Dell confirms Linux on notebooks and desktops

Adam Turner
Thursday, 29 March 2007 20:15

IT Industry - Strategy

In light of overwhelming customer demand, Dell has officially confirmed it will soon offer Linux pre-installed on select consumer desktop and notebook systems.

Of the more than 100,000 people who took Dell's online Linux survey, more than 70 per cent of respondents said they would use a Dell system with a Linux operating system for both home and office use, according to a Dell company blog.

"Dell has heard you and we will expand our Linux support beyond our existing servers and Precision workstation line," says the blog entry.

"Our first step in this effort is offering Linux pre-installed on select desktop and notebook systems. We will provide an update in the coming weeks that includes detailed information on which systems we will offer, our testing and certification efforts, and the Linux distribution(s) that will be available. The countdown begins today."

The Linux survey followed Dell's recent "IdeaStorm" community consultation process, which saw more than 110,000 people call upon Dell to ship consumer PCs running Linux. It was the most requested feature, followed by 75,000 requests for Dell to bundle OpenOffice office software. Seven of the top ten requested features all involved focusing on open source software (eight if you include calls to ship PCs without an operating system).

The open source community has since called upon head honcho Michael Dell to pre-install OpenOffice on Dell computers.