Dell should hire several hundred first-rate software engineers to transform Linux into a high-quality application platform. If they devote the necessary resources, they could have DellOS ready to ship in three or four years.
Hal,
its only going to be worth it if Dell ditches the X environment and writes a proprietary GUI thats not exactly the business they are in. Otherwise you will just see people downloading it for themselves.
Red Hat has done that already.
While I definitely agree with this, they're dressing up Linux with very Apple-like eye candy such as XGL and Beryl (Compiz) that do a good job of covering up the underlying weakness. Some of the foreign clones like "Dream Linux" from Brazil even come with an object dock installed across the bottom as default, giving the user the impression they're running a highly polished Apple-like O/S when of course it's more smoke and mirrors than anything.