Dell Sells Open Source Computers

Lo5 writes with the excellent news that Dell is selling desktop computers without Windows preinstalled. They are called "n Series"; you can choose from Dimension E520, E521, or C521 desktops. The hard drive comes unformatted.

This isn't "open source" computers...

[CaptainTux]

Apparently, the submitter and editor don't truly realize what "open source" is. Selling a PC without anything on it isn't open source; it's selling a computer with nothing on it. This isn't a move to support open source, it's a move to save money by not having to pay the MS tax.

Note

[JoshJ]

Note: Dell does not support non-Dell installed operating systems.

In short: "We won't even give you tech support for the FreeDOS that comes in the package. All we'll do is replace your hardware if it breaks."

Re:This isn't "open source" computers...

[Rude Turnip]

You have the source code for your BIOS?

Re:The real question

[Beuno]

Yes, but you would have payed for Windows, which you won't use.

How is this news?!

[Trelane]

They've been doing this for years. News would be if "No OS" and "Linux" options were available for every system, and even more so for notebooks and the "Home" section. As it currently seems, however, this is not news.

Re:Note

[The Bungi]

And this is a problem.. why?

Dell does not support non-Dell ...

[AHumbleOpinion]

Note: Dell does not support non-Dell installed operating systems. In short: "We won't even give you tech support for the FreeDOS that comes in the package. All we'll do is replace your hardware if it breaks."

That sounds like support to me. They support what they assembled/installed. Dell support is not a uniform thing, it varies quite a bit from product to product and segment to segment. Give them more money, they will give you more support. Give them even more and they'll send someone to your home/office. Give them alot of money and they'll help you setup your enterprise with custom software and help you keep it running.

What they _Could_ be doing.

[robbak]

Companies like Dell are in a unique position to break the Windows monopoly.
The main problem Open Source developers are having is the near-impossibility of getting hardware documentation. The manufacturers are unwilling (which is something I do _not_ understand!), and we lack the marketing clout to force them.
Dell, Hp /et al/ have that clout. A simple decision - only use hardware for which full specs are available - would force the manufacturer's hands. The developers of xorg, linux, BSD etc would use that to produce full support, and everyone would have a real choice. The companies would not have to pay the MS tax, MS would have an incentive to actually make their products useable, DRM would take a heavy thwacking as people can choose not to have it.

Ah, a perfect world. Well, I can dream, can't I?

Unrelated to Linux

[DogDude]

This is particular unrelated to Linux, especially since I'd wager a lot of money that Windows goes on 90% of these machines after they're sold. I may very buy some of these guys so I can use my "old" Windows 2000 licenses.

Testing, testing, 1 ... 2 ..... 3.

[wamman]

If they are just strapping in an unformatted hard drive, how do they do any QC? Is the POST sufficient to guarantee all the components are good and installed correctly?

I'm sure anyone installing *NIX is capable of re-seating boards and the like, but it still has to cost Mr. Dell money to do the replacement part thing, right?

Re:This isn't "open source" computers...

[Thusi02]

That is true. That giving a PC without an OS is not opensource. However, on the positive side if a user buys a machine without an OS on it, he/she is not going to spend the retail value to buy the Windows operating system (hopefully). Instead they will either choose to use one of the free operating systems Or... they will tap into the pirated market and install a pirated version of Windows. This will ofcourse increase the current 22% of North America having pirated copy.

I feel that dell is a powerful seller of PC's. This move will give room for the Linux market (hopefully). Thus back to the original posting, it could lead to increase in opensource product use.

Cheers,
Thusjanthan Kubendranathan

Re:This isn't "open source" computers...

[Anonymous Coward]

I would actually recommend buying an unformated pc like this and installing a retail version of windows xp for the best user experience. All these cheap computers from Dell, HP, etc... come bundled with so much crap that your computer runs much slower than it should right out of the box. Norton I'm looking right at you!!! Uninstalling some of this worthless software can cause lots of problems with these systems. You don't even get a clean WinXp disk for repairs and reinstalls. No, they have backup disks and/or partitions that reload all the same crap that you spent half a day uninstalling. Of course this will only be necessary if you have to reinstall, which you will with any of the big manufacturer's systems. I'm sorry to rant here. I build my own systems and don't have an issue. However, like many of you I spend lots of time helping out the poor unfortunates who bought that e-machines for $250 with a $250 rebate. Hmmm...why did my cd burner go out? I dont' know, maybe because it was free!

Re:This is not news.

[Web Goddess]

My gut response is, "Asswipe! Just becuz you have the mojo to build your own, do you expect every Linux user to build her own?" Good for you, AW, but for Linux to continue to build market share, it needs to be available pre-installed. This may be old news, but it certainly is good news.

Re:This is not news.

[acidrain69]

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Assembling a computer from scratch allows the owner to be familiar with what went into it, and more importantly, set it up exactly how they will want it. It is an investment in your future productivity with that machine. If you buy a pre-built one, you are going to have to transfer old stuff onto it anyway. It doesn't take that long to install linux. Or Windows, for that matter, although I haven't had to wrestle with Microsoft and their validations yet.

For my personal machine(s), I build from scratch wherever possible. Yeah, if I need a palette-load of computers for something, I get Dell do do a small or medium business build, get the warranties on everything, and let them fix it when something breaks (even though I am capable of doing it myself, fixing a general office computer is a waste of my time).