[Redcloak]

It could simply be your poor writing, but it sounds like you're claiming that Dell never offered a Linux box. That simply isn't true. As the original article states, Dell did offer a series of boxes with Red Hat. They now offer boxes with FreeDOS so that Linux users can "roll their own" with the distro of their choice. (As opposed to "ramming" a particular distro down their throats.)

On a side note: What constitutes a "single, legal version" of Linux and why would we want one?

[Golden Eagle]

No, it would just be your own lack of understanding of standard terminology, including the classification of systems known as "home desktops" and configurations called "preinstalled". You're of course not the first one to have difficulty understand the Linux gobbledy gook, which is exactly why Dell is insulating his home users from the trauma of having to deal with it.