[AuckLUG] Re: Dell Preinstalls Ubuntu

[Ravi Chemudugunta]

with every new release of ubuntu things get ironed out ... and make it more
new comer friendly; the only thing that really hinders linux on desktops at
business is the lack of support by their software vendors to supply linux
ports - understandably though, application development in "linux" has so
many choices, which one ? ... this is also the problem I have when people
say get "linux" or blah blah ... I think it should more along the lines of
get "a distro" ... distros itself are so varied that it would scare windows
developers away; I would rather have an application well integrated with one
distro/desktop than have crappy interfaces that work on all distros , to not
having a port available at all.

On 5/17/07, editor at inventory.co.nz <editor at inventory.co.nz> wrote:
>
> > > On 5/15/07, Ghodmode <ghodmode at ghodmode.com> wrote:
> > >> Hi Dec,
> > >>     I agree whole-heartedly with the sentiment.  However, I think we
> > >> should
> > >> consider the fact that there have been other vendors selling
> computers
> > >> pre-installed with Linux for a while.  We don't want to help Dell
> wipe
> > >> out
> > >> the vendors who have supported us for years.
> > >>
> > >>     Dell has been forced by the community to offer Linux.  While
> their
> > >> recent offering is fantastic for us, they have no real interest in
> > >> supporting anything other than their bottom-line.
> > >>
> > >>     We do have our work cut out for us, though.  If you want to run
> ads
> > >> for
> > >> vendors, I'd like you to consider other vendors as well:
> > >> http://www.linux.org/vendor/system/index.html
> > >> http://www.linux.org/vendor/system/desktop.html
> > >> http://www.linux.org/vendor/system/laptop.html
> > >>
> > >>     Mark Shuttleworth's decision that wine will not be included on
> Dell
> > >> PC
> > >> and his recent statement that he does not want to position Linux as a
> > >> cheap
> > >> alternative to Windows  also makes Dell less appealing for me (ref:
> > >> http://www.eweek.com/article2/0%2C1895%2C2125848%2C00.asp).  IMHO, an
> > >> inexpensive alternative to Windows is EXACTLY where Linux should be
> > >> positioned in the market.
> > >
> > > <snip>
> > >
> > > I can't help but be shocked and appalled by the last statement here.
> > >
> > > As soon as you start pitting Linux as a cheap alternative to Windows
> > > people start getting frustrated that Windows binaries don't work and,
> > > for heavens sake, where's the control panel. You lose them even before
> > > they give it a chance.
> > >
> > > If you however use the strengths of Linux to market it, those things
> > > that people are used to start to become differences, not weaknesses.
> > >
> > > There are some perfectly good reasons not to include Wine. It's still
> > > in beta. There's ALOT of stuffing around with configuration settings.
> > > New Releases are constantly breaking things and fixing other things.
> > >
> > > Can you imagine trying to support it?!? "What version of Wine are you
> > > using?" "Upgrade Wine" - it all sounds like an episode of The I.T.
> > > Crowd to me.
> >
> > Exactly
> > When I tell people that Aero sucks in comparison to some of the cool
> stuff
> > Beryl does, they're amazed.
> > What about how easy driver installation is with Ubuntu for nVidia / ATi
> > cards? Codec updates? Software installation using "Add / Remove.."?
> Simple
> > installation? Non-destructive partitioning from the LiveCD? All great
> big
> > fat ticks for Ubuntu where it wins out over Vista as a competitor :)
> >
> > If I had the $, Id buy a PC from Dell (Never bought a pre-made PC
> before)
> > just to show my support :)
> >
> I am a newcomer to Linux. Three things about Linux appeal to me:
> 1.  cost
> 2.  The superiority of what can be done from the command line
>     as compared with Windows.
> 3.  The expected reduction in the amount of time I spend on
>     recovery from hardware and operating system crashes on five
>     computers. I have about one or two HDD failures per year and
>     a greater number of Windows crashes.
> Vista scares me because its activation system would make the amount
> of time I spend on disaster recovery unacceptable. At present, I
> have things set up so that I can recover from most disasters in
> minutes. That isn't possible with Vista.
>
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