After flirting with tech from 1989 onwards, Sam Varghese began to experiment with Linux in 1998. A couple of years later, he began using the Debian distribution as a single-boot system for his personal use. From that point onwards his interest grew and he has since written widely about free and open source software, with a great deal of his writings based on his own experiences, rather than anecdotal evidence. Open Sauce will focus on a genre of software that is present everywhere but rarely acknowledged; a genre that has little eye-candy but does most of the heavy lifting; a genre that is designed and written by people whose accomplishments are only occasionally recognised. Above all this blog will follow the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Selling Linux: what Dell could do

by Sam Varghese

Friday, 28 September 2007

Recently I've been devoting some space to a discussion of Dell's efforts to sell Linux on certain PCs and laptops among its range of models. There's also been discussion of why this effort appears to be somewhat half-hearted. Featured Whitepaper 5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support But what if Dell were really trying to make a go of it? What should be working properly? For one, any company of Dell's size and market share (when it comes to PC sales), should be able to talk to the people concerned and ensure that common things like mp3s and commercial DVDs can be played on Linux. True, it is going to involve some expenditure for Dell, but then there is no point in trying to sell Linux and make a buck by putting out a system which is effectively crippled. Dell has enough clout in the hardware industry to cut the necessary deals to make this happen - that is, if it is serious about selling Linux on its hardware and making a buck. Second, Dell can do some talking to the makers of chipsets for common wireless cards; getting Linux to work with most of these cards is a major headache. If one could buy Linux on a laptop and be sure that the wireless setup was working out of the box, it would be a major selling point. It doesn't matter if the drivers used are proprietary or open. There are other niggles when it comes to Linux for the mass market. Things like Adobe's Flash player and Java. Plug-ins like this should come installed on any box that Dell sells. The user should not have to do a thing - simply because installing such stuff on Linux is definitely not for mass market users. Dell can also have a chat to the makers of graphics cards, people like NVIDIA and ATI. These firms already put out proprietary drivers for Linux but these drivers sometimes produce very funny outcomes. Dell should ensure that these drivers are included, installed and working. Sure, there are people who do communicate with both NIVIDIA and ATI about such issues but if Dell were to get involved, it would be a whole different situation, given the company's size and industry position. Once buyers are able to boot up a Linux desktop PC or laptop sold by Dell and have all the things listed above functioning smoothly, Dell's bid to sell Linux would take on a different hue. It would bear the hallmark of a carefully thought out bid to make money by selling an operating system which will not require all that much in terms of after-sales support. Yes, let me say that again: once you have Linux configured and set up properly, there is no need to tinker. Things work and continue to work until your hardware packs up. Dell cannot hope to achieve anything by going about things in a harum-scarum manner, putting out Linux images which it refuses to support, and trying to get bugs fixed by the developers of the distributions which it sells. These are responsibilities it has to take on itself - which means that the entire project has to be more professionally managed. Of course, this does not rule out co-operation with the developers of the distribution in question. In short, Dell has to go the whole commercial hog - remember, Dell is not a Linux company, it is merely trying to make a buck out of perceived demand. Dell does not have to abide by any of the strictures that limit companies whose entire business is built around Linux. Every proprietary bit and piece which can help in this effort should be included if it helps in pushing hardware out the door. On the other hand, if this is just a PR stunt, you can just forget about everything and continue doing things the way they've been done so far. Despite all the criticism I've levelled at Dell - and all of it is justified - I would love to see the Linux sales effort succeed. Tags See All Tags Linux  Open Source  Sam Varghese  Powered By Joomla Tags Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment!

 

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