Michael Dell opens up on Desktop Linux

[Jza]

Interesting topic on Dell and Linux on the Desktop, then Michael starts saying about which distro to support and the Linux Dilema however he didnt comment much on the actual desktop. He stick on the server market and Optiplex and other hardware. Still pretty interesting reading.

[Tsuroerusu]

I might add a little curry to this topic: If you were Dell, and you were to ship Linux right along side of Windows, which distribution would you support?

I bet you all know my choice: SUSE Linux, and Dell could license mp3 stuff and all that....

[Wally Balljacker]

You know, it would be interesting if a company like Dell offered a half a dozen or so of the biggest distros preinstalled, and shipped desktop machines to every Circuit City, Best Buy, CompUSA out there, and aggressively marketed them. Offering RedHat on select systems online is nice, but to really get Linux going on the desktop, it will require as much marketing as Windows gets, and the ability to go to any store and buy one.

[Tsuroerusu]

You know, it would be interesting if a company like Dell offered a half a dozen or so of the biggest distros preinstalled, and shipped desktop machines to every Circuit City, Best Buy, CompUSA out there, and aggressively marketed them. Offering RedHat on select systems online is nice, but to really get Linux going on the desktop, it will require as much marketing as Windows gets, and the ability to go to any store and buy one.

That would indeed be interesting, but how likely is that scenario? Microsoft already has the OEM stuff in place so they can just drop Windows onto them, tell the OEMs what hardware is required and they can start shipping Vista machines, so how in the world could Linux ever brake that monopoly?

[Gomer_X]

You know, it would be interesting if a company like Dell offered a half a dozen or so of the biggest distros preinstalled, and shipped desktop machines to every Circuit City, Best Buy, CompUSA out there, and aggressively marketed them. Offering RedHat on select systems online is nice, but to really get Linux going on the desktop, it will require as much marketing as Windows gets, and the ability to go to any store and buy one.

They're not interested in getting Linux on the desktop. They're interested in selling a lot of computers. The margins in the business world are much higher, and support costs are lower. Marketing is also much cheaper.

That's why they offer Red Hat. The money is in businesses, not home users.

Widespread Linux adoption on the corporate desktop will certainly bring it to home users, though.

[treehead]

Interesting topic on Dell and Linux on the Desktop, then Michael starts saying about which distro to support and the Linux Dilema...

;my comments on the issue, reposted from digg.

;treehead

"The challenge we have with picking one is that we think we'd disenchant the other distributions' supporters."

;presumably, "supporters" here are those that ALREADY use linux. why not just pick a distribution (or two!) that you will officially support for those users that WON'T install it themselves? it's free! use redhat and suse, for default installs and other users will simply get their box, wipe it, and put another distro, say slackware, on it.

;i believe that the real reason dell is avoiding commitment is twofold:

1. agreements with microsoft
2. no infrastructure or personnel to support linux

;i think that their purchasing/reselling agreements with microsoft (as they stand now) are limiting to what extent they can promote and sell linux based machines. i also think that dell does not have the staff on hand customer support--for any distribution--and so is biding their time in that regard as well.

;all speculation.