Slashdot Log In
Dell's Secret Linux Fling
Posted by
Zonk
on Tue Jan 09, 2007 01:34 PM
from the far-from-the-prying-eyes-of-the-world dept.
from the far-from-the-prying-eyes-of-the-world dept.
Slagged writes "The Register has up an article on Linux-based Dell systems being sold in China. While Microsoft quashed an attempt by Dell to create a market for Linux PCs in the U.S., such restrictions are not the case in Asia. From the article: 'Fifteen months ago our own Ashlee Vance, who broke the news of the first break-up in 2001, proved how hard it is to buy a PC from Dell without Windows. Not pre-loaded with Linux mind you - but simply a bare bones box. But far away from the prying eyes of Steve Ballmer, romance is blossoming. An eagle-eyed reader found the fruits of the union, brazenly on display in a Beijing subway.' The article has pictures of the advertisements, which offer Dell PCs preloaded with 'Red Flag Linux'."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Aim at foot, fire when ready. (Score:5, Funny)
Well, sticking it all over the front page of one of the largest tech sites means it will get his full attention now.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Thus lending a whole new, and unintended meaning to the term Red Flag Linux: "Red Flag! Linux"
Let me be the first to say: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
A coworker of mine runs a Myth box. Practically every day for the first month or so after he set it up he'd give me an update on the tinkering he had to do the previous night. Now, at least once a month it goes offline for some reason. I'm not a linux guy, nor a mythTV guy, but it seems like he's got problems with TV listings mostly, although issues with drivers, audio sync, and a smattering of other issues have also been recurr
Hard to buy a bare pc...really? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Hard to buy a bare pc...really? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Hard to buy a bare pc...really? (Score:5, Interesting)
hmm...
The desktop link still works right now though.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
huh (Score:4, Informative)
www.dell.com/linux
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Those are the N-Series equipment. They are a Godsend for shops like mine, where we use a RAID drive array and a custom Windows image. we don't have to pay the Windows tax on the machine just to wipe Windows off of it to install our version. (We have a corporate version, unlimited copies.) The notebooks are a more recent addition, and really great given that we don't want Vista forced down our throats for at least 2 more years.
Nicely done Dell!
Might want to be careful there. (Score:4, Informative)
Dell is pretty clear about this on their n-Series page [dell.com], as it states in bold type: "It is not a Microsoft operating system and is not qualified for Windows licensing use under any existing Microsoft Volume Licensing Program (OPEN, Enterprise, etc.) Customers interested in a Microsoft® Windows® solution should purchase a Dell desktop pre-loaded with Windows XP Professional."
If you get audited, you may be in trouble.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
"The open-source n Series desktops feature select popular models from the DimensionTM desktop, OptiPlexTM desktop and Dell PrecisionTM workstation lines available with a copy of the FreeDOSTM open-source operating system included
Re:Hard to buy a bare pc...really? (Score:5, Funny)
Like inside the case, or were they still in the bag? Barbecue, or plain?
Parent
Red Flag Linux... (Score:3, Insightful)
Nothing Clandestine About It (Score:5, Informative)
Just look at Dell's Chinese website: there, right in the middle, amongst all those Chinese characters, you'll see the caozuo xitong ("operating system") listed in clear Roman letters: Linux.
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/features
(The stuff at the top says Dell "recommends the use of" XP Professional.)
Hard to get a Dell with no OS? (Score:5, Informative)
Dell and Linux for corp customers mainly (Score:4, Informative)
can't buy a Dell PC w/o Windows -- bull! (Score:3, Informative)
I call bullsh*t, or at least misinformation.
I was able to negotiate a refund of some $62 for each of four Dell PC purchased while I worked at a former employer because we explicitly did not want Windows for them. Even though it came preinstalled, with shrink-wrap installation media, we got the refund upon returning the installation media and attesting that we reformatted the hard disk.
Dell was not difficult about it.
Of course, the fact that all our desktops were Dell machines, and most of them did run Windows, and my employer did have a blanket corporate license from Microsoft for all MS software may have had something to do with it, but still.
Of course, getting a refund for returning something you don't want is not the same as not having to purchase it in the first place, but the bottom line was that, in the end, Dell happily sold us PCs with no operating system on them.
Supreme irony (Score:3, Insightful)
It is the supreme irony that it is possible to more freely purchase what you want in China than it is in the United States - the country of the products' origin and central influence of capitalism throughout the world.
Re:Lawl (Score:5, Funny)
The HOSTS file is completely different in Linux. It's spelled with lower-case letters.
Parent
Yuan, not Yen (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Only? For $55 that had better be a nice bottle of sake.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Very true, but will it balance the years of Microsoft taxes levied on linux user's who purchased systems for linux use and were never provided the option of no-OS or linux pre installed? I've personally purchased two laptops on which I ran linux and never intended to run Windows but I had to pay the Microsoft tax if I wanted the hardware.
I think the pirating also helps Microsoft more than it hurts. The large pirated i
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
MS (and other software companies) do tacitly encourage piracy. Otherwise why do they fail to enforce their copyrights.
I lvie in a country where some of the Holywood studios have proved enforcement works: people are far m
Re: (Score:3, Informative)