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I think they had some kind of deal with Microsoft about having Windows installed exclusively on their systems…

I don’t think Dell is targeting regular computer users with this new line of systems anyways. Doing this was one of the best move they ever did in my own opinion.

This simple change brought them tons of positive media coverage, so even if they only sell a small amount of linux boxes, it will be all worth it in the end.

If it’s so impossible to do everything you need in Linux, how have I survived the last 10 months (never used Linux before I put it on my brand-new, never-booted-into-Windows laptop in July)? The only computer I use is my laptop. It ran Ubuntu exclusively for about 6 months, then I added Fedora and Sabayon to try them out. Now it’s Ubuntu and Debian (just installed today). My computer-illiterate mom has used Ubuntu for the last 6 months. She Googles, emails, and does spreadsheets for work. When’s the last time you tried Linux on the desktop? Surf the web? Firefox. IM? Gaim/Pidgin. Office stuff? OOo. Email? Evolution or Thunderbird. Accounting? GnuCash or KMyMoney. CAD? There’s a huge list, but QCad is nice, I’ve heard. Graphics? GIMP. Music? BMP, XMMS, Banshee, Amarok…tons of them. Organize photos? F-Spot, Picasa, or gThumb. Music editing? Ubuntustudio has a bunch of that stuff, but I don’t know specific program names as I don’t use it. Genealogy? GRAMPS. iPod? Amarok. “Windows only” portable digital media players? Gnomad2. Sync your Palm Pilot or use Bluetooth? Yep, those are supported too, but are another “I don’t use it so I forget the name” thing.

Really, Ubuntu is a LOT easier for computer-newbs than Windows is. The biggest thing for my mom was the default arrangement of the GNOME Menu. Things divide, automatically, by type-of-program. That makes sense. The Windows Start Menu goes by vendor. I don’t really understand how anyone could expect Random Person X to know whether “the thing to type letters” is made by Broderbund, Microsoft, Blizzard, or Intuit. The Start Menu is really unintuitive. Another thing is installing programs. The GNOME Menu has an option that says “Add/Remove” and if you click on it, it gives a list of programs and checkboxes. Everything downloads and installs itself instead of you having to find it somewhere online. Dependencies are handled automatically. Updates don’t require reboots. Plug anything in, it mounts and shows an icon on the desktop automatically (instead of having to go into “My Computer” and find “the letter that wasn’t there before”).

I won’t be getting one since my laptop’s less than a year old. I’m thinking I’ll recommend it for my mom’s friend though. She needs a new computer badly, and this would save her a ton of money on the system and on anti-virus junk. Might also have my dad get one. His computers max out at 384 and 512 mb. Not much life left in the Pentium 2 either, unless I put Debian & IceWM on it, and even then who knows about the hardware’s lifespan?