mojorising said: OK. I bought a Dell laptop instead of a different brand because I got what I was looking for for less money with an operating system I want to support.
The fact is, on the inside, most PCs are the same (at least the Insperon I got is). None of the components are made by Dell. The mainboard, video, CPU, and NIC are Intel, and the other components (speakers, optical drive, etc) are made by other popular third parties. So if you buy an (insert any brand name here),what are you getting? Probably an Intel board with all the same components on it or in some cases a similar setup with an AMD CPU.
I have lots of experience supporting Dells in the enterprise as well as in homes and small businesses. My experience with them has been pretty much exactly the same the same as with other manufacturers (better in many cases). I also know some other techies like me who really like their Dell machines. If this were a desktop, I'd build my own as I always have but I need a laptop so I have to buy it from someone -- why not someone who is supporting Ubuntu?
So what did I (or anyone) lose by buying my shiny new Ubuntu powered Dell? Probably nothing. What did I get? A nice computer that does everything I want with the OS I want. I didn't pay the Microsoft tax and I even showed Dell that the market is willing to reward them for making smart decisions and giving customers what they ask for.
I think there is no winning for Dell in some people's eyes. If they only offer Windows like nearly everyone else, we bash them for that (and other things), and now that they are offering Linux as a desktop option, some people are bashing them for that. I'm not sure if anything could be done to appease the latter group.
As Mark Shuttleworth says, if we are to expect big companies to support Linux (which leads to more widespread adoption of the OS we love), we need to vote with our wallets. Fact is, Dell is a business and they have to make money to stay in business. They have listened to the community's demand for open source, the community shouldn't punish them for that (maybe some support would be beneficial to everyone).
After all, if this goes like many of us hope it will, lots of people will buy these PCs, more people will have Linux, Dell will expand Linux offerings, competitors will respond with Linux offerings of their own, and things begin to snowball. It may be wishful thinking, but I believe it is a matter of time before Linux reaches critical mass and this is one very significant step in that direction.
Mike
I'm not "bashing" Dell for supporting Ubuntu, I am simply making the very VERY well known point, that Dell consumer computers are built very badly, and 8 times out of 10, SOMEthing will go wrong with one, somewhere just outside the warranty period. People don't slate hardware for no apparent reason, without substantial cases in point, to back up the reputation (or lack thereof).
If you chose to buy a Dell, then that is your choice entirely, but people "voting with their wallets" is just another nail in the coffin of morality, sadly exhibited by most people in western society, regardless of whether or not their "vote" is undermined by the equipment taking a *fubar* turn for the worse.
We live in a society full of people who seem to worship money over anything else, so "voting with your wallet" hardly surprises me. Still doesn't make it right though!. As I said previously, just because Dell are bundling Ubuntu, doesn't mean that suddenly their build quality and ethics have changed, magically!.
I think that you are just whitewashing over the whole issue by saying that if we look inside any branded laptop/Desktop, the components inside will likely be constructed the same; this is very much NOT the case, and as an electronic engineer, there are certain subtleties which betray this difference between brands, which would not always become apparent immediately to the untrained eye.
I actually think that people will see that Dell are using Ubuntu (FREE SOFTWARE) and will think "oh well if Dell are selling it, it must be good - I'm gonna try it also" and download the FREE Ubuntu, without paying one penny into Dell's coffers. This debate could go on and on, and get quite tedious; Dell still make generic rubbish, and they most likely will do for quite some time.
I think that people should get together as a community, and start their very own Linux hardware manufacturing company, making motherboards with specially hand-picked chipsets and features which work hand-in-glove with Linux, seamlessly. If Linux is to be perpetuated in the way that we all dream of, then surely a worldwide community can raise enough capital between us, to start a project like this?. Hardware that is *specific* to Linux, but using chipsets that would equally as well be compatible with Win32 and BSD.
Some guy said to me the other night, that "People only use Linux to spite Microsoft"; it is precisely THIS kind of ignorance that needs educating. DON'T BE BRAINWASHED!
[<PS>]
I'm just in the process of selling my Apple Mac Mini, due to various reasons, but one of the prevailing ones being that Apple seem to pollute the environment a great deal, and so far they don't seem to be doing a great deal about this, OR their recycling efforts. Morality *is* important mate, because it isn't ALL about £££'s and $$$'s - in fact money plays a significant role in life, because that is the way in which MAN has assumed happiness, but this is a dire mistake, the lessons of which are sorely unlearnt by the masses.