The second largest PC manufacturer, Dell, announced that at the end of May they will begin selling desktops and laptops for consumers with Canonical’s latest Ubuntu version of Linux called “Feisty Fawn.” The announcement was made by Dell spokesman, Kent Cook. “Today, we are excited to tell you that Dell will begin offering Canonical’s latest version, Ubuntu 7.04, as an option on select Dell consumer models in the U.S. in the coming weeks.” If you are unfamiliar with these systems, Linux is a UNIX based freeware, open source, operating system. It has been around for many years but only widely known in the open source industry. Canonical Ltd, owned by Mark Shuttleworth, is a company that has used Linux’s open source nature and created a complete operating system. Ubuntu come from a South African concept which roughly translates to “humanity towards others.”
So what is the big fuss over Dell offering this operating system to its consumers? Linux is the first operating system to really make a run at Windows. Dell attempted to offer a Linux based desktop computer clear back in 1999 and laptops in 2000 but had very little success. In 2001, Dell discontinued this option due to very little demand. With little success, Dell even invested in a company called Eazel who focused on the Linux market. Since 2001, Linux and Ubuntu have grown to become very popular and potentially a serious competitor to Microsoft Windows. In 2006, over 160.5 million operating system licenses were registered. Windows has an amazing dominating 92% of these with Mac OS X being the next closest at 4.1%. Although nobody really expects a drastic swing in Microsoft’s operating system market share, Dell’s move to offer Canonical’s Ubuntu operating system is directed primarily towards Linux enthusiasts. Dell has also increased its forums to help users who opt for the Ubuntu operating system. Some analysts see this move to Linux as an attempt to regain some market share that Dell has been losing to the number one PC manufacturer, Hewlett Packard.
Right now, this new offering by Dell is directed just towards consumer PC users but the real power of Linux is demonstrated on servers. No servers are currently sold with the option of Linux but many owners choose to use Linux because of its amazing capabilities and strength. Many analysts and experts believe that it is just a matter of time before Ubuntu is also offered on servers. So far, Dell and Canonical have been very impressed with the welcoming of this new option on Dell computers. The financial details of this deal between Dell and Canonical were not disclosed but it obviously could be a serious breaking out point for Canonical if PC users choose to go with the Ubuntu operating system. While some of the more computer savvy, open source fans will choose Ubuntu over Microsoft Windows, it will be a long time before the average computer user and buyer choose anything over the very familiar Windows operating system.
[...] Hmmm. That’s what friends are for. [...]
Pingback by Linux and Dell « Leigh’s Paradise — May 23, 2007 @ 11:40 pm