Desktop Linux Gets Boost From Dell
from the it's-dellinux dept
In a move that's been expected for some time, Dell has announced that for the first time, it will offer PCs with Linux pre-installed. The move makes sense for a few reasons. For one thing, Dell has always touted itself as having the most customizable computers, so giving users their choice of operating systems would seem to fit with the company's ethos. A more important factor may have been the growing Microsoft tax. As many people have pointed out, as hardware prices continue to drop, proprietary software accounts for a larger and larger slice of the cost of a computer. Thus it makes sense for computer makers, which compete intensely on cost, to offer equivalent solutions that don't require them to hand a big chunk over to Microsoft. Dell's entry into the desktop Linux market probably won't do a whole lot to stem its recent woes, but the company needs all the help it can get as it deals with a surging HP, and a computer market that isn't seeing any tailwind from the release of Vista.
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Linux is good but it is not for
I am not one to cheer on Microsoft but that is one area they have excelled in: desktop environment that wraps you like a blanket of goodness.
As long as you are willing to drink the Microsoft Kool-aid and do work the way they want you to work, then you are fine.
Linux and Linux desktops give you too many options and for the masses, too many options is overwhelming.
I can hear my grandmother saying "I just want to check my email and surf the web."
Microsoft is for the unwashed masses and the unwashed masses do NOT want choice.
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Re: Linux is good but it is not for
Buy a Mac then.
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Re: Re: Linux is good but it is not for
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Re: Re: Re: Linux is good but it is not for
I don't know what you're smoking, but that's bull.
Buy her a mac mini and a 100$ lcd, and be done with it already. It is less expensive than any (usable) vista machine on the market...
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Re: Re: Re: Linux is good but it is not for
I had the same problem with some of my relatives so I used them like guinea pigs. I installed XP on two of their machines and Ubuntu on two. The two with Ubuntu had a couple issues at first, when they wanted to download some cheesy malware games and I told them they couldn't, but they got over it. After 6 months, the XP machines were slowed down and had to keep being cleaned for adware and spyware, while the Ubuntu machines were just pretty much the way they were when I installed them. All four machines were just used for surfing the web/email and writing letters and such in office. The Ubuntu machines used OpenOffice and one XP machine ran OpenOffice while the other ran MSOffice.
In the end, if your truly just using it for web browsing and email, just about all the OS's can do this without issue. Where it comes down to a difference is in gaming and third party applications. In the case of old people, they shouldn't install things without help anyway, as they tend to download every gimmick and virus that comes their way.
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Re: Linux is good but it is not for
Yep thats why I setup my grandmother with Ubuntu. No fuss no mess, just straight forward idiot proof web browsing. XP can't touch the ease of use that exists in Gnome.
Far from tired gnome is under constant development and is by far superior to XP nowadays for a straight forward interface.
Messed with Vista for a couple of weeks and AIGLX is far cooler and more useful than the new spiffy Aero Glass features. Everything else is the same old sh*t just repackaged in new and difficult ways to understand.
Every anti-Linux argument settle on the idea a normal idiot can't install Linux, well the thing is a normal idiot can't install Windows either!
Now that major companies are giving more fair shakes at pre-installed Linux it will be hard for the same skepticism to prevail, although of course Linux isn't for everyone (Just 90% of the world :)
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Horseshit.
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After you drink the Microsoft Kool-aid,
I agree, I curse the Microsoft desktop daily, from the
lack of keyboard support to the lack of command line ability to do some simple operations to the incessant My---, MyPictures, MyVideos, MyDocuments, now I'm angry.
Anyway, the desktop environment may be horses**t (or any other animal rear excretion) but once you have drunk the Kool-aid of Microsoft, it is a blanket of goodness, ahhhh, soft landing, squishhhh.
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-Didn't read past that line did ya?
So here, "PROVE OTHERWISE".
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Why not both?
While I love the command line and reliability of Linux, I loathe with every fiber of my being their GUI. It is the most horrible piece of code ever written.
Microsoft has the best OS GUI since it's easy to use and the keyboard shortcuts make getting into anything a snap. I wish they would build a more solid OS though and I'm not a fan of Vista yet. I hate the pop-ups I get when trying to do anything as simply as changing my time.
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Re: Why not both?
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GUI Mess
Which one - the Win95/98/2000 one?
The XP (AKA Windows for Teletubbies) one?
The Vista (AKA Windows Dancing Baloney Extravaganza) One?
They're certainly the standard, but I am not sure that they are the best.
Personally, I don't care much for "ooh-ain't-it-pretty!" and "don't-it-look-cool?". I am writing this on an XP box (because I have to) with almost all of the GUI extras turned off. Not only does this give better performance, but it is visually identical to Windows 2000, which is still my MS OS of choice for a whole bunch of reasons I won't go into here. I don't need an "XPerience", I need a solid reliable OS that allows me to the do the stuff that I need to get done. Most users have basic needs, but _think_ that they have to have the latest thing.
Final point: If you are running 98 or 2000, the learning curve of going to Vista Ultimate ($400) is about the same as going to, say Ubuntu Linux ($0).
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Re: Why not both?
It's really sad when posters feel the need to pretend that they know more than they actually do.
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Re:
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Re:
AND... on my Windows PC, I use Blackbox. I don't care for explorer one bit, and I don't think enough people realize that even in windows you have a choice of GUI.
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Re: Hmmm
To quote another poster, "horseshit". I (yes, me!) am using a OpenSUSE/KDE based system because Windows (in my ever-so-humble opinion) is crap. I vastly prefer the KDE interface to Windows XP, and I won't even consider using Vista until it's been out for at least a year.
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This is new News?
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Re: This is new News?
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Re: This is new News?
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I like Ubuntu
Linux is for a different type of person at the moment. Right now it's still one of those systems that's a little rough around the edges (most distros) because of a lack of funding. I love it, it's far more secure then XP, easy to use, customizable, stable, way less annoying then Vista, and it does almost everything my XP machine does. The only reason I use XP at all is for development work I need to do in .NET. Linux is defiantly making ground on Windows, and in the next few years don't be surprised to the government moving away from MS products.
Nontechnical people will have a hard time with linux simply because it's not idiot proof yet. This is the only reason I don't think it will be a huge seller. The market for it on DELL's will be true IT people and the government.
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Is Linux really there yet?
I’m happy to see it become choice; however, in my opinion it still needs more improvements in usability and application availability to become a real contender on the desktop.
On the flip side, in your set-top boxes like Tivo – powered by Linux. In some new full feature smart phones – powered by Linux.
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just asking
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Re: just asking; not unless
not an upgrade or OEM version. And then there is the key generation and call to Microsoft to get new authorization, blah, blah, blah.
But, yes you can install a full version of WindowsXP on top of your new Linux Dell box.
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Linux aint rocket science
As far as installation I just installed SuSE 10 & Ubuntu after a long while of being with MS... the install was smooth and did not require any more knowledge than a windows install. Best of all Linux has ALOT of stuff preloaded (OpenOffice, DVD/CD Burning...)... pretty much the only thing I could not do was play avi movies until I installed the win32 codec... with windows you don't even get simple DVD burning software!
and I don't worry about viruses....
I will NEVER again waste money on windows!
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The only thing missing is the support for media formats that require licensing. Since Ubuntu supports Debian's stance on being totally free it is not likely they will pay to come pre-installed with mp3 support so ogg is supported. I, for one, would love to see Ubuntu on a Dell that supports these media formats out of the box. Third party add-ons like Automatix makes installing support for all these formats easy as well.
Plus if you are looking for eye candy Beryl blows Vista out of the water. If you still need Windows then use VMWare and there you go. Everything else works fine too web browser, use firefox, email, use thunderbird... they work the same as on Windows.
If your grandmother can check email on Windows then she won't have problems with Ubuntu.
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Far simpler
http://www.freebsd.org
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Choice in O
1. DVD Anywhere
2. DVD Shrink
3. RecordNow DX
4. Womble MPEG Video Wizard
5. DVD2AVI
6. VirtualDub
7. TMPEG Encode
8. TMPEG DVD Author
9. Photoshop
10. CoolEdit/Audition
11. MediaPlayer Classic
12. Firehand Ember
Gradually, hopefully, all of these will be replicated in Linux by software that not only has the same functionality, but that I actually enjoy using. I'm just now getting into Linux, Though I've been happily using Open Office for at least a year. I've had a PowerMac for a while, and will probably splurge on a monster Mac Pro later this summer, so I can run OS X, Linux, and XP all on the same box. Evenutally I will have to learn Vista to support my users at work, but I can't see ever putting it on a box of my own... I'm rooting for Linux, and keeping my eyes open
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A real first would be for Dell to pre-load a dual boot scenario, but a choice from a list.
I am really not certain about Vista because my money is for performance and not Vista Eye candy Aero junk. Moreover, IE7 is sad attempt to use ieframe.dll to root-kit the processes. FoxFire with the IE tab works fine for me.
Can you say "Patriot Software"?
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Linux for the Masses
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Well this is the point I'm trying to make, I find it ironic that some of the most passionate arguments for "why we should run Linux on the desktop" are from people typing/reading this stuff on windows .. because they "have to". To compare Gnome or KDE to the GUI in Windows XP is like comparing a kindergartner's finger painting (Gnome) to a Picasso (XP). Give Linux desktop another 10 years then maybe it will be up to par. I say this as a developer who creates products that run on all versions of windows (XP/2000/NT) and also HP, AIX, Solaris, VMS, SCO, OS/390, z/OS, Linux and Linux/390 (mainframe linux). Each operating system has its strength and weakness, and the strength of Linux is its ability to run server applications, its weakness is its GUI. The strength of windows is its GUI .. and to try to attack that strength is just silly.[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Penguin powered future ahead
The people who are in I.T. that are scared to death of Linux are the ones who are either brainwashed by MS, or are scared to learn something new and different. Once you get it, you think more clearly about using the right tool for the right job and saving money in the process. I.E. no license needed for Linux, reuse aging hardware that would normally be trashed. Think about this for a moment, the whole task for xyz department is to log into the Oracle server to do billing, invoicing, etc. Hmmm, all they need for that is a web browser. Bingo lots of old machines re-used and no additional hardware or software cost. You just saved thousands of dollars, and made your network more secure since now they won't get infected as easy when they do email and web browing since right now 99% of all bad web stuff is focused on windows.
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Re: Penguin powered future ahead
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Which GUI
and which GUI would that be ? I'm a KDE/Beryl user and I can assure you that my Desktop wipes the floor with XP and Vista.
Furthermore, I read endless grumbles from microsoft developers who have to jump through hoops to get $MS shoddy code to work with their programs.
agreed. :)
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Re: Which GUI
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I use both XP and fc6. There is no way I will ever go to Vista. I use XP for those applications that only run on an MS platform. The rest of the time, I use fc6. There is a learning curve but it really isn't that big. Think back to all the hours you spent working out why MS doesn't work.
As the guys say, if all you want is email, a media player, office applications, web browser, graphics package and a whole chunck of other applications, linux puts MS to shame. Go ahead try it, you know you want to.
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Re:
1) Ease of use
2) Application Integration
linux does not cut it.
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