| It's official: Dell will be offering Ubuntu |
May 01, 2007
Our sources inside Dell were telling the truth: Dell will be offering Ubuntu on its desktop and laptop lines.
While Dell hasn't announced any details about the news yet on its Direct2Dell blog site, which is where it's been tending to make its Linux desktop announcements, Dell did announce the simple fact that, "today we are announcing a partnership with Canonical to offer Ubuntu on select consumer desktop and notebook products."
Dell and Canonical, the company that backs Ubuntu, have also been passing the word to reporters that pre-installing Ubuntu Linux on Dell PCs will be happening by May's end.
Jeremy Bolen, a Dell spokesperson in Round Rock, Texas, confirmed to eWEEK reporter Peter Galli in an interview that the company plans to offer select consumer products preloaded with Ubuntu 7.04 but declined to be more specific, saying that an update will be made in the coming weeks.
According to our sources inside Dell, Ubuntu will be released on a Dell e-series "Essential" Dimension desktop, an XPS desktop, and an e-series Inspiron laptop. It appears now that at least one more computer with Ubuntu will be offered.
Dell is not willing to talk pricing yet for these systems, but sources within Dell indicate that the pricing will be below the price of Windows systems on similar hardware. Critics have long noted that even though Linux and systems without operating systems cost less than PCs with Windows, vendors have tended to sell the Linux computers for the same price.
Dell decided to make Ubuntu its Linux because of customer demand. "Our general view is that when customers win, Dell wins," Bolen told Galli. "There is growing demand for Linux in the desktop and notebook space, and we believe that there will be positive response to our efforts."
When asked if the company plans to announce similar moves with other Linux vendors, Bolen said that while it is only announcing a partnership with Ubuntu at this time, "it is important to remember that we offer Red Hat on our Dell Precision workstations and have done so for years."
Bolen also noted that Dell's business desktops and notebooks have also been certified to run Novell's SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10), "although we don't factory install the operating system. When you add servers to the mix, we are addressing robust cross sections of the market."
While neither Red Hat nor Novell commented in time for this story, a Dell partner told DesktopLinux that they expect to see a multi-boot Linux system from the PC vendor that will offer users a choice of booting into Red Hat's community Linux, Fedora, Novell's community Linux, openSUSE, and Ubuntu. The official said, "They don't want to upset their business partners Novell and Red Hat. Also, those are the 'big three' for the enthusiast market."
Canonical, according to Jane Silber, the company's director of operations, has already been working with Dell's engineers to certify the Dell systems for Ubuntu. Canonical will also be offering an additional cost service contract for Ubuntu users through Dell's direct purchase system.
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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