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Dell To Offer Ubuntu Laptops Again
An anonymous reader writes "TechCrunch reports that Dell will be officially re-entering the Linux laptop market. Beginning this fall, it will sell a 'developer edition' of one of its Ultrabooks that comes pre-loaded with Ubuntu 12.04. Dell first started offering computers with Linux installed in 2007, but they dropped the products in 2010. This spring, a skunkworks effort called Project Sputnik was announced, and now, after the completion of a short beta test, the Ubuntu laptops have been given a green light for commercial sale. Canonical has been working alongside Dell to help make this happen."
...to buy one, wipe off that buggy, proprietary OS and install Debian on it.
Is this announcement definitely from Dell, or is it more bullshit from Canonical? Canonical has previously announced various machines as coming with their Linux preloaded. Canonical claimed that for an EeePC model. Didn't happen.
Last time I looked at one of these Linux laptops, the price was higher than the $350 Windows laptop I saw at staples. Therefore it saved me money to buy the Windows version, download Lubuntu, and install a dual boot, rather than support Dell Linux offering.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Dell is the fourth largest PC vendor in sales numbers in the last quarter so a few people are buying their stuff still.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
Now I can get a cheaper laptop and put on my pirated Windows 7 Ultimate! w00t!!!!!
(because *nobody* pirates the home edition)
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I've always reserved "skunkworks project" for what I thought were interesting, kinda secret, complicated pursuits.
You know, like the exact opposite of dell slapping ubuntu on a laptop and selling it on their website. ;)
Looks like it's time to negotiate OEM Windows pricing with Microsoft. Out comes the old pal, Linux, and stays there right up until Microsoft complies with Dell's demands. This is getting tiresome. It's the third or fourth time they've done this, there's no element of surprise to anyone but people with Alzheimers.
$write you "Dude, you're getting a Dell"
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Even now, there are some notebooks available on their website, and you can probably get even more options when you ask them on the phone.
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Normally OEM licences are often on a 5 year term, so this would make sense timing wise.
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dell gives linux laptops another chance, implying they were never a viable idea from the get-go. Personally? Fuck Dell. id rather take my business to system76 or penguin computing, or even los alamos if i had the cash. these are places where linux on the desktop is something thats existed and will continue to exist as long as your favourite linux is produced, so you dont need to worry about getting redmonds buy-in on how powerful your linux desktop is allowed to be, or at what pricepoint its required to be set.
TL;DR: stop buying linux from people who pander to the community for extra scratch in the fourth quarter earnings report.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Dell does offer a "N Series" model on their Vostro family of laptops and desktops, that are shipped without any pre-installed OS.. All you get is a FreeDOS installation disk for free; better still there is no "Designed for Windows xx" logo on these machines.
i should note, for on-topic's sake, that the dell laptop i'm writing this on -is- running ubuntu 12.04, but I put it on there, not them.
from the Project Sputnik FAQ:
You and everyone else, apparently.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
I want a good laptop. Wake me up with Lenovo sells ThinkPads without Windows.
Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
Are we looking at the same article?
They would have to lose another 50% to fall below ASUS.. and ASUS is still listed above "Others"
Hmmm typical Dell customers + Linux OS + Dell's legendary support quality = fantastic idea! I'm sure they won't have any problems with people calling in, asking how to do basically everything.
>>>It's the third or fourth time they've done this,
Don't you mean second? You can draw a line with two points, but you can't establish a pattern. You can't claim this is Dell's modus operandi with only 2 samples.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
As a user of Dell for Linux before the N Series came out and as a person that still uses an N series laptop and Ubuntu, I can tell you my next laptop, even if the are partnering with Ubuntu, will not be from Dell. Over the years I've felt pretty screwed over as a Linux user and the last re neg of their commitments to Linux users has convinced me to no longer be their customer. My next laptop purchase in on the horizon, and it will be from a vendor like System 76 or someone else that seems committed. Who knows when Dell will decide to defecate on the Linux community again.
"'who ISN'T buying dell"
Nor am I, nor will I ever. Back in the mid to late 90s DELL was an awesome system.
Anyone remember the Dimension 450? Anyway, in the early and mid-2000s, their overall service and quality level just tanked.
Intentionally so, actually. I am posting this as AC since I worked for Dell for a great many years as a Gold Tech Support Agent, and I don't particularly like the idea of being sued for letting the cat out of the bag.
The reason your service and quality level tanked -- why calls were outsourced to India, why parts became just a little bit flakey, etc -- was to give sales a reason to upsell you.
Yes, outsourced techs are cheaper (they make pathetically low wages), but they also gave us an opportunity to sell you a service contract to speak to an American for a vastly inflated price, and they make a killing doing so.
Yes, the cheaper parts are cheaper, but they gave us an opportunity to sell you a next day or 4 hour service contract for your hardware, rather than have you ship in the laptop or wait for service, and again, they make a killing doing so.
It's the latter (upsells) not the former (direct discounts) that Dell was interested in.
The higher ups were quite open with this when they were explaining why we couldn't help frustrated customers who India sent over to us -- if India couldn't fix something, and it was past 5 o'clock over there, they'd punt the customer over to us-- and we'd punt them right back, most of the time.
And yes, you can still get an American. When you buy your next Business model Dell, ask for a "Pro Support" warranty. Unfortunately, you won't get me, as my site (as well as all the Canadian sites) were outsourced... to Dell. They closed our site claiming they didn't need 3 Pro Support sites, then outsourced our jobs to a company Dell owns down in Florida -- but this way, they don't have to give benefits nor a fair wage. Ain't economics grand?
Windows 8 is also launching the same time as this change. We've never seen them in the same room together. Coincidence? I think not!
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Today you can order a XPS13 off dell.com which will come with Microsoft pre-loaded.
I hate Windows as much as the next guy, but if they're bundling a $250B company with each XPS laptop purchased, even *I* want to get in on this promotion!
From hell's heart I fstab at /dev/hdc
Probably due to customer returns from people not knowing what linux is and getting upset when they found out that windows wasn't on the machine that they bought.
Did you ever actually look for the Linux laptops on Dell's web site? I did, and it wasn't like they plastered them on the home page. It's not like it was even a choice when you were configuring your system. You had to go to a special sub-site with few or no links from other pages. You really had to know where it was to get to it.
Trust me, people weren't buying Linux machines by accident.
I was going to order a Dell with Ubuntu, but the price was almost the same!
Instead I buy lightly used IBM and Lenovo laptops and add Ubuntu. They rock.
Be nice if I could find Linux drivers for the fingerprint reader and my camera is kind of dark, but other than those minor niggles, they're great Ubuntu boxes.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
When I bought mine you had to go looking for the Ubuntu machines page; when you got there it explained very clearly, in non-technical language, that if you don't know what we're talking about you don't want one: go over here to buy a Windows machine. They thought that out ahead of time and were very clear about it.
The reality is a Linux laptop should cost MORE because while Dell may have to pay $25 to Microsoft they get $50 from the crapware vendors.
Looks like it's time to negotiate OEM Windows pricing with Microsoft. Out comes the old pal, Linux, and stays there right up until Microsoft complies with Dell's demands. This is getting tiresome. It's the third or fourth time they've done this, there's no element of surprise to anyone but people with Alzheimers.
Then I think they are doing it for the wrong reasons. They have with the launch of surface been sent a clear signal, "You are our bitch, It is our OS", we will take all the high end early adopter money, and we will keep all of your margins.
Dell needs to get going with a strategy that involves Coreboot; Libreoffice; dual boot android; full refund for windows + free penguin plush + credits; Chrome for Ubuntu Store; massive investing in Open source OS [hell their own closed source] and putting their skin all over it pick Meego/Android/Tizen/Gnome/KDE I don't care which.
The need to be talking to Asus; Samsung; Intel; Sony; etc etc about forming an effective defensive cartel against Microsoft, talk openly with transparency about what happens behind closed door with Microsoft, and to regulars within various Governments.
After Microsoft saying how rubbish your machines are produce a machine not limited by Microsoft restrictive OS. Say Debian+ARM+Valve Store+Google talk+touchscreen+Netbook+game controls+led keyboard though in some teaching materials/Edutainment and hdmi out and bundle with docking station, keyboard, Monitor and put unused alienware logo on it make glow with LEDs, link it with celebrity Sound system ...and sell it for peanuts look at how well Android hardware is doing.
At the very least they need to get their patent trolling on.
They need to show Microsoft that they are not Bitches, they need to show that Hardware controls the Software not the other way around. There is even the chance of Apple like money from these strategy.
Putting Linux on a few machines buried on their web site, is a *cough* symbolic gesture at best like a child kicking back at a parent by *sulking*.
It's interesting that Gartner doesn't include tablets running iOS or Android but they do include tablets running Windows. I wonder how they justify that? I wonder if Windows RT tablets will be counted as a PC?
I purchased a dell laptop (m1530) with Ubuntu several years ago, with extended tech support. I had a harder time getting it to run properly than any other laptop in the last few years. Whenever I tried calling the tech-support, I had to transfer several times because they couldn't be bothered creating prompts for it in their phone support menus. I was actually told by their tech-support that my laptop stopped working because I did updates. With 12.04 I was finally able to get the sound working. Their website used to say "the most important thing you need to know about linux is that you don't get Windows". Look at their ubuntu website now. It has a underpowered laptop with a 15 month-old version of Ubuntu that you can't customize at all.
--- http://davidnehme.blogspot.com
1) It's highly unlikely that anyone looking to buy a Windows laptop will accidentally type "Dell Linux Laptop" into Google. Prove to me that it can happen by accident.
2) That link only shows how to buy rack-based server hardware with linux. Even back in 2009, when Dell did sell consumer based machines with linux, they had a huge section of the website about linux, but it was all server-based information. You could spend an hour clicking link after link through the Dell linux site without finding the consumer products. Actually finding a link to configure a dell laptop or desktop model with linux pre-installed was nearly impossible. I know... I tried.
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