Have to install a Linux distro on a 900MHz, 256MB rig for a donation only stipulation being Oo 2.2 installation.

I was going to put VectorLinux on it, but now I'm slightly, just slightly mind you, considering Ubuntu -- which is amazing as I consider it more appropriately named Ubloattu.

Maybe I should research how to make Ubuntu lean and mean. Does that also remind you of another particular OS....

Hum, as I doubt they are going to need to ever change anything about the rig for the life of the rig, VectorLinux is still getting the nod. :)

Am I rambling? Anyway, I think Dell going Linux is a great thing for endusers, not just the "Linux community".

I think that the most likely scenario for Linux to gain real marketshare is for China to put significant resources into making Linux the default OS in the People's Republic. I think for both economic and nationalistic reasons, China would prefer not to pay money to MS and would prefer to have complete control over the OS being used by Chinese citizens. This could happen in Europe, too, but I think China is more likely.

If a Chinese company, with financial backing from the govt, were to put serious resources behind a Chinese Linux (Chinux?) and make it free for all Chinese citizens (sort of a BBC of operating systems), then you'd see big market share gains for Linux, which might eventually have spill-over effects into other countries.

But that's what has to happen -- a major player with deep pockets has to really throw their support behind a single version of Linux in a big way. I don't see any PC company doing that, which is why I think it will take a government.

I think this is a huge loss for Apple. Apple had the chance to be "the" alternative OS by allowing Dell and HP to load OS X on their machines, but now that place is about to be usurped by Ubuntu Linux.

Yeah, yeah, Apple says it's a hardware company first. Blah, blah, blah. They're just selling repackaged pretty PCs that happen to run a very nice OS. If they just let someone else build the Mac/PCs to their specs and kept their own branded hardware at a premium, they could have made a killing selling just the OS. There's this one company that did that, Micro-something or other...

Oh well, sounds like Ubuntu has a bright future ahead of it. :)

Did we really need three news posts for this?

OK, so the bottom line here. Will there be a price drop on Dell machines?

If so how many will have pirated copies of windows installed within a few days of being purchased.

As much as I want Linux to become popular/mainstream I don't think people will switch.

Wow 11 comments!

Dell has given into the loud pro AMD and Linux, anti "Wintel" crowd...you would think there would over a 100 posts claiming some sort of victory.