What is Digg?42 Comments
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"hahahha, this looks like dell is trying to get a discount on windows vista...
"Where(sic) going to use linux..."
M$ gets worried and gives a large discount,
dell smiles all the way to the bank..
hey, its worked for them with intel countless times..."
Only, it didn't really ever work for them with Intel, and it *definitely* will not work with Microsoft; Microsoft is already cutting Dell an extreme deal on Windows ($50 for a Pro seat, $30 for a Home seat vs the otherwise huge prices of each). In fact, the licenses Dell, Gateway, and HP have for selling Windows predicate that they *only* ship Windows as an installed Operating System, and that if any other OS is installed by default on the machines, then Microsoft reserves the rights to jack the price back up to the undiscounted OEM price (roughly $160 for Pro, $120 for Home).
Dell in the past has gone around this by saying "Okay, we'll put FreeDOS in the box with the Machine, but we'll ship it with no Operating System installed", and even through all the loopholes and legal wonderment, Dell was still not able to shave even pennies off of a No-OS box (in fact, some of the No OS boxes were more expensive; Tom's Hardware did an exclusive on it a while back, it was on Digg).
So this Dell-Linux rumor is total bunk. The ABSOLUTE LAST THING Dell wants to do, with the new direct competitor Apple on the horizon, with Gateway playing towards the students, with Lenovo scooting into the business profits, is to have to jack the prices of their machines back up to compensate for having to pay full OEM price for Windows. As much as I wish Dell would ditch the Microsoft habit, they're far too engrained in the business model to do it. Unless their lawyers pulled a coup and figured out a loophole which allows them to ship Linux (which I doubt; Microsoft has spent years honing that license agreement to make sure this kind of thing could not happen), this is as much news as any of the iPod video rumors flying around. - kitejumping, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2hahahha, this looks like dell is trying to get a discount on windows vista...
"Where going to use linux..."
M$ gets worried and gives a large discount,
dell smiles all the way to the bank..
hey, its worked for them with intel countless times... - theone3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You don't need to flirt with linux. It's run by virgins. Just go for it! :D
- dilbert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why are people picking up hollow phrases with Dell in it?
Dell likely to put AMD in their PCs
Dell looking to equip their PCs with Linux
Dell studying ways to get you laid - Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's "kind of expensive for a Linux box" because it's RHEL. That's the Red Hat version that's not free (as in beer). As I understand it, said version also comes with OS support from the vendor, which businesses need.
- Hindu_Wardrobe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I'm 14 years old (and a girl) and I can install Gentoo. It's not the hardest thing in the world.
People are just so used to Windows, and they're too damn stubborn to learn about Linux.
People are saying that Windows is *so* easy compared to Linux.
Let's install a program in Windows.
Go to a download site. Download the exe/zip/msi/whatever. Doubleclick it. Next, next, next, next... wait.... done.
Let's do the same in Linux,
Debian: Open terminal, type "sudo apt-get install program" and kaboom.
Gentoo: Open terminal, type "sudo emerge program" and kaboom.
RPM: Download an RPM, install it. (I have more experience with Gentoo and Debian, so I can't really explain on this one)
Now I know about the tarballs and such, and that gets complicated for the average Windows user, but once you learn it it's like riding a bike. You don't forget.
And, what would you rather have: a few extra steps to install something, or a few clicks, an unread EULA, and some spyware?
Dell would make a lot of money off of this if people would actually TRY Linux. Most computer-illiterate people (if they even know about Linux) will think that it's just as easy as Windows: you just install it, plug in your devices, and it works. (I know, I was like this.)
What's the real difference? If you used Linux all your life, then Linux would be unbelievably easy. Then a few years down the road, you try Windows. It would probably be confusing to you. (There was an article on digg awhile back about this.)
So if a company isn't making money by selling Linux, just blame the people. They're too stupid to learn something new. - plankton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1jesus, how many qualifiers can you overload a single sentence with? dell is 'on it's way' to 'becoming' the first 'tier-one' pc vendor offering a 'mainstream' (yet business) linux box to 'US customers'.
so, in one country, one pc vendor is considering the idea of potentially offering a box which may have some form of linux installed, to some companies. woo. - dukeinlondon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If I have a pic of Angelina Jolie on my site, it doesn't mean I flirt with her. I don't think more should be read into this Dell offering...
- stimpack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@kitejumping: not a chance, if Dell get too comfortable with Linux, Microsoft will give them a ***** deal on Windows, not a good one. Many a vendor had ditched their linux plans because it pisses off MS and thats not good for negotiating prices.
- Pogue_Mahone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I remember reading a story about a guy who tried to buy one of those FreeDOS systems mentioned in the story, and it wound up costing more than an equivalent system with Windows XP.
This is me not holding my breath. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0People forget how scary with wintel monopoly was before the government started watching everything they do. I doubt Dell has much to LOSE from such a move (though how much they gain is unclear).
At one time Dell could have been squished like a bug for even suggesting such a thing. - a7bat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There has always been speculation that a major vendor will offer Linux. Some have and then they pulled out. It's just a revolving idea.
- dbpigeon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It'd be nice if it actually happened, unless it gave Linux a bad name cause of installation.
- jnmlmz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Kind of expensive for a Linux box...
I guess Dell has to up the price to accomodate for the support cost of linux. The cost does not get lost in the noise like Windows support would. - hackmeister, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hopefully the other vendors do the same. This is a definitely a good thing.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They will sell a bunch, and then every ***** user will complain about the lack of things and how hard is to configure stuff etc etc etc. and then they will be back to windows only.
- tmcleroy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i sure hope so
- sw96, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What ever happened to Dell's Linspiration preloaded w/ Linspire?
- treehead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0;when that title reads "DELL LAUNCHES ENTIRE LINUX LINE," i'm there. until then:
;no digg. - kolop1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0 The first? I though IBM did this first.
- macewan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0a $600 laptop from walmart with Novell Desktop Linux would be the way to go
- dutchdorr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dell have had Linux desktops in the past. Old news. No digg.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is news? come on they and others have been saying this for years
- kramer3d, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0dell will save ***** load of money by doing this but big buisnesses will never take such a risk
- RealityBender, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Your forgetting that dell get paid to install software onto their computer. You buy a laptop it come pre-installed with Norton system work, and other software. The computer with non- window OS will cost more.
Why buy a Linux computer when you can get window cheaper?
Why buy and OS that free? - boristheblade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dell has been shipping RHEL for a while now on workstations...what the fuss? From the article, Pamela Jones had a hard time ordering a Dell with RHEL?? She must have not tried very hard. Ummmm, dell.com and click, click, click, system ordered Its easy as pie, to order a workstation with RHEL, with all the drivers factory installed and you get DKMS as well.
- bebopbass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Okay not to say Linux users are leet, but how many 'nix users would buy a Dell?
- dipswitch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well said, hindu_wardrobe!
- digitalrao, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0just download Linux distros yourself and install on your dells like i did with mine ..from Fedora to SUSE, Slackware and Gentoo oh ya FreeBSD.. doesnt take a genius to install Linux unless your using Gentoo and SUSE ....its just better to build your own system for your own choice and OSes..then going to OEM like Dell . always learning by Trial and error doesnt hurt and plus hard drives are cheap now days .. No need for Dell unless your a newbie to the computer world peace!!!!
- diggnationdevon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It was nice when they were flirting with the OS X idea, but Apple refused.
- worthawholebean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It's been offering them since 99. Nothing new. No digg.
- ovidius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is old news... Dell's "flirted" with this for years. If you're a business and you really want Linux instead of Windows you CAN get Dell to oblige... but you're really not saving any money. On the server side I think you save something like $50 if you choose to buy a PowerEdge with RHEL instead of Win2003... you're better off ordering the damn thing with no OS and doing it yourself. For the home user, why would Dell even want to get into the Linux market? I don't think they really want to get into supporting desktop Linux for home users. Those who want Linux get stuck buying a Dell with Windows and doing the job themselves.
- zen.state, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I like this idea but I think OSX x86 will be sold to the public in the next year. All Apple would really have to do is add a bunch of hardware drivers and it would be fine for most systems.
Linux is great but true Unix (like the FreeBSD in OSX) is much preferred for myself. - wrinkles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0rebrad:
"They have enough issues with people that have problems with XP Home without trying to support a ***** OS like linux."
Most problems with linux come from having to install it yourself. Preinstalled, optimized linux would be no more difficult than windows. Funny when a MS box becomes riddled with viruses and spyware, most users I know throw it out and buy a new one. Happens every couple of years with a lot of people. No support issues there... - jo42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They did this years ago. Company I worked for bought a Dell laptop with Linux on it. Didn't go anywhere.
--digg;
What would be useful is if you didn't have to pay the Microsoft Tax with every Dell laptop or desktop you buy... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0FINALLY! This will be one of Dell's best decisions if they do plan to load linux on their desktops.
- Eldoo77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0We've been hearing this rumor for at least 5 years... Some major PC vendor is going to offer "real" Linux boxes, but it never materializes. Micro$oft pwns the PC vendors, so this is not going to happen. Yawn... No digg...
- rebrad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I would imagine that the support costs of a Dell linux system would be astronomical. Dell doesn't just support their hardware, they support the entire system. They have enough issues with people that have problems with XP Home without trying to support a ***** OS like linux. Linux has it's place and that is a tiny niche of rebels.
- Demagogue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Itd be terrible if put linux in all of their pcs... people would buy them, MAYBE like it, but go to install something and wouldnt know how...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0No digg! Either Dell ships non-crippled PCs with Linux or it doesn't. If and when Dell does please let us know.
- ragtag, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Dell won't offer a Linux desktop because there's no money in it. Period.
- TuxFan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0A Dell Linux box has one problem: Dell. I'd rather build my own PC to install Linux. Real men uild, not buy like sissies.
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