You can’t find the Ubuntu systems without looking for them. If you’re in the know, you already know how to install Ubuntu yourself on your computer of choice, and it’s an even easier process than installing Windows so there’s little benefit to a factory install.

There’s no retail presence for these laptops, where giving consumers hands on time might convince them its a good buy.

So only geeks see these laptops with Ubuntu, and the only incentive a geek would have to buy a laptop with Ubuntu preinstalled would be a lower price. Which may not even be possible with XP starter edition’s reduced cost, the paid Ubuntu support, and the cost of codec license fees on Ubuntu.
In light of how little profit Dell could hope to get out of Ubuntu, an offering like this is extremely impressive. But they need to make a serious push into getting these systems out in the public eye if they want to pull off a Mac style PC-alternative, but from Dell.
(more interesting models with ubuntu pre-installed would be nice too, how about extending it across the entire lineup, even if they’re still sold on a dell sub-site ghetto)

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Do you know if Dell is planning on releasing any more Ubuntu machines in Australia?

And while he doesn’t quote the name of his source..but he did say it was a source from inside the Dell corporate fenceline.

-jef

In the end, what worries me is that part of the motivation for hardware vendors to support linux is that this makes them look good in the eyes of a worlwide army of geeks who are, either now or in the future, pretty influential in the tech sector. If we bitch against anyone trying to support us, well, this will offset the motivations to give us support, and potentially result in less hardware running Linux.

That’s interesting… I thought once you had a disk image per model for Win/Linux it was just a matter of “burning” one or the other into your systems ‘going out of the door’. It is even easier to do this on Linux, as it does not have the license protections based upon ‘modified hardware’.

AND, once the driver stuff (if any) is shorted out, the cost of one person preparing a Linux image should be even lower to creating the Windows one, because win windows all extras have to be installed BY HAND afterwards (including the PC drivers as well)

(I can understand it could be a bit more expensive at the begining, but now it’s not the begining anymore)

And we’ll continue to point out other system vendors (System76, ZaReason, etc.) that are working hard to meet Ubuntu mobile, desktop and server demand in multiple countries.

But I agree with you, all hardware vendors are held back hostage by MS, until they can free themselves, which explains why IBM, Dell, HP, Intel, AMD/ATI and most big players are trying to support/promote Linux to a larger or smaller extent …