The arrival of Linux, and Ubuntu Linux at that, as a standard consumer option from one of the world’s largest PC companies, shows just how far Linux has come in the past few years – but also shows how far it has yet to go.
So, it’s official. PC buyers in the US – and only in the US for now – can purchase one of three configurations from Dell featuring the Ubuntu Desktop Edition OS pre-loaded, you can, according to the Ubuntu product page, you can “surf the web, read email, create documents and spreadsheets, edit images and much more”.
As such, it comes pre-loaded with most of the software the user needs to get going immediately – no need to buy and install any software, just transfer your data across and get going, things like your documents, your email, address book, favorites and other needed data.
But is it the end for Windows? Don't make me laugh. Ubuntu is as much the end of Windows, as Vista is the end of Ubuntu or Mac OS X – at least as things stand today and for the forseeable future. Windows XP is an operating system that works, with Vista fast catching up, already the operating system used every day by millions of people worldwide, even if it isn’t as many people as the 40 million copies Microsoft says they’ve sold.
Vista is far more stable and supported than any version of consumer Linux has ever been, and whether you like Vista/XP or not, Microsoft has set the standard for the broadest popular hardware and software support. Macs aren’t too far behind, with Linux still in third place – but this state of affairs has finally been changing too, with driver availability slowly but steadily improving. Dell, after all, is shipping an Ubuntu system with all the drivers needed for the hardware to work as you’d expect it to under Windows.
Despite both operating systems costing money, most people buy XP or Vista in preference to getting a Mac or buying a computer and installing Linux onto it, although some would claim that many consumers aren’t offered much choice but Windows machines. Well, the reality is that alternatives exist, and if people want them, they’re available, and not only have they never been better or more powerful, they’re constantly getting better. A great example of this is Ubuntu, especially now with the new Dell sales channel.
So if you thought coverage of Ubuntu had hit a crescendo with the entire Dell saga of whether or not they would ever sell machines pre-loaded with Ubuntu along with all the other positive press Ubuntu has received over the last 12 months – it’s only just the start!
Of course, the Dell launch of Ubuntu machines hasn’t been without some controversy over the readiness of Linux to be offered direct to consumers in such a manner. An online report led me to a blog entry called "Ubuntu 7.04 Offering--Technical Details" by John Hull, Dell's manager of Linux OS Technologies as saying that: “At this time, we are not including any support for proprietary audio or video codecs that are not already distributed with Ubuntu 7.04. These include MPEG 1/2/3/4, WMA, WMV, DVD, Quicktime, etc. We are evaluating options for providing this support in the future.”
Ubuntu users have since wondered why Hull didn’t state that a user will be asked if they want to install a codec when presented with a new media file, for which they only need press yes for it to install and activate, is unclear. Licensing restrictions are said to be preventing Dell from pre-loading the required codecs, but it should be easy to make it clear that the appropriate codec will be loaded as needed if not already installed. It certainly would have avoided a number of articles saying that Ubuntu isn’t ready yet.
Let’s face it. Red Hat might have been sold by Dell for several years now, and Linspire might be on sale on some Wal-mart machines, but Ubuntu is being sold by Dell, one of the biggest PC companies in the world, at prices that are similar to their Windows counterparts.
Dell has the scale to deliver working Ubuntu machines, and the size to support Ubuntu users, along with the help of rest of the Ubuntu community. If Dell supporting Ubuntu can’t boost its popularity even further, now that it is so easy to buy, nothing probably ever will.
So, this is good news for Dell, and for Ubuntu, but is it good news for computer users?
Well, if you remember the computing world from the late 70s, through to today, you’d remember a lot of change, and especially during the 80s, a lot of different operating systems, with Microsoft DOS and then Windows effectively dominating from the early 80s through to today.
But over the past decade, Linux has grown from strength to strength, culminating now, with Ubuntu at least, of the widespread availability of consumer oriented Linux computer systems in the US, and hopefully worldwide in the not too distant future.
Many different versions of Linux are already in use by millions of people around the world on PCs today, none of whom waited for Dell to release a Ubuntu PC. Having operating system diversity and having choice as a consumer is a very good thing. It’s good to have Windows vs Mac OS X vs Linux vs PS3 vs everything else as it means we have strong and robust and healthy competition within the computing world.
So, the deal should prove very good for Dell, and naturally, for Ubuntu. All that needs to happen now is for customers to buy, but if the “popular demand” that prompted Dell to offer Ubuntu in the first place is any indication, Ubuntu truly will become the world’s most popular version of consumer Linux, with each version enhancing the user interface, adding more drivers, increasing security and attracting more software to the Linux platform.
That’s what happened to Microsoft products, culminating in the stable Windows XP Service Pack 2 still preferred by millions of Windows users, through to Windows Vista, which on a suitably configured machine works much better than Windows XP does today, even though plenty of XP, Linux, Mac OS X and other users don’t believe that to be true.
And that’s where we have Windows, still the major focus of promotional activities for Dell, with both XP and Vista versions in configurations aplenty, far more than the three offered for Ubuntu.
The entrance of Ubuntu into the true realm of consumer PC purchases is a momentous step to be sure, and has signaled the true maturity of Linux, even though it still has some way to go to achieve the almost total hardware and software compatibility of Windows XP SP2.
So I ask again: is this the end of Vista? Definitely not – but the beginning of the era of a true consumer Linux has finally arrived.
source : http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/12433/1103/1/1/
So, it’s official. PC buyers in the US – and only in the US for now – can purchase one of three configurations from Dell featuring the Ubuntu Desktop Edition OS pre-loaded, you can, according to the Ubuntu product page, you can “surf the web, read email, create documents and spreadsheets, edit images and much more”.
As such, it comes pre-loaded with most of the software the user needs to get going immediately – no need to buy and install any software, just transfer your data across and get going, things like your documents, your email, address book, favorites and other needed data.
But is it the end for Windows? Don't make me laugh. Ubuntu is as much the end of Windows, as Vista is the end of Ubuntu or Mac OS X – at least as things stand today and for the forseeable future. Windows XP is an operating system that works, with Vista fast catching up, already the operating system used every day by millions of people worldwide, even if it isn’t as many people as the 40 million copies Microsoft says they’ve sold.
Vista is far more stable and supported than any version of consumer Linux has ever been, and whether you like Vista/XP or not, Microsoft has set the standard for the broadest popular hardware and software support. Macs aren’t too far behind, with Linux still in third place – but this state of affairs has finally been changing too, with driver availability slowly but steadily improving. Dell, after all, is shipping an Ubuntu system with all the drivers needed for the hardware to work as you’d expect it to under Windows.
Despite both operating systems costing money, most people buy XP or Vista in preference to getting a Mac or buying a computer and installing Linux onto it, although some would claim that many consumers aren’t offered much choice but Windows machines. Well, the reality is that alternatives exist, and if people want them, they’re available, and not only have they never been better or more powerful, they’re constantly getting better. A great example of this is Ubuntu, especially now with the new Dell sales channel.
So if you thought coverage of Ubuntu had hit a crescendo with the entire Dell saga of whether or not they would ever sell machines pre-loaded with Ubuntu along with all the other positive press Ubuntu has received over the last 12 months – it’s only just the start!
Of course, the Dell launch of Ubuntu machines hasn’t been without some controversy over the readiness of Linux to be offered direct to consumers in such a manner. An online report led me to a blog entry called "Ubuntu 7.04 Offering--Technical Details" by John Hull, Dell's manager of Linux OS Technologies as saying that: “At this time, we are not including any support for proprietary audio or video codecs that are not already distributed with Ubuntu 7.04. These include MPEG 1/2/3/4, WMA, WMV, DVD, Quicktime, etc. We are evaluating options for providing this support in the future.”
Ubuntu users have since wondered why Hull didn’t state that a user will be asked if they want to install a codec when presented with a new media file, for which they only need press yes for it to install and activate, is unclear. Licensing restrictions are said to be preventing Dell from pre-loading the required codecs, but it should be easy to make it clear that the appropriate codec will be loaded as needed if not already installed. It certainly would have avoided a number of articles saying that Ubuntu isn’t ready yet.
Let’s face it. Red Hat might have been sold by Dell for several years now, and Linspire might be on sale on some Wal-mart machines, but Ubuntu is being sold by Dell, one of the biggest PC companies in the world, at prices that are similar to their Windows counterparts.
Dell has the scale to deliver working Ubuntu machines, and the size to support Ubuntu users, along with the help of rest of the Ubuntu community. If Dell supporting Ubuntu can’t boost its popularity even further, now that it is so easy to buy, nothing probably ever will.
So, this is good news for Dell, and for Ubuntu, but is it good news for computer users?
Well, if you remember the computing world from the late 70s, through to today, you’d remember a lot of change, and especially during the 80s, a lot of different operating systems, with Microsoft DOS and then Windows effectively dominating from the early 80s through to today.
But over the past decade, Linux has grown from strength to strength, culminating now, with Ubuntu at least, of the widespread availability of consumer oriented Linux computer systems in the US, and hopefully worldwide in the not too distant future.
Many different versions of Linux are already in use by millions of people around the world on PCs today, none of whom waited for Dell to release a Ubuntu PC. Having operating system diversity and having choice as a consumer is a very good thing. It’s good to have Windows vs Mac OS X vs Linux vs PS3 vs everything else as it means we have strong and robust and healthy competition within the computing world.
So, the deal should prove very good for Dell, and naturally, for Ubuntu. All that needs to happen now is for customers to buy, but if the “popular demand” that prompted Dell to offer Ubuntu in the first place is any indication, Ubuntu truly will become the world’s most popular version of consumer Linux, with each version enhancing the user interface, adding more drivers, increasing security and attracting more software to the Linux platform.
That’s what happened to Microsoft products, culminating in the stable Windows XP Service Pack 2 still preferred by millions of Windows users, through to Windows Vista, which on a suitably configured machine works much better than Windows XP does today, even though plenty of XP, Linux, Mac OS X and other users don’t believe that to be true.
And that’s where we have Windows, still the major focus of promotional activities for Dell, with both XP and Vista versions in configurations aplenty, far more than the three offered for Ubuntu.
The entrance of Ubuntu into the true realm of consumer PC purchases is a momentous step to be sure, and has signaled the true maturity of Linux, even though it still has some way to go to achieve the almost total hardware and software compatibility of Windows XP SP2.
So I ask again: is this the end of Vista? Definitely not – but the beginning of the era of a true consumer Linux has finally arrived.
source : http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/12433/1103/1/1/