to ship a "generic" Linux distro and basic RPM &
I've used Dell support for Linux Servers. They want RedHat Enterprise, and I can understand it, because from a support perspective, it is predictable. I called 'em up and said, "Hey, I'm running CentOS, a RHEL clonse, just treat me like I'm running RedHat, ok?" and the techs say "sure!" and eagerly get to helping me with my problems. The Dell Techs are smart enought (well, the business ones based in the US, the Indians have to stick to their scripts) to support a "baseline" linux. However, it would be an UNPROFITABLE support nightmare to support every - or even the 5 biggest - distros out there.
Go ahead. Whine about how "Dell doesn't listen to the Linux community". You'll score points with the Linux zealots who find it easier to badmouth the 90% of the world that doesn't use Linux. But, if you want to make true Linux desktop adaption a reality - if you want to see Linux develop a true installed base that would prevent Microsoft from doing something wacky like develop proprietary extensions that "everyone must have" or enough of an installed base so that some big, coroporate lobbyists will DEFEND Linux when our braindead politicians are bought off by other big corporate lobbyists try to ban Linux form some ridiculous reason - and don't laugh, it's on the horizon, there are powerful interests - both corporate and governmental (RIAA, anyone) that think the idea of people being able to actually work their own computer hardware & software is a Bad Thing(tm) - well, if you want to see Linux groow, then listen to what people like Michael Dell say, and figure out wheat we can do to make their lives easier.
Our numbers are not enough for Dell to listen. Be nice, and they will work with us on hardware, and slowly, we will gain more influence. Be rude and insulting, and they'll tune us out.