Subject: Dell community to Dell corporate: Give us pre-installed open source OS and software options

From: Network World on Linux <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:25:25 -0600 (CST)

Linux & Open Source

This newsletter is sponsored by CiscoANS

The Top 5 Factors Slowing Your Apps
Join Gartner Group Analyst Andrew Rolf as he details the biggest factors affecting application performance. You'll discover how the technology behind application-fluent networks bypasses those factors to provide peak performance to branch offices, accelerate applications, consolidate resources and save money.

Network World's Linux & Open Source Newsletter, 02/28/07

Dell community to Dell corporate: Give us pre-installed open source OS and software options

By Phil Hochmuth

Dell wanted to know what customers wanted to see from the PC and server company, so it set up an open exchange Web site — similar to the popular Digg.com news aggregation Web site. What users of DellIdeaStorm.com apparently want most is the return of pre-installed Linux as an option on Dell PCs and laptops.

A week after the launch of DellIdeaStorm.com, the three entries on the site are calling for more Linux support from Dell. Five of the top 10 entries are clamoring for Linux or open source support in general.

As of last week, the loudest call so far was for Dell to start offering Ubuntu, Fedora, or OpenSUSE on its hardware. Another post called exclusively for Linux laptops to return to Dell's product menu. Other's wanted OpenOffice to come pre-installed. Others said Firefox pre-loaded on Dells would be nice.

Grow your business, not your budget

Application networking ensures your branch offices quickly and securely get the resources they need without adding duplicate equipment, costs and staff. View this Network World Webcast and see how real-world enterprises are gaining an advantage over their competition with application networking.

Reports say that Dell has changed some of the voting mechanisms on the DellIdeaStorm.com Web site to counter what it says was unfair vote-clicking, which boosted up some of the entries' popularity. It should also be noted that a vote for an entry on the site equals 10 "points." This means the top-rated item, calling for pre-loaded free Linux distros, had around 7,000 votes, although its "score" is in the 70,000 range (as of Feb. 22). Other popular entries on the site included pleas to stop outsourcing Dell tech-support call centers to India. Others just wanted more RAM support in Dell machines.

Dell stopped selling Linux pre-loaded on its Laptops in 2000. Dell currently offers OS-free n-Series desktops, which it says "have the flexibility to install an alternative operating system (such as a version of Linux)," but adds that, "Dell does not support non-Dell installed operating systems."

What do you think?
Post a comment on this newsletter

Contact the author:

Phil Hochmuth is a Network World Senior Editor and a former systems integrator. You can reach him at [email-masked].

This newsletter is sponsored by CiscoANS

The Top 5 Factors Slowing Your Apps
Join Gartner Group Analyst Andrew Rolf as he details the biggest factors affecting application performance. You'll discover how the technology behind application-fluent networks bypasses those factors to provide peak performance to branch offices, accelerate applications, consolidate resources and save money.

ARCHIVE

Archive of the Linux & Open Source Newsletter.

BONUS FEATURE

IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details.

PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE
You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today.

International subscribers, click here.

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here.

This message was sent to: [email-masked]. Please use this address when modifying your subscription.

Editorial comments: Write to Site Editor Jeff Caruso
Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza

Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772

Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007