[sf-lug] The holy grail for FOSS publicity: NYT on-line covers Dell GNU Linux

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Christian Einfeldt (einfeldt at gmail.com):

> This is great.  We have reached a minor digital tipping point today, as
> Larry Magid covered the state of free open source software on Dell computers
> in the New York Times today.

I'm a little skeptical, having seen Dell do this hat trick before,
2000-ish.

_NYT_ article has:

   Until recently, major PC makers shied away from Linux. Now the
   industry is watching as Dell is selling two Linux-equipped desktop
   models ($549 and $870, including a monitor) and a $774 notebook PC.

I happen to know from elsewhere that those are:

Inspiron Desktop 530 N
Inspiron Notebook 1420 N
XPS 410 N

Let's say I'm a member of the general public, i.e., not one of the
preached-to choir of Linux users who follow Linux- and open-source
related news as specialty information.  I go to http://www.dell.com/ 
to browse their offerings.  "Desktops / Home and Home Office" looks
good, so I pick that.

Choices then are "Inspiron", "Inspiron Advanced", and "XPS Performance
and Gaming".  Let's say I'm a home / small-office user looking for
something basic, so I go with the first.  

"Inspiron Slim Desktops", "Inspiron Desktops", and "Built for You".  
I'm going to browse through all of these.

Guess what?  All of those items, which are represented to the naive
public as being the _entire_ Inspiron product line, offers only either 
"Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic" or "Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium"
Not a single one of those pages mentions Ubuntu or Linux in any way.
_Every_ one of the subpages (off the front page) has a splashy banner
saying "Still looking for Windows XP?  [logo]  More Details".  The first
subpage also has a huge animated GIF banner saying "THE CHOICE IS YOURS:
Windows Vista & Windows XP on all XPS Desktops".

"The choice is yours."  Wow, Vista or XP.  That's still pretty much
Dell's consistent public message.  Which is my main point, here.


Let's say that, instead of Inspirons, I go looking through the
performance / gamer "XPS" series.  Four models are shown, including "XPS
410" (note:  not XPS 410 N).  Lots of stuff about how great Vista is.  
Nothing about Ubuntu.  No "Prefer Linux?  See our related XPS 410 N
offering" hyperlink.

Let's say the hypothetical "member of the general public" is a bit
stubborn:  He/she _knows_ he/she say some mention somewhere, maybe in
the _NY Times_, about Dell offering workstations and laptops with some
Linux distro.  So, the user types "Linux" into the site search field.
Does that bring up, finally, information about the 530 N, 1420 N, or XPS
410 N?  Well, sort of.  Ubuntu offerings are not included in the search
results, but there's this small banner:

    Recommended Links
	
   Introducing Dell PCs with Ubuntu and FreeDOS [link]
   Please talk to your Sales Representative for information on open-source
   operating systems. Follow this link to see what is available on
   www.dell.com.

_Finally_, two hyperlinks later, you arrive at
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
for information on the three models.  Let's play with the configurator, 
to see relative pricing:

XPS 410 N (Linux model) can be priced at $1310, as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------
Core 2 Duo Processor E6700 (4MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1066 FSB)
Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 7.04
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
20 inch E207WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
128MB nVidia GeForce 8300 GS
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Dell USB Keyboard	edit
Dell Optical USB Mouse	edit
No Floppy Drive Included


XPS 410 (Windows Vista model) can be priced at $1429, as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Core 2 Duo Processor E6700 (4MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1066 FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
20 inch E207WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
128MB nVidia GeForce 8300 GS
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Dell USB Keyboard
Dell Optical USB Mouse
No Floppy Drive Included
(skip omission of various optional add-ons)


(Note:  If doing this comparison, be very careful about picking
comparable CPUs, RAM, HDs, optical storage, and peripherals, as the Dell
configurator pushes Windows-based offerings to more of everything.  
Constructing comparable systems requires some work.)

So, you end up saving $119 on comparable machine configs, which is
_progress_:  Last time Dell did this hat trick, you actually paid, IIRC,
about $200 _more_ to get one of their models with (badly) preinstalled
Red Hat Linux 7.x.

On the minus side, it's very obvious that Dell is still going to some
lengths to prevent its main customer base from stumbling across Linux
offerings without determined search.  That's the "same old" part of the
current picture.