14 DAY TRIAL // Dell started a trend among the desktop and laptop manufacturers and vendors that, for the first time ever, threatened Windows' position on the OEM market. Dell did the unthinkable and launched several types of computers not with Microsoft Windows installed, but with a Linux distribution named Ubuntu, that is very popular among Linux savvy users. As Dell's initiative was very well received by customers, other system vendors are trying to grab a piece of the Linux equipped computers market, by launching similar products. One of these vendors is Acer that recently launched the model Aspire 4710Z in Singapore which comes with Ubuntu instead of Windows.
A spokesperson from Acer told in an interview to the news site ZDNet.co.uk that the company will not sell any Linux laptops in the U.K. as the there is no such demand. "[Acer models] with Ubuntu pre-loaded are available at the factory level. However, there is no demand for it in the UK. Therefore, those configurations are not an option [for UK customers] at the moment". So the apparently few Linux users from the United Kingdom will have to install their Ubuntu distribution by hand. "If the demand was there, then Acer would sell it," the spokesperson said, adding that such a demand would have to be reported to Acer by its UK resellers, according to ZDNet.co.uk.
"The only other major manufacturer to include Linux-based systems in its lineup is Dell, which has been offering such systems solely in the US since May. Last week a spokesperson for Dell said there had been a healthy demand for notebooks running on Linux. Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu's main backer, also hinted that Dell could release even more open source-based notebooks, although Dell did not confirm or deny this suggestion". Not even Dell, the biggest supporter on Linux based systems, is selling such laptops or desktops in the U.K., but the company said that the situation might soon change.
Acer's decision to launch a line of laptops running a Linux distribution comes after the interview given by the company's president Gianfranco Lanci to the newspaper Financial Times Deutschland, where he said that "the whole [PC] industry is disappointed with Windows Vista", claiming that Microsoft Windows Vista because of its stability problems and immaturity did nothing to increase computer sales.