I'm encouraged by the mere existence of a forum called "We're Shipping Linux on PCs -- Now What?", but I get the feeling that the answers coming from something like this will be an indication of Dell's long-term commitment to the platform on the desktop.

Not only does Dell need to ship Linux, but they need to embrace the culture, which is probably the big stumbling block. (I understand it's a long, slow road...  but it's a start.)  I'm still looking forward to the days that Dell considers removing the "we recommend windows vista" from all of their PCs, and to put up material that truly encourages Linux adoption.  Heck, why not support dual boot out of the box, or provide support materials like a "Linux for Dummies" or an Ubuntu book with each Ubuntu laptop. (It could even be an extra option!)

Dell is on the right track, but still has a long way to go before I really think they've "grokked" Linux.

Either way, I'll be following closely all of the blogs from the Summit - it sounds like a great event.  Best of luck to those who are attending.
 

"We're Shipping Linux on PCs -- Now What?"

Ship them to Australia!

 "We're Shipping Linux on PCs -- Now What?"

 Advertise it! I searched the word "ubuntu" in the first-page of Home Notebooks

http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/notebooks?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

and i got 0 matches !

Agreed.  You need to advertise that fact.  What you are doing now is hovering in a dark corner quietly saying "psssssst.  Hey you, over in this dark corner we offer Linux."  If you want to offer choice to your customers, then offer choice to your customers!

Let me be specific, when I go to www.dell.com, select the Desktop or laptop, select Business or home, select the model, select to configure the model, I WANT TO SEE LINUX AS AN OPTION under operating system.

In Dell's defence, I receive Dell's consumer postings for Canada.

In a posting earlier this year, I scrolled down and noticed the familiar Ubuntu logo. It gave a link to the Linux 101 video.  It was a small ad in a big email.

Dell did go the extra mile and emailed information about their Ubuntu offering to what is most likely a large collection of consumers that were ignorant of Linux. 

I would not undervalue that step that Dell has taken.



 

If so many people don't want Vista (see the below URIs), and because Dell wants to fulfull their customer needs, why not use that as a launching board to introduce other options such as Linux in a way that  everyone can see these other options?

See the following URIs:

 http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/

 http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hP-PJpWPOXhxZHpqZ_M-Euh6DntwD901KB280

"We're Shipping Linux on PCs -- Now What?"

Dump Microsoft? Sorry it was just too tempting to pass up. But seriously. Dell should advertise it's Linux offerings. Dell has some great laptops and desktops running Linux now as well as server stuff too.  

I'm waiting until Dell pre-installs Hardy Heron to buy an Inspiron 1420.

Should I hold my breath?

Thanks