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Our Blogs The BeerFiles Get set for Ubuntu on Dell
Our Blogs The BeerFiles Get set for Ubuntu on Dell | Get set for Ubuntu on Dell |
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| by Stan Beer | |
| Thursday, 19 April 2007 | |
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Having recently installed a late beta version of Ubuntu Feisty (actually Kubuntu, with the KDE GUI), I can say that it is a breeze to download, burn an installation disc and install onto your hard drive. However - and Ubuntu faithful this is not meant to be a criticism - many new users will be likely to run into device driver issues. It's just the nature of the operating system beast and the reason most users buy Windows pre-loaded. However, the issue of device driver incompatibilities largely goes away if you buy a tested and supported pre-installed version of Ubuntu on hardware from a first tier computer vendor such as Dell. There will still be some peripherals that don't have Linux device drivers - the printers and scanners list will probably be a little shorter than that of Windows. That shouldn't bother new Ubuntu users any more than it bothers new Mac users if they can get a new plug and play Linux system with all the applications they need already sitting on their desktop. Speaking of Mac, some Linux purists may argue that a pre-installed plug-and-play Ubuntu is no more true Linux than Mac OS X is Unix. if so, they would be wrong. There are innumerable free open source applications that are available for download and installation and, although Ubuntu will come pre-loaded on a Dell machine, it is not inextricably tied to the hardware. Finally, it has been said that Ubuntu is the fastest growing Linux distribution. That may be true but right now it is still not growing fast enough to make a serious dent in the dominance of Windows like for instance Firefox has done to Internet Explorer. Having a major hardware vendor behind Ubuntu could be exactly the sort of kick along that it needs to gain critical mass. From Dell's point of view, throwing its weight behind Ubuntu could be a very smart move. The company is picking itself up off the floor after a forgettable 2006 and moving ahead with a Linux desktop strategy ahead of the pack could win back some its lost market share. If other major hardware vendors follow Dell's lead, then 2007 may finally herald the year of the Linux desktop.{moscomment}
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