Dell's road to Linux

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DP

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198800645

Article says most of Dell's customers wanting Linux machines will be
"techies."
That, to me, then raises the question: How many hard-core techies are going
to want a Dell?

I could be way wrong, but I think Dell will find out this was a disastrous
move. This is not a knock against Linux. It's just that I think that a
company that has made its fortune by trying to be a mass-market computer
maker is not going to generate a lot of income from machines using an
operating system that for now is a niche market.
 
DP said:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198800645

Article says most of Dell's customers wanting Linux machines will be
"techies."
That, to me, then raises the question: How many hard-core techies are
going to want a Dell?

I could be way wrong, but I think Dell will find out this was a
disastrous move. This is not a knock against Linux. It's just that I
think that a company that has made its fortune by trying to be a
mass-market computer maker is not going to generate a lot of income from
machines using an operating system that for now is a niche market.
Click to expand...

Two things:

1. Linux is much more user friendly that it used to be.

2. Dell is probably thinking this is a good opportunity to make some
money through support rather than the small profit they make from
selling hardware.

Alias
 
This move came from an online survey dell made...

many people asked for this. They did not just come out of the blue with this
idea....
I suspect however many people will be getting these, formating and
installing windows eventually.
 
DP said:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198800645

Article says most of Dell's customers wanting Linux machines will be
"techies."
That, to me, then raises the question: How many hard-core techies are
going to want a Dell?

I could be way wrong, but I think Dell will find out this was a disastrous
move. This is not a knock against Linux. It's just that I think that a
company that has made its fortune by trying to be a mass-market computer
maker is not going to generate a lot of income from machines using an
operating system that for now is a niche market.
Click to expand...

How could it be disastrous? The startup costs are small and if they are
never ordered they are never built.
 
kirk jim said:
This move came from an online survey dell made...

many people asked for this. They did not just come out of the blue with
this idea....
Click to expand...

Right. But how accurate is that kind of survey? All you need is a bunch of
Linux advocates flocking to the site to answer the survey. Not very
scientific.
Any online survey can be gamed if you have enough interested people who are
urged to go there and answer.
And a lot of surveys that only allow you to vote once can be defeated if
you: 1) Vote from several different machines and/or 2) Clear the browser
cookies so the site can't tell you voted once already. Sounds like a system
only a techie or would-be techie would know how to defeat.
I hardly think an online survey is a true picture of market opinion.
 
I don't know.. I suspect that dell is not stupid....

they must have seen some significant amount of feedback from the survey..
and said..
lets give it a go...they don't have much to lose anyway....

They may have sniffed some problems with the future of MS (as I cough cough,
have predicted).
And want to have other avenues of expansion if ever that is needed.

You might also want to read my other post today about the "conspiracy
theory"...
that explains the MS-hardware alliance.
 
Tom said:
How could it be disastrous? The startup costs are small and if they are
never ordered they are never built.
Click to expand...

Precisely. They don't need to support every distribution. Only the
distributions they choose to sell with their systems. That makes tech
support relatively easily. Just a new set of scripts to read by the monkey
on the phone...

As far as the hardware goes, get a few people to put a few test systems
together to test the various supported hardware and available
configurations...and then throw those options on the website.

No risk anywhere there...

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

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http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198800645

Article says most of Dell's customers wanting Linux machines will be
"techies."
That, to me, then raises the question: How many hard-core techies are going
to want a Dell?

I could be way wrong, but I think Dell will find out this was a disastrous
move. This is not a knock against Linux. It's just that I think that a
company that has made its fortune by trying to be a mass-market computer
maker is not going to generate a lot of income from machines using an
operating system that for now is a niche market.
Click to expand...

What move? So far they have not done a damned thing. They've offered Linux
on "select models" for years. IMHO customers should have the freedom of
choice.
 
I think it's awesome and I personally hope that every PC vendor starts
offering Linux. Who cares how many they sale, it gives consumers a choice.
Hopefully, no one will buy Linux by accident. I'd love to see Linux\Mac take
over about 30-40% of the desktop space. I'm not a Microsoft hater, but
Microsoft is in need of serious competition to wake them up from their
slumber. Intel needed AMD, nVidia needs ATI. Microsoft needs something as
well.

Plus Dell isn't doing so good right now, so why not show they are still
young and hip. There are junior techie's that aren't quite there yet, but
want to kick Microsoft to the curb (cause that's the in thing these days).
It makes it a little easier when you can buy a box with Linux already
installed and tested and all one has to do is go ! Hopefully, they won't get
all the extra un-needed crap loaded under Linux that they do un Windows.

I don't see this has a big money maker at first, it's an investment that may
or may not pay out. If it does catch on, they'll be ahead of the other
vendors. If it doesn't, it will be just another R&D style writeoff
 
Who cares how many they sale

a) You buy a Dell system preloaded with Linux
b) Six months later Dell realizes the return on their initial investment
isn't as good as hoped
c) Dell decides to stop supporting Linux

May you won't admit it, but in the big picture, I'm pretty sure you *do*
care how many they sell.
 
I really don't think that anyone would benefit from buying any kind of a
pre-installed anything. Particularly Linux. Isn't it a vital part of running
any OS, that you are familiar with the most basic of basics when you start?
O.K. so we all have to start somewhere but nobody is going anywhere with a
pre-installed Linux! It looks good and sounds nice in the add's, but it's a
stumbling block for a newbie - and a nuisance for the more advanced!

The sales people love to market a computer as if it were a fridge - 'plug it
in, and in 15 minutes you'll have cold beer! But in reality, you cannot run
it for two days without being educated, and that's not even any start. The
education never stops!!!

Moreover, I wouldn't trust anyone who offers 512MB machines as having twice
the RAM, as DELL has been doing for more than a year now!

(Finito!)

Tony. . .
 
Ok, in that regards I do care. Though maybe I'm all wet, they normally don't
drop support for at least a year or so.
 
Homer said:
a) You buy a Dell system preloaded with Linux
Click to expand...

Bad idea.
b) Six months later Dell realizes the return on their initial investment
isn't as good as hoped
Click to expand...

Methinks Dell has realized that hardware doesn't make the kind of money
that support and repair does.
c) Dell decides to stop supporting Linux
Click to expand...

See above.
May you won't admit it, but in the big picture, I'm pretty sure you *do*
care how many they sell.
Click to expand...

The more the merrier, be it Dell or the shop down the street.

Alias
 
ray said:
On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:16:37 -0500, DP wrote:

What move? So far they have not done a damned thing. They've offered Linux
on "select models" for years. IMHO customers should have the freedom of
choice.
Click to expand...


Obviously they're doing something different. The company is saying so
itself. I didn't make it up:
"The computer maker will offer the open source operating system in desktops
and notebooks following strong customer demand for the machines on the
company's online sounding board, IdeaStorm.
"Dell has a lot of details to finalize, including when it will start
offering Linux consumer PCs, which versions of Linux it will ship, and how
much support it will offer.
"But Matt Domsch, Linux software architect for Dell, says the company is
working on the details, including asking suppliers if they can provide open
source drivers if one doesn't exist. "It's not a relationship challenge,
it's a 'How quickly can we do it?' challenge," Domsch says. Dell has
announced it's committed to using open source drivers where possible but
will use proprietary ones if they work better or open source versions don't
exist."

As for freedom of choice, I agree. I just don't think Dell will find this
very profitable and will eventually abandon those who want Linux. Just my
opinion. Time will tell if I'm wrong.
 
Tony said:
I really don't think that anyone would benefit from buying any kind of a
pre-installed anything. Particularly Linux. Isn't it a vital part of
running any OS, that you are familiar with the most basic of basics when
you start? O.K. so we all have to start somewhere but nobody is going
anywhere with a pre-installed Linux! It looks good and sounds nice in the
add's, but it's a stumbling block for a newbie - and a nuisance for the
more advanced!
Click to expand...
Why would it be anymore of a stumbling block for a newbie than providing a
computer with Windoze preloaded? By definition a "newbie" will have to
learn to use any computer he/she first purchases. A modern day GNU/Linux
distro is just as easy to use as a Windoze computer. In fact, probably
easier because the newbie doesn't have to dealing with anti-malware crap,
disk defrags, finding drivers, etc. Software installation is definitely
easier on GNU/Linux than it is under Windoze.

The "more advanced" will be able to wipe the drive and install any distro
he/she wishes. At least the user will know that the hardware Dell supplied
will work with GNU/Linux regardless of the distribution.

Love and Kisses,
Doris
 
Moreover, I wouldn't trust anyone who offers 512MB machines as having
twice
the RAM, as DELL has been doing for more than a year now!

(Finito!)

Tony. . .
Click to expand...


What are you talking about?
 
Alias said:
Bad idea.
Click to expand...
Why is it a bad idea? If Dell is able to tune the Linux supplied with the
hardware in the box, it'll have something much like Apple has with its Mac.
A great operating system that just works with the hardware. Pretty good
deal for the newbie and a heck of a lot cheaper than a Mac.
Methinks Dell has realized that hardware doesn't make the kind of money
that support and repair does.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't doubt that other than supporting its hardware, Dell leaves the
support to the community of the distro(s) it provides. If it was to preload
Ubuntu for example, the Ubuntu community offers incredible support. Second
to none in the industry.

The real plus to Dell bundling GNU/Linux is that Dell is such a big player
in the market, it can use that to leverage its hardware suppliers to come
up with open source drivers. This would be a BIG plus for GNU/Linux, no
matter what distro as the open source community wouldn't have to try a
reverse engineer the drivers for the hardware like they are forced to do
now with closed source proprietary hardware. Open source drivers for ATI or
nVidia for example would allow for much better drivers that'll work better
with the kernels out there. It will allow for much quicker bug fixes for
the drivers and the innovation that comes through the open source model
will give us the maximum bang for the buck.

Love and Kisses,
Doris
 
I am refering to the direct mail brochures that is regularly dumped through
my letter-box and for which I am not payed for the ordeal of carrying to the
container. The machines are not as cheap as they are made to look and they
are severely underconfigured compared to buying your own from any local PC
store, only in the last month or two have they marketed 1MB machines as
having 'twice the RAM', and naturally not with any trivial addition to the
price.

I think the marketing strategy stinks, regardless that the machines have a
good name. But good, as well, is HP's name, and you get a lot more for a
little less!

Perhaps, Dell would have an edge if they told people to calculate the total
costs at the end of ownership - I'm not impressed from the type of
over-hyping they have in fact been using.


Tony. . .
 
Dell will make $0.00 in a choice for Linux. I hope Linux stays in its 2.0%
and i hope Microsoft kill Linux off.
 
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