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| Stop making excuses, and start paying attention. WE WANT LINUX!!!
By homer,
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Dear Michael Dell,
By now, many people will have started reading Blogs and articles about how you have back-peddled on your commitment to listen to your customers' wishes. Here's just one:
http://blog.lobby4linux.com/archives/104-So,-How-Does-It-Feel-To-Have-Been-Ha...
[Edit] Here's a more "high profile" article, from The Inquirer:
Dell backs down from Linux promise
That makes this site (DellIdeaStorm) nothing but a farce.
First you ask us what we want, then you just blatantly ignore us. What exactly was the point in asking us what we want? Is this some kind of sick joke?
Maybe you were taken off guard, and hadn't anticipated the vast demand for Linux that happened, but it did happen, so deal with it ... or be perceived as a liar and a charlatan.
If you amalgamate all the various Linux "idea" posts on this site, and tally up the total votes, you're looking at something like TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND VOTES FOR LINUX. Are you just going to ignore that, and pretend it never happened?
Here's your response to this amazing phenomenon so far, and my comments:
We are listening, and as a result, we are working with Novell to certify our corporate client products for Linux, including our OptiPlex desktops, Latitude notebooks and Dell Precision workstations.
Well you are obviously not listening. The vast majority of the Linux requests on this site are not from "corporate" customers, they are from end users seeking home computing Linux solutions. Are you listening yet?
This is another step towards ensuring that our customers have a good experience with Linux on our systems.
It's not a step forward, it's a sidestep shuffle. What exactly are you afraid of ... that people might actually prefer Linux to Windows? I could build and "certify" a Linux workstation in 20 minutes, without the assistance of production facilities and a team of engineers, why is this such a problem for the world's biggest OEM?
Are you suggesting that Linux somehow represents a "problem" with regards to hardware, and that it's going to take a team of rocket scientists months to discover Linux compatible components?
Right now, Linux works with virtually the same hardware that WIndows XP does, and considerably more hardware than Vista ... but that doesn't seem to have prevented you "certifying" Vista (a.k.a. Windows ME2). What a joke!
As this community knows, there is no single customer preference for a distribution of Linux. In the last week, the IdeaStorm community suggested more than half a dozen distributions. We don't want to pick one distribution and alienate users with a preference for another.
No, no, no, no. That's not how it works. This is just more excuses.
At the end of the day, Linux is Linux is Linux. The distro is not that significant (other than the distinction between a commercial or community distro).
Surely the CEO of one of the world's biggest companies can make a decision.
Pick a Linux distro and run with it. And stop making excuses.
My personal preference is for Fedora Core, but if you offered an Ubuntu desktop machine, I'd buy it, because (like I said) at the end of the day it is Linux that is important, not the distro. My primary motivation is to keep my money out of Microsoft's pockets and have an OS ... any OS ... that is not Windows. I can, and probably will, switch between half a dozen distros during the lifespan of that hardware.
However, it is extremely important that you offer pre-installed Linux workstations to end-users, rather than just "OS-free" systems, because without this option, you will be helping to perpetuate the misconception that Linux is not popular. Well congratulations, you have just discovered exactly how much of a misconception this really is. Maybe you should have considered DellIdeaStorm years ago, rather than sit around waiting for point-of-sale figures that could not ever accurately reflect the popularity of something that is a free download.
Trust me ... you will not alienate anyone by making a firm choice of distro support. I'm sure the tens of thousands of home users, who are demanding Linux from Dell, will be overjoyed just to have a choice of any Linux distro.
We want users to have the opportunity to help define the market for Linux on desktop and notebook systems.
This is just nonsensical marketing gobbledegook. Say what you mean, and stop obfuscating the truth with gibberish.
You can "define" the market right now ... by selling us what we want, rather than what Microsoft dictates you sell to us. The 200000+ vote for Linux should be a clear enough "definition" for anyone ... who's prepared to listen ... and not bury his head in the sand.
In addition to working with Novell,
Bad move. By all means offer Microvell to any corporate user gullible enough to swallow Steve Ballmer's baseless FUD about Microsoft's intellectual property, but I think you'll find home users rather less than receptive to any distro offerings from any company that sleeps with the enemy.
we are also working with other distributors and evaluating the possibility of additional certifications across our product line.
This is the only promising statement in the whole response, but it sounds like a lot of hot air to me.
Actions, not words.
GIVE US LINUX!
Are you trying to rejuvenate sales or not? Give the customers what they want.
We are continuing to investigate your other Linux-related ideas, so please continue to check here for updates.
Oh I'll be sure to, but I'm not holding my breath. Microsoft has you far too firmly under their thumb for me to seriously expect any positive changes at Dell.
Thanks for giving us all a glimmer of (false) hope, though.
homer5310.0
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Wed Feb 28 21:20:10 GMT 2007
Comments:
Categories:
Linux
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Status:Acknowledged
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