Blogging Ottinger (tim)The Geeks Have Spoken
What should Dell do to make the public happy? Apparently the answer is to embrace open source operating systems and applications. It would make me happy. This fact should not be surprising, but it’s being reported as if it is surprising or at least affirming. The story has also been slashdotted.
Frankly, I don’t want to buy a computer with vista on it. I’ll buy a kit computer and assemble it myself to avoid an unwanted operating system. Of course, some of the kits look pretty cool. And I do need something with a ton of storage. Maybe I can avoid vista and get what I need. Or else maybe I can wait until Debian is being offered by Dell. 
Addendum 01 March 2007: Dell says they’re in no hurry to ship Linux. If they are going to ship linux, they should take their time and get a handle on how they want to do it. It is a bigger issue as the conversation between me and Steve indicates. I’m sure there are plenty of issues to sort out technically and with their channel partners. It is a good time for all the Linux standardization work.
I have no problem with Dell installing Linux or giving the customer a Linux option. The only thing that will go wrong is that the customer will then complain because it’s not installed the way they want, or they don’t have all the applications that they want, or its Debian and they wanted, Puppy. There are so many combinations that if they went through with it, it’ll surely fail.
Comment by Steve — 2007-February-27 @ 03:55
There are companies out there doing it right now. Linux is getting easier all the time (ummm… if you use some kind of Debian).
Dell needn’t worry about hardcore guys, because they will wipe and replace whatever OS you put on it. There’s no reason to offer slack and gentoo and BSD. A lot of techie people would prefer naked PCs (no OS at all), as would some corporations with big fat site licenses for Windows.
So that leaves some corporate and consumer markets. The really big corporate guys have a love thing for RedHat (because it costs $$$$) so that would have to be an offering, and maybe in two or three flavors (web server, windows network server, software development box). It’s not hard to come up with new flavors, and there are companies like Progeny Linux Systems who do that for a living. It is not impossible not novel, and can be outsourced. It need not be a problem. Besides, big corps won’t go to Linux without hiring some competent admins who can install and configure apps quite well.
For SMB offices and the consumer market, it seems to me that Debian and Ubuntu are the kings right now. Synaptic (debian package manager software) is so easy to use, and avoids all kinds of DLL-hell entirely, that children can use it reliably. Not having some particular app won’t be a problem. If it’s in the repository, it’s easy to install and use.
Also, consumers are kind of excited about Linspire’s click-and-run (CnR) system, which also allows them to install software easily, even for-pay software that cannot be included in Debian.
So, given the need for very few general configurations on the corporate server, and maybe a two or three versions for desktop and consumer use, I don’t think this is impossible, or necessarily a tripping point.
I think that it’s a little more work than choosing between the two or three current versions of Windows. But Dell can build-to-order in other ways, I don’t see why it’s an issue if the components are software (provided the installs are automated or imaged).
Comment by Tim — 2007-February-27 @ 06:18