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Dell Drops Ubuntu PCs From Its Website
Barence writes "Dell has stopped selling consumer PCs preloaded with Ubuntu from its website, and doesn't know when they're coming back. A search for Ubuntu on the Dell UK website returns only one laptop — the Dell Latitude 2100 from the company's business range. Dell insists that it's continuing to sell Ubuntu systems, but only over the phone, and has no idea when — or even if — the Ubuntu PCs will return online. 'We've recently made an effort to simplify our offerings online, by focusing on our most popular bundles and configuration options, based on customer feedback for reduced complexity and a simple, easy purchase experience,' Dell told PC Pro. 'We're also making some changes to our Ubuntu pages, and as a result, they are currently available through our phone-based sales only.' The move comes after Dell put a page on its website advising customers only to go for Ubuntu if they were interested in open-source programming."
Microsoft Windows is really so much harder to use than Ubuntu. Everything on Ubuntu just works, and you have to fuss with windows to get it to do what you want, keep it from getting a virus, hunt all over the web to get software updates.....
I think the only reason Dell does this is because Windows is setup like a toll booth where you have to pay extra to get it to do anything useful or keep it running. With the Ubuntu Boxes they don't sell any add-on software because Ubuntu already has everything it needs to work.
"The Most Fun Possible on 4 wheels" is at SunBuggy in Las Vegas
I have been on a recent job hunt. Granted, as a LAMP developer. At each interview I asked, is it possible to use a non-windows desktop. Answer: Yes. Mac or Ubuntu didn't matter as long as you could do your job.
These weren't small companies either although they weren't the type to run IE6 either.
There is a slow but steady march towards opensource and for the really old, it is the same march that made Microsoft a household name.
There was a time when if you asked for a DOS machine at work, you would have had to be working in the technological vanguard to get it. Because HERE we use mainframes kid, not this new fangled dos/windows 1.0 stuff. that is kid stuff, for hobbyists.
Dell? Missing the boat. But then, they are being surpassed on every front. I can understand why Dell doesn't want to do Ubuntu, they aren't about giving away free customizations. Sure your dell laptop can be pink, that will be 50 euro's thank you very much. All for a different colored piece of plastic. But when you are at the absolute bottom price wise your are just asking to be picked off by the next guy who can go even cheaper.
I predict that before to long, there will be a chinese company, currently supplying the big names in the west, who starts selling direct. And then Dell will be left with overpriced hardware that doesn't offer anything different.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
At a major Taiwanese PC tradeshow, the CEO of ASUS abruptly canceled his presentation about new Asus products. Asus immediately began towing the line regarding Microsoft products and co-promotion following that. Dell's recent promoting cohabitation with Ubuntu sounds like exactly the same thing.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/microsoft_strikes_back_at_linux_netbook_push
You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
...that Microsoft had told them that if they continued to market Linux PCs, they would, quote, "rip them a new one", unquote.
http://www.dell.com/ubuntu is still functional in the US.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
That is what I really want. I can buy a Dell without a monitor, so why not without an operating system?
I have my own monitor already, and my own OS. It doesn't make sense to force me to by either of them.
Think about what you just wrote. So you think it is just about time installing Linux? No.
* For one thing, some of us don't want to pay a Microsoft Tax. If I don't plan on using MS-Windows on a computer, I should not be forced to pay for it.
* If a computer is available with Linux, it implies at least SOME amount of Linux support- even if it is just a compatibility guide.
* I wouldn't want to use Ubuntu, anyway, since there are (for me) much better Linuxes. So if they offered a computer with NO OS installed, I would be just has happy.
You can bet that Microsoft is behind the scenes again, pulling strings at Dell to squash any notion of freedom or choice.
'We've recently made an effort to simplify our offerings online, by focusing on our most popular bundles and configuration options, based on customer feedback for reduced complexity and a simple, easy purchase experience,'
Funny. I still see different websites based on whether I select "home", "small and medium business" (I love that- who says "I work for a medium-sized ____ company"?), or "large enterprise" or "public sector" (of which there are SIX subcategories!)
There are 11 laptops in the "home" section. There are 10 Lattitude "E" series laptops and 8 more in the "Specialty" section for enterprise users. 2 "precision" workstation laptops offered to higher education.
Hang on, I'll just quote from the side of the product selector when I selected "higher education":
33 different laptops, ladies and gentlemen. 33.
How many does Apple sell? 3 Macbook Pros, 1 Macbook, 1 Macbook Air? Granted they come in a few flavors (different screen resolutions, for example)...but the basic laptop chassis itself is the same and a 15" macbook pro has always been a 15" macbook pro. Not a Macbook Pro 2310 and then a Macbook Pro 2340 etc.
Dell is like GM; you can buy the same car with 4 different hood emblems and slightly different trim/headlights/taillights.
And people wonder why Apple is raking in money hand over fist. Perhaps it's because they have a clear product lineup? Sometimes you have to stop trying to sell to every person on the planet.
Please help metamoderate.
buy from someone else
http://system76.com/
http://zareason.com/
I don't know why Dell thinks I am a second-class citizen because I use open-source programs. Boo and hiss.
I blogged about it here: http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2010/07/23/why-windows-still-has-good-sales-figures/
:-(
16:27:12 Alan Initial Question/Comment: I can't find your laptops with Ubuntu installed
16:27:23 System You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
16:27:23 System Connected with Makrand_Karante
16:27:23 Makrand_Karante Thank you for contacting Dell sales chat. This is Makrand Karante,your Sales Advisor. In order to Help you better can you provide me with your email address and Telephone number incase we get Disconnected I can either come back to you by phone or email.
16:27:39 Alan hello
16:27:50 Alan I am looking for laptops running Ubuntu
16:27:53 Makrand_Karante Hi Alan
16:28:03 Makrand_Karante we do not have that option available yet
16:28:15 Alan oh
16:28:32 Alan when will they be available, I don't want Windows at all
16:28:53 Makrand_Karante we do not have the related information here
16:29:36 Alan that is a bit of a shame, I will have to go somewhere else to get a laptop then
16:29:53 Makrand_Karante is there any thing else that I may assist you with today?
16:30:07 Alan well not really. I just wanted a laptop running Ubuntu.
16:30:19 Alan Do you have any without an operating system at all?
16:30:28 Makrand_Karante I am afraid no
16:30:36 Alan oh
16:31:23 Alan so if I want a laptop from Dell I have to buy windows
16:31:58 Makrand_Karante Yes
16:32:12 Alan ok, thanks for your help
16:32:29 Makrand_Karante Thank you for contacting Dell Sales Chat and allowing me the opportunity to assist you. Have a wonderful Day ahead.
16:33:25 System The session has ended!
Couple of updates. I am in the UK, so that was through the dell.co.uk site, I don't want one from the US because it would have the wrong keyboard and I would be stung with customs charges and it would take a long time to get here and I like instant overnight consumer gratification.
If you are tempted to go ask similar questions of the Dell online chat thing then go right ahead with the following conditions:
1) You must take a credit card out of your purse/wallet, rest it on your keyboard and be totally prepared to use it, if they find you a suitable laptop.
2) Do it once, don't repeatedly bother them.
3) Be polite and respectful, the Code of Conduct applies.
I'm curious, is there a precedent for a third company pressuring Dell to drop Linux, under threat of retaliation?
.. I want them to understand that every day they lead with Linux over Windows in Unix migrations they turn our field against them (take the southeast region mail thread as an example). I want them to think very very carefully about when and which forums they decide to push Linux very, very hard. Today, they do not. When they do, you can bet, behavior will evolve"
"We should whack them, we should make sure they understand our value
"HP discontinued its Linux SKUs beginning on November 18th. This is based on joint marketing effort that spans six months to promote low cost Windows SKU's with $30 extra channel incentives that focus on white box resellers"
It'll be interesting watching the MicroAstroturfers try and put a positive spin on the above statements.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/1872/dellbeforeafter.png
When it was announced that Dell was selling computers loaded with Ubuntu, I went to their site and looked. I looked hard, and didn't see anything. Then on another site I found a link to an obscure page on the Dell website that you wouldn't find in any other way.
And there, I saw that they were selling old models of their products, with only the low-end hardware choices, for a more expensive price than what they sell the new model with high-end choices and Windows. To the point where even a person who would want to buy a Dell computer and install Ubuntu on it would buy one preloaded with Windows and install Ubuntu himself.
And now they're going to say they're pulling it because it didn't sell enough. Of course it didn't, they purposely made it that way; it's like they wanted it to fail from the get go.
Microsoft strikes back at Linux netbook push
just as this article was about netbooks, the new buzz word to kill off in the name of Windows is tablet and to some extent smartphone. They'll have a very tough time with the smartphone but the tablet sector is just getting started and Android isn't even out of the gate on that platform yet.
I smell lots of marketing deals forcing exclusivity with Microsoft once again.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
i would like you to name one app that does not have a free alt.
The following are proprietary commercial programs available for PCs running Windows. What is the closest equivalent to each that is distributed under a free software license?