Dell picks Ubuntu for Linux PCs

Source: Dell Ideas In Action

The storm of speculations that started building from Dell's IdeaStorm survey and then Michael Dell's usage of Ubuntu on his laptop is gaining some serious shape now.

Today, Dell officially announced on its IdeaStorm site that Dell will begin offering Canonical's latest version, Ubuntu 7.04, as an option on select Dell consumer models in coming weeks.

Dell also announced that it has improved its Linux forum and has given it prominent placement on its Dell Forums Web page.

c|net talks about great and no-so-great points about announcement

Watch Mark Shuttleworth talking about why he started Ubuntu, Linux adoption rate trends, how previous barriers to Linux adoption for mainstream users are improving, and more.

Ubuntu's famous bug #1: Microsoft has a majority market share. Will it get "resolved"?

A Welcome move.

Good move, this will lower the cost of already cheap dell PCs making them mass acceptable in countries like India. But on the other hand it will also increse the piracy of windows.

Nice.....community expansion is on a boost now! :razz:

Nice move...

great move by Dell.......finally something new to the consumers........

More than a welcome move wat I think is that is a well strategised move on Dell's part.Dell is the largest manufacturer of personal computers in the world and ur more likely to walk into an office and look at a Dell Computers...so in order to make a strong impact on the market Dell has to switch to alternative options which is likely to serve 3 basic functions 1)cut down on Microsoft's arbitrary behaviour as far as Vista is concerned - a huge giant like Dell promoting open source means Ubuntu's Bug #1 may not take too long to get resolved. 2)Not many Dell Consumer's are happy with Windows Vista OS on their new systems as Vista is completely filled with bugs and lots of compatibilty issues most customers want to go back to XP or wat another alternative 3)Enter price sensitive and computer literate markets(read INDIA,EAST ASIA,etc) more aggressively