Expand Project Sputnik to all Dell Computers...

June 25, 2012

Posted By:  Paulgrins

9 Votes

Status: Archived

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My idea?

Launch Project Sputnik on all Ubuntu Certified Computers in the United States NOW and do not delay one more project cycle.  Stop putting up "Dell recommends Windows 7" on all of your web pages and make Ubuntu available on your website for 100+ models.  Expand Project Sputnik to all high end Laptops and allow developers to choose the PC they want...

The Linux community isn't crazy after all, now the NY Times is saying the same thing we have been saying for years...

"For hardware makers, the PC market has long been a struggle because Microsoft and Intel, maker of the microprocessors that power most computers, have long extracted most of the spoils from the industry, leaving slim profits for the companies that make them. Manufacturers pay hefty fees to license Windows from Microsoft, putting pressure on them to make computers as cheaply as possible using commodity parts."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/technology/companies/with-tablet-microsoft-takes-aim-at-hardware-missteps.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Wow


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  • Jun 26, 2012     Comment Link

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    Posted By: Paulgrins

    @CY_J

    This of course depends on whether the Windows Marketing programs designed by Microsoft allow an OEM partner to provide it's customers with the right to opt-out of the program and potentially allow the customer to purchase a machine from you without purchasing a Windows license.  If this not the case then as the New York Times article states is very harmful and restrictive arrangement and a serious ethical issue for Dell customers who use Open Source OS's...
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  • Jun 26, 2012     Comment Link

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    Posted By: IdeaStorm Moderator Cy_J

    Thank you for the additional information Paulgrins.  
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  • Jun 26, 2012     Comment Link

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    Posted By: Paulgrins

    @CY_J:

    Appreciate the feedback you have been given me and you have been very informative.  The problem and dilemma for Dell is that the Spuntik program is a small Open Source Linux pilot being worked on in an environment where nearly everyone including upper management is long-term committed and dedicated to Microsoft Windows with the exception of your Red Hat friendly enterprise people.  Project Sputnik is a great idea, but it's putting as the expression says "the cart before the horse".  You should instead focus on building an Open Source friendly culture from the ground up before initiating such projects and getting some real live marekting data before you proceed forward.  

    This would be best accomplished by the steps outlined below...

    DELL "Bring your own Operating System"

    Permit customers to opt-out of your Microsoft Windows marketing program and buy any machine you sell without an OS pre-installed or software bundles included and click an "I accept that I choose to buy a machine without an OS installed" type waiver for legal purposes. If that machine happens to be officially certified by either Ubuntu, Novell Suse or Red Hat indicate that on the product page to assist the customer in making their purchasing decision and provide a link to Ubuntu, Novell or Red Hat so they can download the Linux OS, get support and documentation directly from those companies.

    The major benefit of this is that you can still put Windows 7 as a primary and default OS choice and officially recommend it for that particular machine.  You can also design your warranties to exclude anything related to problems resulting from third party OS aside from the officially DELL recommend default choice Windows.  Dell can officially still be in compliance with the goals of the Windows Marketing program but do so in a more ethical way by allowing the ability to opt-out as a customer choice.

    Dell marketing could then see which machines are the best sellers among customers who opt-out of the Windows Marketing program, decide to install their own OS and whether the customers who buy those machines clicked on Ubuntu, Novell SUSE or Red Hat.  This way they could then get Barton George and the Sputnik team to focus on the machines that sold the most as opt-out's and where users preferred Ubuntu over the other two top distributions.   The XPS 13 may turn out to be the wrong segment for Web Developers, who knows they may prefer other machines.  Dell doesn't know that yet because they don't have accurate marketing data to make that choice.

    Marketing could then build Open Source segments based on that information and if the sales segments had significant interest invest the resources to preinstall those machines with the preferred OS in the future, provide support and value added services for that segment and create worthwile marketing programs aimed at enterprise and professionals to deploy those machines in Open Source situations.

    Just some ideas, very marketing and data driven, something that upper management at Dell could implement for little cost and quickly...I suggest forking out the "Dell Bring Your Own OS" program idea into a separate storm session or making this one of the goals of the Sputnik program as a preliminary step...
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  • Jun 26, 2012     Comment Link

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    Posted By: IdeaStorm Moderator Cy_J

    You are correct that currently the XPS13 is pre-loaded with Windows due to Sputnik being an exploritory project and not a full product at this time.  Check out this video interview with Barton George about how the project is set up which hopefully will explain it a little better.

    On a side note I don't think it is quite fair to compare a 13 inch system to a 15 inch system in terms of performance as the form factors allow different hardware to be used.  Plus there is the starting price difference of over $1000 to contend with.  
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  • Jun 25, 2012     Comment Link

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    Posted By: Paulgrins

    You see where the problem here is, nobody is going to demo this thing for the following reason...What's the whole point of the program if a customer can't order a XPS13 pre-loaded with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS from the start?  The whole thing is illogical and self-defeating.

    "Get started today by downloading the image from Canonical.  If you don't have the Dell XPS13 Ultrabook and would like to order one you can simply order it off the web (note that at this point it will still come pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows)."

    Echo: "note that at this point it will still come pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows."

    I might as well buy a Macbook Pro for around the same money and have a much better rig for web development (runs the Adobe suite like a rocket and the retina display) and just dual boot into Ubuntu 12.04, install and setup my own packages and create a bunch of bash scripts to distribute the changes to my fellow developers in my company or team.  Most of this stuff is available via PPA and with Linux most things can be automated to replicate configurations.  

    Creative teams at companies like Pixar and Dreamworks do this, they have a bunch of Mac OS X machines and a few workstations running Fedora or Ubuntu and then use Red Hat servers for backend graphics rendering.  These type of creative shops are Windows free and have 0 Windows desktops usually...

    Even better there are also shops like System76 that sell the system pre-loaded with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and offer full support, so I can cut out the whole Macintosh aspect all together.

    The whole thing is hobbled from the beginning and Windows marketing priorities have put up so much red tape and barriers that it will never ever succeed.

    I just have 0% faith in this project....
     
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  • Jun 25, 2012     Comment Link

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    Posted By: IdeaStorm Moderator Cy_J

    Operating System policy:  All I can tell you is that Dell does not comment on rumors and speculation.  

    Project Sputnik:  You can read more about it here.
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  • Jun 25, 2012     Comment Link

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    Posted By: Paulgrins

    Cy_J is there indiciation that the Operating Systems policy will change in the future for Dell, is there an official statement or press release?  How about Sputnik, I've been waiting a while for this...
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  • Jun 25, 2012     Comment Link

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    Posted By: IdeaStorm Moderator Cy_J

    Thanks for posting the idea and the link for the article paulgrins.
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  • Jun 25, 2012     Comment Link

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    Posted By: Paulgrins

    "That, in turn, has limited their ability to take the kinds of risks on hardware innovation that have helped define the iPad. Furthermore, with the iPad, Apple has proved that there are significant advantages to designing hardware and software together. When separate companies, each with its own priorities, handle those chores, integrating hardware and software can be more challenging."

    --- NY TIMES