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

[Jason Turner]

Somebody digg this posting!  Thanks for sharing, Rick.  I agree this adds
proper perspective on such announcements.

That said, hopefully pieces like this one in the Times will stick in the
minds of the many biz users that echo its[NYT, WSJ...] pronouncements.

--
jt


> 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.
>
>
>
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