Dell Still Offers Ubuntu Amid Microsoft Loan, Windows 8.1
Dell's strategy to go private includes a $2 billion loan from Microsoft (MSFT). But the Dell-Microsoft relationship, which will include a big Windows 8.1 push, has not upended Dell's continued work with Ubuntu, the Linux distribution that has found a home on millions of desktops, servers and mobile devices.
Check www.Dell.com/ubuntu and you'll find that it re-routes visitors to a laptop promotion: XPS 13 Ultrabook Laptop, Developer Edition, running Ubuntu. Over the past few years, Dell has also offered Ubuntu desktops and netbooks from time to time in North America — but the netbook push in particular fizzled once tablets emerged in the market.
While the North America market remains mostly a Windows vs. Mac OS retail battle, Dell sees Ubuntu as a potential springboard into a range of international markets. A case in point: Dell is expanding the number of China retail stores that carry its computers with Ubuntu pre-installed.
Michael Dell has also been careful to promote Dell's ongoing partnerships with Microsoft's data center rivals. Earlier this week, he delivered a keynote at OpenWorld 2013 — claiming that Dell is now Oracle's preferred x86 server partner. Dell also has close working relationships with Red Hat and SUSE in the server market.
Still, The VAR Guy will be watching to see if Dell begins to lean more toward Microsoft — especially as Dell begins to leverage Microsoft's $2 billion loan.
It is true that Dell still
It is true that Dell still supports Linux at this juncture of going private, however it is misleading for anyone to assume that the “support” one receives for any RedHat Enterprise Linux implementation on Dell power Edge Servers will be similar in quality and extent as to that offered and provided by Dell to Microsoft Windows based clients, particularly smaller business or organizational customers.
Three prospective small business clients – a three office dental practice, a shipping exporter to Caribbean from North East States and a Not-for-Profit organization all recently got misleading and inaccurate information from Dell business server group – for less than 100 users – and were very strongly discouraged from deploying any non-Windows solution on Dell hardware.
While large installations of Oracle database/Linux on Dell are successful and well supported, this result is primarily because the customers – in one case with several hundred users “demanded” Linux as a prerequisite.
The Var guy must ensure that he is not naive in gauging the amount of overall support of Linux on Dell, as Dell XPS with Ubuntu on a few sales does not represent any worthwhile competition to Microsoft.
The link to Dell’s Ubuntu
The link to Dell’s Ubuntu offering is pathetic. Dell has a link to a model which when clicked on only shows their most expensive computers configured with Windows 7 or Windows 8; NO UBUNTU. Dell is gets it’s customers to pay MS fees, like it or not.
Immaterial if Ubuntu is only
Immaterial if Ubuntu is only available for high end developers laptops and for phone orders. Besides which whenever I select this Ubuntu laptop (in the UK), I am offered only Windows as options for the OS. It appears that to buy this laptop have to call Dell “for pricing”; and for some reason the cost of an Ubuntu laptop has always been more than a similarly spec’ed Windows laptop. I suspect that this page is a left over from a previous experiment.
But if you click further in
But if you click further in that Dell ubuntu webpage you will get to buy options for Dell xps Windows laptop.Dell no longer sells ubuntu laptop in their website.
I’m not much of a Dell guy,
I’m not much of a Dell guy, but kudos to them for supporting Linux. You can clearly tell they know Windows 8 sucks.
The commenter “Lodmot” is
The commenter “Lodmot” is clearly the very naive type of potential customer that Dell has deceived into thinking that they give (any worthwhile) support to Linux, Ubuntu or otherwise.
The company’s efforts are obviously designed to give false impression of Linux support, and unfortunately there are plenty of doofus Lodmots available who readily accept the ruse.