Re: [Staffslug] Vote Dell
On Thu, Mar 15, 2007 at 07:25:16AM +0000, Dick Turpin wrote:
1. Most are voting because they want their distro to be chosen so
whats the net value to a user if they don't want or use, lets say,
Ubuntu? none whatsoever.
Not true. Whatever distro they choose will be good for every other distro in
some way. If Dell choose one distro and make sure all their hardware works
on that distro, then chances are it will work on any other distro (given a
recent/similar kernel).
Its the same with vendors such as LinuxEmporium. You can buy a laptop from
them pre-installed with a distro of your choice, confident that if you wipe
it and put another distro on chances are high that it will work.
If you bought a vista laptop there is no guarantee that it will work with
Linux at all.
2. Will it make more people switch or buy Linux based machines just
because Dell are doing them? I doubt it very much.
It raises awareness though, most of joe public don't know what Linux is, or
even that there could be a choice of OS on their computer. They really
believe that there is only one "option" and that is to run whatever version
of Windows the box is supplied with.
If they have a little drop down box on the "configure my dell" screen which
offers linux, you're right, they may well not choose it, but at least they
have the choice and are made aware that there is an option available. IMO
that's a good thing in itself.
3. Is Dell recording the IP addresses of votes cast? Well they must
be
otherwise whats the point? how do you qualify the result without
evidence that some twonk in an office in Ireland didn't just make it
all up.
How about not focussing on the technical ins and outs of how they conduct
the survey/poll and take it for what it is. It's one of the worlds largest
hardware companies taking an opportunity to listen to us.
5. Most, but certainly not all, of the Linux users I have met or
talked too are either out of work or not in a position to make
hardware purchases so why are they voting?
I don't know anyone who uses Linux who is out of work. All of them are
either gainfully employed, students or retired. Granted there may well be
people on this list who are unemployed, but that's not within my social
circle of friends/family.
I could go on but its just dull what I will say is this, wouldn't
it
be better if Dell just sold the bloody stuff bare so you can stick on
what you want? that would make the kit even cheaper!
This wont help. You might buy a device and find that you need some binary
blob to make it work, or worse, that the machine has no linux support at all
because in order to cut costs they used some manky chipset which only has
windows drivers.
Offering Linux is great, it means they *have* to have hardware support. Dell
aren't going to be so stupid as to offer a laptop which has Linux
pre-installed but has half the hardware broken/crippled because they haven't
sorted Linux device drivers or application support.
This might also encourage Dell to stop being so stupid with their ACPI
support. There are quite a few features on Dells that aren't exposed through
ACPI (my laptop has some) and so Linux is unable to control or read from
those devices.
Remember people these guys don't care about you or your community
they
want to sell kit! and if that means sticking Red Hat on a laptop will
increase unit revenue then so be it. All Dell are really doing is a
market survey to see if there is a potential growth market I'm a sales
manager its what I'd do!
This is somewhat inaccurate. They aren't after our money. We (as geeks)
generally don't account for many sales at Dell. They make the vast majority
of their money from the great unwashed public who see a Dell ad in the paper
or online and click through to buy. THEY are the people who need to be
offered Linux as an option, for us it's a nice to have, for them it is
essential for all our benefit.
Send me a link for putting Linux in schools and university's or
free
Linux training courses for the work place and I'll gladly vote or sign
up.
Schools buy Dell kit too. Imagine a school buying rooms of Dell PCs
pre-installed with Linux.
Cheers,
Al.