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Outside of servers of course, Dell's Ubuntu offerings are in their home store, so Dell is pretty clearly targeting home users who want Linux (they aren't doing anything to create demand for it though). Dell Business needs to have a minimum number of computers ordered to get Linux preinstalled, otherwise the only option is no OS (FreeDOS). You're probably thinking of Levano offering Linux preinstalled on enterprise laptops, and now HP is doing it for enterprise desktops. It IS happening on all fronts, although there is no promotion of this quite yet, so while its a good start, I personally wouldn't quite declare this to be year of the Linux desktop, I'm still predicting that will be in 2010, we're getting close now though

There's nothing wrong about being forced to use Linux at work, especially the distros that are being offered (SuSE, Ubuntu, RHEL). They are less pr0n to viruses, they have all the software you need (Office suite, Evolution, Web browser). They have no game, no instant messaging (you can lock it easier than on Windows because coworkers don't know how to install that stuff without having the admin password). Overall, Linux = More productivity for companies, less bucks and less headaches.

Why this got -1 I'm not sure... I work in an IT dept and it all makes sense to me.

Although I'd disagree with the "all the software you need" comment, I do believe it has all the software the majority needs. But some folks will still be stuck with windows only apps.

They have no game, no instant messaging (you can lock it easier than on Windows because coworkers don't know how to install that stuff without having the admin password).

Never heard of group policy have you?

Overall, Linux = More productivity for companies, less bucks and less headaches.

That's your opinion and may not hold true in all cases.

Well DOS essentially started this way at a time when there were more choices. I know that times are different but alot of people want to (and in some cases need to) use the same systems they use at work.

Also, HP had alot of choices when it came to what distro they wanted to support. They selected a company that did not sign a deal with Microsoft. I don't believe this is by chance. Dell, likewise, did the same. There is a message here...

The important thing is that Linux has gained a momentum it did not previously have - support (however minor) from big-time vendors.

Didn't Dell choose Ubuntu before they had stated their denial of the Microsoft deal?

Wow, you're really grasping at straws with that. HP, one of Microsoft's largest partners in the entire fricking world, has had cross-licensing agreements with MS for a while, holds a number of patents themselves, and was the only major organization to openly question the aggressiveness of the patent provisions for GPL v3 during the drafting process. They don't care about distros signing licensing agreements because HP already offers indemnity and has more clout and legal pull to protect their customers than either Novell or Red Hat does.

Seriously, let's keep things in perspective.



But the problem is it's not gaining support, at least in terms of joint engineering/marketing/service. Until it does, it's nothing more than saving the customer the hassle of inserting the CD into the drive and spending three minutes clicking through menus to install themselves.

I'm not going to knock HP because they certainly are a premier supporter of linux development and have contributed a tremendous amount, but HP preinstalling RHEL on a system will do no more to shift the market than Dell pre-installing Ubuntu on their systems. The only people buying them will be people already using those systems, this is doing nothing to attract new users or address the existing shortcomings. It's simply marketing.

Still, it's an endorsement and I'm ok with that, but it's not a paradigm shift or pivotal change or anything nearly as dramatic as that.

there is no message here. Dell was before the whole siging deal and what's actually wrong in tring to get interoperability work?

Maybe it's time to realize that the MS signing deal actually only hurts MS itself. That's not too bad.
If you look at SLED10, you do see that it perfectly blends into big(ger) corporate environments, without much work, which is a very good thing. RH should have done that too.

The patents protection deal: null and void if your legislation people use their brains.

I cannot be sued for the fact that my carmaker has breached some patent.

Just because two big vendors are offering it doesn't mean that its the much-hyped YOLD all of a sudden.

I will know that the 'YOLD' has arrived when I start hearing my computer-illiterate friends talking about this 'Linux thing'. So far, that ain't happening. I give it at least another 5 years, and that's a conservative estimate.

Ubuntu is a generic enterprise desktop?