dell

"When Dell first announced that it would be releasing Ubuntu Linux-powered consumer desktops and laptops, some people saw it as more of a stunt than a serious business move. They were wrong. Dell has already expanded its consumer Linux line, and now it has announced that it will soon be offering Ubuntu Linux systems outside of the United States and for new businesses.

On Dell’s Direct2Dell site, Lionel Menchaca, Dell’s digital media manager, said, "Wanted to be clear that Dell does have plans to offer Linux to more consumers in additional locations outside the United States. More details to come later this summer. We will also offer Ubuntu to small business customers in the future. As soon as we have more details to share, I’ll blog about both topics here.""

According to DesktopLinux.com "Dell isn't resting on its recent consumer Linux PC laurels. The computing giant has added a new laptop -- the Inspiron 1420 Notebook -- to its Ubuntu Linux 7.04 offering. It is also replacing the Dimension E520 desktop with the new, low-priced Inspiron 530."

And while Dell is expanding its GNU/Linux computer offerings, and apparently selling them well, we are seeing indications that HP might be the next to offer GNU/Linux on their desktops:

"Microsoft said on Monday Dell had joined a business collaboration it had with Novell to allow open-source Linux software to work with Windows.

The move makes Dell the first major systems provider to join the Microsoft-Novell collaboration, which consists of a broad set of business and technological agreements to make their products work together better to serve corporate customers using both Linux and Windows computer servers." -- Read more

All around this isn't too surprising. Microsoft's windows ship is sinking and they want their fingers on the next big thing: GNU/Linux. At the same time they have some "interoperability" leverage with EU and some patent FUD reserves. In any case, meddling with the GNU/Linux affairs is quite lucrative for MS right now.

To no big surprise, Dell appears to have chosen Ubuntu for their GNU/Linux distribution of choice to pre-install on some of their desktops and laptops:

"As part of an overall effort to update our Linux program, today we are announcing a partnership with Canonical to offer Ubuntu on select consumer desktop and notebook products." -- Read more

Dell was also kind enough to offer an an ogg video of related Shuttleworth interview.

Some more good news come from Dell. It appears they are getting more serious about supporting GNU/Linux on desktops and laptops and they are even talking about prioritizing hardware with Free Software support over those with lack of it.

A recent blog entry on Direct2Dell blog indicates that Dell may be quite serious about the whole thing. It is interesting to note that the author, "Matt Domsch, Linux Software Architect", seems familiar with the Free Software philosophy, if nothing then subtly from a way he writes the word "Free". It is good to see that someone from one of the leading computer vendors actually gets what's going on in our community, sees the debate and in fact puts a reasonable amount of weight to the Free Software side.