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I’m watching the progress that Dell is making with their second desktop Linux effort and am increasingly wondering how long before the Linux supporters make it clear to Dell this is a bad idea. While some are being patient, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that many don’t fundamentally understand why this is vastly more difficult than it looks, and why Dell will desperately need their support, not their constant criticism, to justify continuing the effort. This week let me try to explain why it is nearly impossible, but not actually impossible, to do desktop Linux from an OEM’s...

For people wanting simplicity from their Linux distribution, Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) may well be the best release ever from any Linux company. While using Feisty Fawn from the late beta stage and right on up to upgrading to the final version, I kept thinking “Feisty is so easy, my mom could use this!” Not to say you can’t get more obtuse with command line syntaxes in Feisty, but for the folks that wants their Linux distro to work with a minimal amount of fuss, Feisty Fawn is a smashing success. The installation is really as easy as 1-2-3 and...

Dell today revealed that it will restore the option to use Windows XP on some of its home systems, marking a potentially damaging blow to Microsoft's hopes for the newer Windows Vista. The Dimension E520 and E521 as well as virtually all of the company's Inspiron notebooks can immediately be custom-ordered with XP in Home or Professional editions, giving cautious buyers the opportunity to use the earlier OS. The change in policy was the result of user feedback, Dell claims. While a popular request through the company's IdeaStorm website, the choice was substantially outnumbered by requests for pre-installed Linux, US-based...

As far as the old guard are concerned, however, Ubuntu is no longer real Linux. For traditional Ubuntu users of course, such talk is anathema because Ubuntu like all the other distros is built around the Linux kernel. Thus, the argument rages between the Linux elitists, who couldn't give a damn whether the year of the Linux desktop ever arrives, and the Linux evangelists who would like to see Linux distros like Ubuntu and Suse replace Windows as the desktop system of choice. Related stories * Samsung latest to buy Linux patent protection from Microsoft * Microsoft aims to double...

What operating system do the heads of Fortune 500 companies run on their personal laptops? In the case of Michael S. Dell, president and CEO of Dell, it's Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn.

Serial entrepreneur Peter Dawe, who helped bring the internet to the UK, is launching a "safe" Linux distro tailored for the technophobe. The idea behind his BabelLinux distro is to give users a free, go-anywhere bootable OS, which is likely to be attractive to operators of public internet PCs. BabelLinux is tailored for simplicity, to give users access to the seven most common applications. It boots from the (free) CD, and once booted the OS can't write to the local hard drive or USB media. Instead, users can store their data online in the "BabelBank" - which is how the...

Intel is developing its own take on the mini-tablet, with a new ultra-mobile PC platform to be announced at this week’s Intel Developer Forum in Beijing. The big surprise? It’s based on Linux. Called a Mobile Internet Device (pic), or MID, the devices will have screen sizes from 4.5 to six inches with a target audience described as "consumers and prosumers" rather than mobile professionals. The MID2007 platform, currently codenamed McCaslin, will gain a more marketing-friendly moniker closer to next year’s release of the products. This is tipped to be an extension of the successful Centrino mobile brand, in the...

It is with pleasure and certainly a large amount of relief that I come to you with an announcement of immense importance to many in this community. We have a race team with Tux at the wheel. Tom Chastain, a legend in the Indianapolis Racing Realm and the owner of Chastain Motorsports has announced his team's entrance in this year's Indy 500. And if we've got anything to do with it...as long as I have one struggling breathe left inside of me, that monster of a race car will have Linux splashed all over it when the flag drops. It...

Oliver Jones provides an even-handed summary: "I've been a stalwart Solaris x86 user for many years now - I refuse to run Linux on my hardware, when Solaris makes the penguin look decidedly second-rate." For reliability, he says: "I truly can't fault the Sun option: I consider that if Solaris is good enough for the banks, it's good enough for me." But, he also says: "To be honest, Solaris isn't without issues - the number one I see at the moment is the user experience (especially with regard to hardware support). Sun really needs to plough some more development resources...

Palm is developing a Linux-based operating system for its handheld devices, the company's chief executive, Ed Colligan, revealed on Tuesday. Colligan said the new operating system — which has been in development for a "number of years" and is now due to appear on Palm Treo handsets by the end of this year — would improve the stability of its smartphones while enabling greater functionality. Your view What do you think of RHEL 5? Have you put Red Hat's virtualisation-primed Linux through its paces? Or are you holding off — and if so, why? Tell us what you think. Join...

ingle Socket Bargain shoppers, rejoice. AMD went full speed with their price slashing on April 9th. Source say the Athlon 64 X2 3600 price dropped to $69, the Athlon 64 X2 3800 dropped to $79, the X2 4000 price fell to $99, and the X2 4200 was effectively discontinued. Meanwhile, the higher end Athlon X2 6000 dual core price plummeted more than 50 percent to $229, while the Athlon X2 5600 dropped $50 to $179. Having competition in this market can lead to good things. Article.

Microsoft is showing some early signs of success with a version of Windows geared for a technical computing market that Linux dominates today. Windows Compute Cluster Server (CCS) runs on a group of interconnected computers that collectively tackle calculation chores. These high-performance computing clusters have swept the list of the top 500 supercomputers - but they typically run Linux, not Windows. When Microsoft released Windows CCS less than a year ago, the company tried to find a new niche in the market rather than go up against Linux directly. The software giant is trying to win over customers with small...

It's true. Hilariously true. An eagle-eyed Groklaw ninja, sk43, has spotted an ftp site where you can get binary copies of Linux libraries needed by SCO's OpenServer and UnixWare customers who use lxrun. But you can't get the source code from that sco.com ftp site. SCO directs their customers to .... sunsite.unc.edu. Why bless my stars, sunsite.unc.edu is the old name for what is now ibiblio! So here's a headline for you, and it's absolutely accurate: SCO Relies on IBM-donated Servers to Provide Support for OpenServer/UnixWare Customers Absolutely accurate and totally misleading, just like the headlines about Groklaw. Will we...

If you were looking for any glimpse into the mind of Microsoft, this is it: The company has completely abandoned Windows XP, and it has absolutely no plans to ever ship an XP SP3. My guess is that Microsoft will do what it did with the final Windows 2000 Service Pack: Claim years later that it's no longer needed and just ship a final security patch roll-up. This is the worst kiss-off to any Microsoft product I've ever seen, and you'd think the company would show a little more respect to its best-selling OS of all time. But the reality...

Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, has discovered the first virus designed to infect iPod portable media players. The virus, which has been named Podloso, is a proof of concept program which does not pose a real threat. The virus is a file which can be launched and run on an iPod. It should be stressed that in order for the virus to function, Linux has to be installed on the iPod. If the virus is installed on the iPod by the user, the virus then installs itself to the folder which contains program demo versions....

Oracle Corp. executives have finally revealed the names of 26 enterprise-class customers that have gone with that company for their Red Hat Linux support needs. However, the number of customers in that list doing wholesale migrations to Oracle's brand of Linux is much smaller. Only the International House of Pancakes is on the record saying Oracle Enterprise Linux completely replaced Red Hat in its data center. In a statement, IHOP CTO Patrick Piccininno said the switch from Red Hat to Oracle Enterprise Linux "couldn't have been easier." Yahoo was previously on the Red Hat-to-Oracle Linux migration list, but that migration...

I’m sure everyone reading this has heard the debate over whether that top dog free operating system should be called “Linux” or “GNU/Linux”, but how big a contribution is GNU or Linux to that operating system? As conventional wisdom has it, it’s the availability of applications that make a system valuable, and this is where free software really shines. Linux contributes only about 6% to the cost value of a full operating system, but then again, GNU contributes only about 15%—who do we have to thank for the remaining 79%?! And why don’t we hear them complaining about what it’s...

Computer giant Dell will start to sell PCs preinstalled with open source Linux operating systems, the firm has said. The second largest computer maker in the world said it had chosen to offer Linux in response to customer demand. Earlier this year, 100,000 people took part in a Dell survey. More than 70% of respondents said they would use Linux.

See for example this thread first. It seems now when you buy a Dell You can get LINUX on it as well Someone should tell Mike that what we don't like is offshore tech support from Hell!

Dell has heard you and we will expand our Linux support beyond our existing servers and Precision workstation line. Our first step in this effort is offering Linux pre-installed on select desktop and notebook systems. We will provide an update in the coming weeks that includes detailed information on which systems we will offer, our testing and certification efforts, and the Linux distribution(s) that will be available. The countdown begins today.