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Michael Dell Using Ubuntu Linux At Home
whoever57 sends us a link from the Dell site noting that Michael Dell is using Ubuntu Linux at home (7.04, Feisty Fawn) on a Precision M90 laptop loaded with Openoffice.org and Evolution. If one were betting on which distro Dell will eventually ship pre-installed, this factoid might be food for thought. Oh, and Micheal Dell's gaming system uses XP Media Center edition.
It looks like a normal posted flyer.
Given all the other stuff he has I bet the baseline Linux machine will be the toilet one.
Or the one he threatens his kids with:
"Screw around on teh internets and you will use Linux for the rest of the week"
Having said that, its REALLY good Dell are actually selling machines, the specified model just looks crap compared to the other kit on the page.
liqbase
The simple reason being that a good businessman never assumes what's good for him is good for his customer.
My work here is dung.
I wonder if he can get it without the MS tax?
I can't even imagine why one person would want five PCs.
How much time does he spend applying patches and updating software? Transferring data?
THREE different laptops? Doesn't he realize that the whole appeal of a laptop is that you can take it with you wherever you go?
Although it's not officially announced yet, the Ubuntu Feisty Fawn torrents are live:
Desktop i386
Desktop AMD64
Server i386
Server AMD64
The more exotic torrents (and the directly downloadable ISOs) can be found at the official release site but I thought we'd try to save their servers a bit of pain and heartache.
Here you go, these links came from linuxtracker, they are definitely the final releases, not the beta.
CD - ubuntu-7.04-desktop-i386.iso.torrent
DVD - feisty-dvd-i386.iso.torrent
Oh no... it's the future.
Use the Swedish mirror. I switched to that a while ago since the us servers always seem very slow. The Swedish one is usually very fast.
http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/7.04/
The iso's are on that site now.
"The Federal Reserve is a fraudulent system."--Lew Rockwell
End The FED. -
How much time does he spend applying patches and updating software? Transferring data?
None. He has support take care of it.
In the past, sticking to Windows seems to have worked for Dell. There are obvious reasons (need to support only one OS) plus maybe a very favourable volume deal by Microsoft. ;-)
But as Linux gains more market share, it is time for Dell to re-evaluate this position. Michael Dell using Ubuntu may be part of such research. If so, he is acting with more foresight than some managers I know
C - the footgun of programming languages
While it's interesting that he has an Ubuntu laptop, I'm more surprised that none of the four other machines are running Vista. They're all still using various flavors of XP.
Just made a living out of selling cheap windows boxes. You seriously think the owners of Mc.D. eat the burgers themselfes aswell? ;-)
Who are you to say that Ubuntu is aimed "too much" at the home user? Did you ever think that maybe that's who they're targeting? Every other Linux distribution isn't aimed at all at any variation of a home/average user. The folks at Ubuntu are probably going "gee, duh. Maybe we should make a distribution that you can use without having to have 6 years of sysadmin experience" You're doing the right thing by using a distribution you prefer. It's just a little off base to say that Ubuntu's distribution is aimed "too much" toward home users. Or do you prefer the days when you had to be a computer geek in order to use a computer?
I used Mandriva 3 years ago, and some since. Ubuntu got quite a few things right, with ease, that I couldn't find a way to do in Mandriva, even given the large amount of time I spent on those tasks back then. Installing Ecipse and Java for one, were a real pain in the ass. Ubuntu, it was a 3 minute job. I like Mandriva, and I think it was great for it's time, (back when I used it daily), but I've reached the point I want to work with my system and not work on it. Ubuntu gets so much right hassle free that no other distro I've tried comes close. And the community is willing to help newbies without yelling RTFM. Throw in it's debian (read apt) based instead of rpm based (bad bad memories from my red hat trial years ago), and I have a clear choice. It's not for everyone, but it is for me.
I don't see Ubuntu doing anything that Mandriva (or Mandrake) wasn't doing 3 years ago.
Windows Migration Assistant?
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
I can see that this isn't (i) a definite 'No' (and nor would it be); (ii) "We'd be delighted if the Dell team want to get in touch"; (iii) "I have their Cease & Desist and Restraining Orders on my office wall -- we'll get Dell to ship Ubuntu, just you see"; or (iv) "We're integrating Wine and Launchpad to track users via the default-installed Dell add-ons". However, I don't think that there's enough there to be sure that it is any hint of talks, as Canonical's and Ubuntu's status would rise if Mark Shuttleworth could give the impression that Dell were interested.
...given that he owns/runs Dell, he has plenty of backups if one craps out (or bursts into flame, rumor du jour).
At a rather large tech company. A small cadre of top honchos had their own groupware server(s!), their own email server(s!) and their own dedicated VPN. They also had instant 24/7 unlimited support wherever they were for any of the multiple home or office machines they used. Their support ratio headcount was 1:1, e.g. each supported person had one FTE dedicated to them.
They simply did not acknowledge that anyone in the organization had any sort of technical problems at all and chalked it up to nerdy whining. Our budgets were routinely slashed, hardware and software was left running long past end of life, capacity planning was a joke and the internal costs for help desk calls and deskside visits were jacked up to absurdly high levels so that no managers would permit their own people to use them. Complaints to senior management were met with not so vague threats of termination, STFU, GBTW!
So if Mike Dell uses uBuntu it's probably because he's imperially disconnected from the realities in his own company. To him, I'm sure he feels that everyone has 5 PC's and full time free dedicated support from the best brains in the industry and what on earth are these peons complaining about now for God's sake?
I'd rather see several detailed screenshots per machine with detailed info on exactly what software packages are used, how he likes them, and how, and how much, they are used.
I must be the only one who thinks displays look cooler with something displayed in them.
That said it is almost enough to get me to buy those dual 30" ultrasharp displays. I mean they must be readable if Dell has them at home, right? Just how much do those suckers cost I wonder.. Quality of LCD display is pretty important to me as my eyes need rest.
I hate to feed the rumors, but what other distro would they possibly use ? I don't know of any other that pulls off the user experience schmoozing as cleanly as Ubuntu, seeing as it's one of their main goals. As funny as it would be to toss a Gentoo boot disc in the box and watch the call center agents as they commit suicide one after another:
Joe - " I setup Portage to run off a CDB backend, and now my metadata is corrupt. Fix my box, bitch!"
Kerpal - " Ok, sir, please turn off the computer and remove the power cord for 2 minutes. "
Joe - " No, f*** you that won't fix it. I need a tarball of this and that, and a custom shell script to reindex those..."
Kerpal - " Ok, sir, I am going to put you on hold... (hold music) AAAAAAAAAH *BOOM* *SPLAT* *CLICK*"
Ultimately they want a nice easy distro to appeal to the masses, because that's the business they're in. I wouldn't be surprised if they came up with a nice idiot-proof restore CD as well, because the expensive part is training the thousands of tech support people worldwide. Having them pop in a restore disc is an easy way to deal with it, because ultimately that's what a lot of techs end up doing when Windows acts up too... just blow it away and start over. That's how they're trained. Advanced software troubleshooting is a luxury billed by the hour, not covered by the puny hardware warranty.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Yes, the secret is out. High quality Linux distributions aren't that much different from each other. I think Ubuntu has come to the forefront because they've got the right advertising, were in the right place at the right time, have a very dedicated community which wants Ubuntu in the most hands, and because it still is a pretty good distribution. That's not to minimize all the hard work that has gone into Ubuntu, but everyone is working hard. Ubuntu just did a lot of non-technical things right as well combined with a little luck.
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
Oh, gee, Michael Dell, running dog lackey Microsoft/Intel fanboi now uses Ubuntu! See? Dell is really trying to those pesky Linux people! See? Mikey uses one at home, although there is the altar of XP Media Center there just to make sure that Bill's not pissed.
C'mon, folks--- this is PR working at its finest and you're getting sucked right into the nozzle. Dell support for Linux has been scant and waffling for years. Now you're being seduced by the fantasy that The Big Dell actually uses an OSS system. Get real.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Every other Linux distribution isn't aimed at all at any variation of a home/average user.
Linspire????
At some point, somewhere, the entire internet will be found to be illegal.
Yet you have time to hang out on Slashdot? :)
Just because he has the PC doesn't mean he uses it regularly. He can only drive one car at a time too, but I bet he's got several. Part of the lifestyle of the mega rich. Loads of toys you never get to use.
If my call is important, why am I talking to a recording?