After yesterday's unconfirmed rumour about Ubuntu being pre-installed on Dell machines, it has now become official. In a joint statement released today, Dell and Canonical announced that Dell will now offer laptops and desktop computers pre-installed with Ubuntu Linux 7.04. The computers will be sold via Dell's web site, said Canonical's director of operations Jane Silber. "We have worked with Dell to get Ubuntu fully supported and fully certified on Dell hardware," she said. "Ubuntu has the full endorsement of Dell." Update: Ubuntu Linux 7.04 Feisty Fawn review by Extremetech.
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Member since:2005-07-26
Member since:2006-08-29
In all fairness, Ubuntu will play more video and audio formats out the box than Windows will. None of the OEM machines i've ever bought will play MPEG-4 video or H.264 for example, and they usually ship with the nasty Real and Quicktime players and an ancient and crappy DVD decoder like WinDVD v5.
These days on all friend and family OEM bought Windows PC's I install Real and Quicktime Alternative, remove their offical counterparts, install Haali's Media Splitter (For ogm, mkv and mp4 playback) and the latest copy of ffdshow [for MPEG-4, MPEG-2 (DVD) and H.264 playback]
Member since:2005-08-02
On the positive, it should now be able to buy a PC from a major manufacturer without paying the Windows tax.
Don't bet on it. I've yet to see a major manufacturer sell a Linux pre-installed machine cheaper than a Windows one.
I remember last year when Lenovo said that they'd be selling SUSE (IIRC) preinstalled on a line of laptops. The cheapest configuration was about $2700 -- same price as the Windows version.
Member since:2005-07-02
I think you missed the part where it says that Ubuntu will be pre-installed on these Dell PCs. That should take care of the codecs and decss issues, as well as those of proprietary drivers (as long as the latter are actually installed when the *user* first boots the computer, in order to comply with the GPL).
Member since:2006-01-04
Member since:2005-12-02
"....but still inadequate (doesn't play dvd's after installing the codecs, because of the deccs problem)."
Well, since this will be a commercial offering, there is nothing saying that Dell can not provide the decss and hopefully take care of the licensing of it for distribution. Could be easily done by including it on a CD separate from the Linux discs, with instructions to run the CD after you set the machine up.
Member since:2005-07-04
Member since:2007-03-04
Member since:2005-12-09
"You would actually pay more for the laptop (it will likely be more expensive than the Windows option due to lack of crapware) just so money doesn't go to Microsoft?"
Within reason, yes. To be utterly honest, it's not just keeping money away from Microsoft (because, really, how much can it hurt them at this point?), but its also about making Microsoft behave more reasonably in the marketplace. They aren't THE pit of evil, they've just had it their way long enough, as far as I'm concerned.
Edited 2007-05-03 18:02
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The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
Member since:
2007-05-01
On the positive, it should now be able to buy a PC from a major manufacturer without paying the Windows tax.
On the negative, it's too early. Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu is nice (haven't tried 7.04 yet, but even the previous version were nice), but not easy enough for regular computer users. I've read the reviews and 7.04 is better than the previous versions (for instance warning you that you don't have the right codecs to play dvd video, and offering the chance to download them), but still inadequate (doesn't play dvd's after installing the codecs, because of the deccs problem). I'm not saying the problems aren't understandable due to the legal situation of such things, but that one can't expect the windows users to just install and play, which is what they expect.
Since this is Dell, I'd expect at least some Windows users to try it, and when they are disappointed that it doesn't work out of the box,they will switch back to Windows and tell bad stories about their linux experience.