Dell polls PC users on favorite Linux varieties

open.itworld.com ^ | March 13th | Ben Ames

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Dell Inc. began polling customers about their software preferences on Tuesday as part of an effort by the struggling PC vendor to meet a popular request for desktops and notebooks that run on Linux instead of Windows.

Dell posted the survey on a company blog, asking PC users to choose between Linux flavors such as Fedora and Ubuntu, and to pick more general choices such as notebooks versus desktops, high-end models versus value models and telephone-based support versus community-based support.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

^^^^^^^^^Part of Dell's problem is they outsourced their tech support to India.^^^^^^^^^

No disagreement here.

^^^^^^^^Such 'tech support' is worse than useless.^^^^^^^^^^

Agreed. However, one thing to remember is that linux doesn't require nearly the amount of support that a windows based system does.

You may want to read this, it gives a different perspective.......

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1801481/posts

[LibKill]

One of these days, (not today, I'm on vacation) I will just have to get the penguin on board.

Windoze has been going downhill for a long while.

*DING-DING! Penguin, arriving!

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

^^^^^^^^^^If Red Hat could provide enough dollars to Dell to provide the needed customer support it would start shipping today.^^^^^^^^^

Red Hat probably doesn't need to do such a thing.

Linux, like Mac os, doesn't break very often. And Dell probably isn't going to want to ship two identically equipped(hardware wise) machines at different price points.

Dell could recoup those support dollars through the reduced cost of the OS itself.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I personally recommend suse or fedora. I'm currently using Suse which is well put together but I'm moving back to Fedora. Primarily because it's faster.

But it seemed to be integrated better as well. Overall, Red Hat has the best OS I've used to date.

Before you take the plunge though, you can always download a linux live cd(which is an OS that runs strictly off of the CD, in case you didn't know) and you can test out your hardware compatibility. Don't think of it as a 100% sure shot test, think of it as a rough draft test.(for example, knoppix live cd is the only linux distro I've tried where my sound *doesn't* work)

[Golden Eagle]

XP? Still less:

Secunia has issued a total of 178 Secunia advisories in 2003-2007 for Microsoft Windows XP

Red Hat 4's 266 known vulnerabilities seem to be in a league of their own LOL.

[Golden Eagle]

linux doesn't require nearly the amount of support that a windows based system does.

According to a statement jointly released by Novell and Microsoft today the TCO of Windows is less, just as most previous studies have shown. Do you have anything to say during your Linux pimping that isn't bogus?

[Golden Eagle]

Dell could recoup those support dollars through the reduced cost of the OS itself.

Obviously you still don't have even the foggiest clue as to how the industry actually works. Maybe not anything from what we've seen, thanks though for being such a great example of linux lunacy.

[antiRepublicrat]

According to a statement jointly released by Novell and Microsoft today the TCO of Windows is less

And they admit that they currently run several different Linux distros and will save money by reducing that (probably to one, Novell's). The TCO study is based on an abnormally-high Linux cost due to supporting many different distros.

HSBC claims it will achieve cost savings by reducing the number of Linux distributions it uses and by improving the interoperability of its open-source operating system deployments with Windows.

There's the proof. I also wonder if they're charging those interoperability costs to the Linux or Windows side of the equation. Linux is built on open standards, which means easy interoperability with other systems built to open standards. Microsoft likes proprietary standards, or its own non-standard implementation of open standards (*cough*Kerberos*cough*).

Aside from that, I'd like to see what roles which platforms are running. TCO varies widely between jobs. Microsoft kills you with licensing fees if the role is on a per-seat or per-connection basis, but the platforms are closer when that is taken out of the equation.

just as most previous Microsoft-funded studies have shown

There, fixed.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

You're still somewhat on an apples to oranges comparison.

Besides, as I said earlier:

^^^^^^^^^Furthermore, to bring Windows to the same level that Red Hat is at, you also have to include IIS, MS Office, MSSQL, photoshop, and several other packages that isn't included with a default install of windows.

You have no argument.^^^^^^^^

This argument *can* be made into an apples to apples comparison. But you'd lose that one.

Besides, RHEL has 0% unpatched. XP doesn't. MS is proving it's insecure ways.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

And despite having less unpatched vulnerabilities, Linux is still higher performance.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^Do you have anything to say during your Linux pimping that isn't bogus?^^^^^^^^^^^^

Almost any admin could state otherwise.

Besides, most studies are flawed. Coffee is good for you. Coffee is bad for you. Butter is good for you. Butter is bad for you. Margarine is good for you. The earth is getting warmer and it's all man's fault.

[Golden Eagle]

You claimed, without support, that he was against all patents

Back to defending your favorite leftist again weren't you LOL. Well here's the final word on that matter.

Actually it was you that started that whole discussion (how much more ironic could it get, but this is antiRepublican here trying to BS us LOL), when you came rushing to that moonbat's defense and claimed quote "I don't believe even Stallman wants patent laws overturned" which everyone knows is complete BS.

I've repeatedly shown you since that time right on Stallman's own green party leftist garbage website (which you probably love since he constantly attacks Bush) that according to Stallman "every software patent is harmful", and I've even previously given you a link to a Wired magazine article where Stallman refers to the US Patent office as "the root of all evil".

Yet here you are, still standing up for that whaco leftist creep. Oh well, at least you make a great example of how deceitful these linux loons are, starting with Stallman himself.

[Golden Eagle]

Coffee is good for you. Coffee is bad for you. Butter is good for you. Butter is bad for you. Margarine is good for you.

No one's listening to you.

[Golden Eagle]

Here's some more details on that freakbag leftist you keep trying to stand up for, from another interview:

http://www.itworld.com/Man/2687/LWD000329rms/

Richard M. Stallman: For many years, there hadn't been any patents on surgical techniques. Then some people started applying for such patents, claiming that such patents were necessary to encourage innovations in surgery -- which is obviously false, because surgeons have been eager to make innovations in surgery without patents. But any time people start introducing patents into an area, they ask people to suppose that no progress will take place without patents. And the power of right-wing ideology is so great that they will get many people to believe those suppositions even in the absence of any evidence for them.

LinuxWorld: Why do you call it "right-wing" ideology?

Richard M. Stallman: The idea that creating new kinds of "property rights" invariably makes society better is a classic right-wing position. Many conservatives have blind faith in it.

[Golden Eagle]

This is unbelievable how deceitful this is, and will be my last post to this thread. Look at antiRepublican's post, #51.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1800469/posts?page=51#51

He said quote "go to where he said Stallman opposes patents, MEANING ALL PATENTS." This was linked to the following post of mine:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1592292/posts?page=214#214

Where I clearly said "software patents". My comment was qoute "fighting them is one of his core philosophies. Quote from his website "Every software patent is harmful"."

How much bigger a liar could he get? No telling, but I could really care less LMAO. GE OUT.

[bigdcaldavis]

The great gonad? :D

[rzeznikj at stout]

Thread Jester Ping

A low-volume pinglist dedicated for all the thread jesters out there--you know who you are...8^)

FReepmail rzeznikj at stout or MikefromOhio to be added or struck from the list...

[rzeznikj at stout]

"N3WBI3 has admitted he's a hacker, and has obvious hacker symbology in his name, so his site is a hacker site by definition."

Er, no. I've said this to you approximately 497 times already. Just because somebody replaces the letter "e" in his screen name does NOT automatically make him a hacker.

[rzeznikj at stout]

dude, a company that funds a "study" is usually paying somebody to produce results favorable to that company. So, just because MS is releasing it, it's gospel and must be taken absolutely?

Pure MS shilling. Again.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

You still have a communist in your computer.