14 DAY TRIAL // In an interview given to DesktopLinux.com's Steven J. Vaughan Nichols, Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc. explained his company's Linux desktop strategy. They believe in offering Linux on desktops, servers and workstation, but refuse to fully support it on the desktop, for now. The problem, it seems, is diversity:
"If we say we like Ubuntu, then people will say we picked the wrong one. If we say we like and support Ubuntu, Novell, Red Hat, and Xandros, then someone would ask us, 'Why don't you support Mandriva?' The challenge we have with picking one is that we think we'd disenchant the other distributions' supporters."
Dell is offering the nSeries, which come with a copy of the open-source FreeDOS operating system, and the Dell Precision nSeries low-end workstation line which comes with Red Hat Enterprise Linux workstation 4. It will however install a customer's choice of distribution on custom factory orders of 50 or more PCs.
What's significant here is that the company will not promote a single Linux distribution. The distribution chosen would quickly become the most popular, but it's not going to happen. While "Ubuntu is now the most popular desktop distribution on Dell's PCs, it may not be a year from now."
In the meantime, the company works with vendors and insures good Linux driver support, as well as growing its Linux operation. "We actually already have a pretty significant Linux support team today."
Dell sees the Linux desktop "as a customer-driven activity. If customers want it, well, Dell will give it to them."