Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 21st May 2007 23:32 UTC, submitted by SEJeff
Dell has given an overview of what customers can expect from their initial Ubuntu offering. "The default software from the Ubuntu media will be installed on the system, including kernel and applications. The peripheral options offered with Ubuntu will be a subset of what is offered with other operating systems. We're offering the hardware options on each system that have the most mature and stable Linux driver support. These hardware options have been thoroughly tested by the Linux team here at Dell.
We configure/install open source drivers for hardware, when possible. We use partial open-source or closed source ('restricted' in Ubuntu terms) drivers where there is no equivalent open-source driver. This includes Intel wireless cards and Conexant modems."
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RE[2]: Carefully avoiding Free
by archiesteel on Tue 22nd May 2007 00:44
in reply to "RE: Carefully avoiding Free"
Member since:2005-07-02
While Dell has surely left the purists some stuff to complain about, I don't think that we could have expected any better. In fact, I'm impressed at the extent to which they seem to understand the sentiments of the free software community, even where they have no realistic means of accommodating them. They're using the right words and communicating in the right manner. Whether they will become the ultimate ally of the Linux community is highly debatable, but "getting it" is usually the first step to being a productive member of our community. I think they get it.
I completely agree. They'll never be able to make everyone happy, but so far they have shown a remarkable sense of how to communicate with the community. I think it's already winning them some direly-needed "street cred" with the Linux community - which, we shouldn't forget, overlaps with a good portion of the tech community.
I know they've made at least one customer - me. My next laptop will be a Dell.
RE[2]: Carefully avoiding Free
by John Nilsson on Tue 22nd May 2007 06:20
in reply to "RE: Carefully avoiding Free"
Member since:2005-07-06
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They don't say that they'll pick hardware with free drivers over hardware with non-free hardware.
True, but they do say:
We configure/install open source drivers for hardware, when possible. We use partial open-source or closed source ("restricted" in Ubuntu terms) drivers where there is no equivalent open-source driver.
Sounds pretty reasonable to me.
They don't say that they'll pressure hardware vendors to publish specs or free drivers.
From the horse's mouth:
For hardware options not offered with this release, we are working with the vendors of those devices to improve the maturity and stability of their associated Linux drivers. While this may not happen overnight, we do expect to have a broader range of hardware support with Linux over time.
I suppose this could result in better proprietary drivers instead of better free software drivers. Some might argue this is a regression. I don't think that improved proprietary drivers significantly impacts community efforts to develop free software drivers. I think that the quality and reliability of free software drivers, for the hardware features they support, speaks for itself. Proprietary drivers are basically a temporary workaround for the chicken-and-egg problem. Eventually all major drivers for Linux will be free.
While Dell has surely left the purists some stuff to complain about, I don't think that we could have expected any better. In fact, I'm impressed at the extent to which they seem to understand the sentiments of the free software community, even where they have no realistic means of accommodating them. They're using the right words and communicating in the right manner. Whether they will become the ultimate ally of the Linux community is highly debatable, but "getting it" is usually the first step to being a productive member of our community. I think they get it.