Dell Says High Linux Netbook Returns a "Non-Issue" 324
Michiel Roos notes that at this week's OpenSource World, a Dell executive deflated Microsoft's claims that Linux notebooks have return rates four or five times higher than Windows machines. "Todd Finch, Dell senior product marketing manager, said the number of Linux returns are approximately the same as those for Windows netbooks. He categorized the matter of returns as a 'non-issue.' 'They are making something of nothing,' he said of Microsoft's claims."
Summary (Score:5, Informative)
Essentially most of the initial high return rate was due to unclear advertising leading people to believe they were buying a window machine and getting linux. Dell has cleared up the advertising to make sure people know what they are buying and the high return rate has stopped.
Not Surprised.. (Score:5, Informative)
ASUS said the same thing about the EeePC return rates [laptopmag.com].
As far as I can tell, the "higher return rates" source is MSI, who shipped a borked distro. Everyone else seems to be doing swimmingly.
Re:in your face microsoft! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Playing with words (Score:5, Informative)
From TFA:
So technically the article says return rate. Earlier the (very short) FA talked about the number of returns being the same but I believe that the explicit mention of rate clears up any possible ambiguity. A marketing manager might easily use the word number when he meant numbers or rate but his use of return rate seems completely unambiguous.
Re:Playing with words (Score:3, Informative)
Microsoft's Turner said that Linux netbooks are being returned at a rate 4 to 5 times higher than Windows netbooks. Dell hasn't disputed this fact at all. Linux netbooks *are* being returned at a very high rate, and Dell's Finch says so right in the article:
The difference is that people are returning the Windows netbooks because of technical reasons (broken hardware) and Linux netbooks because they don't want Linux.
That's a win for Microsoft, no matter how you spin it.
From TFA: "we don't see a significant difference between the return rate for Windows versus the rate for Linux." So, yes Dell has disputed Microsoft's assertion. A return rate 4 to 5 times higher would be a significant difference.
So, it is not a win for Microsoft, no matter how you spin it.
Re:IdeaStorm's Top Ideas (Score:5, Informative)
You say that, but did you look at the numbers on that page? The OpenOffice recommendation has more than 100,000 upvotes. Why would 100,000 people who don't care show up on Dell's webpage to click on that arrow?
Before your misinformation gets too far, a little clarification, Dell's IdeaStorm increments by 10 for each vote, meaning it has received 10,000 upvotes, not 100,000.
Re:It does not matter (Score:5, Informative)
What we should do, is to focus our efforts on make Linix and OSS technologies relevant to the average human being....Lets work on these so that if one takes the Linux plunge, that person gets pleasantly surprised.
Have you looked at one of the Dell netbooks with Linux on it? We bought two Mini-9's for testing where I work; I got one, and one of the other network admins got the other. The things are awesome, except for a couple of minor gripes:
1) A couple of tools that I expected (sshd, slocate, rsync) aren't available on the install or the on-line package repository, since it's a slightly lobotomized Dell-specific version of Ubuntu that's installed on the Mini-9;
2) The software update site that Synaptic syncs from worked for about a month, then stopped working (I haven't bothered to call Dell to ask what happened, but I probably should so I can keep the OS updated);
3) It occasionally will not resume after suspending.
Item one problem won't matter to most users; just network geeks like myself. Item two is probably the biggest problem, but like I said, I haven't tried to contact Dell to see why synaptic/apt-get update/etc. can no longer connect to the update server. Item three also happens on my wife's Vista laptop, so doesn't seem to be a differentiating characteristic of Linux over Windows.
On the other hand, the wireless (typically a weakness for Linux distros in my experience) is rock solid, quickly and easily connecting to wireless networks with no fuss and no hassle...very much unlike the wireless on my wife's Vista laptop, which frequently can't find wireless networks, won't stay connected in cases where it does, and/or provides mind-numbingly slow transfer rates when it can connect. Setting up network printers is again far easier and more reliable than the printer setup on my wife's Vista laptop, which has to be reconfigured every single time she reboots. As far as multimedia...I can play DVDs on my Mini-9, I can watch YouTube videos. As far as Firefox and Open Office...on Linux "suck[ing] big time", well...FF may be somewhat slower to run JavaScript and OOo may not have *all* the features or be as pretty as MS Office, but I'll take standards-compliant FF over IE and free OOo with all its faults over MS' $500 price tag and freaking annoying "ribbon" interface any day.
In other words, I think the FOSS/Linux community has done a great deal to make Linux and OSS technologies relevant to the average human being. I see FOSS/Linux as pretty good already and getting even better, but YMMV.
No, they don't suck. (Score:4, Informative)
To say that Firefox sucks is frankly pure spite.
Many of us are using OpenOffice and exchange files with MS only shops without any issues.
Audio support in Linux is quite good for most people. Amarok and Audacity cover most bases.
Video support is patchy, but each release of every video product gets better (there was a time WMV files were not supported, not you can play them out of the box).
Re:Troll? or data... you decide. (Score:1, Informative)
As a former employee, Macs seemed to be returned at a higher % than PCs. Macs were almost always returned for "My husband is a moron, this does not have Windows", whereas PCs were returned for "This $200 PC can not run Windows". Either way it was a win for BestTry as they charged a 15% restocking fee then sold them for 5% off...
Computers aren't just a tool. (Score:3, Informative)
The underlying political and economical issues at play are widely explained by proponents of the FOSS movement.
What is at play is the access to your own frigging data.
If you don't understand why this transcends the purely utilitarian nature of a computer and its software, then I can't help you....
Re:Same Number or Same percentage? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Troll? or data... you decide. (Score:3, Informative)
I used to think of it as "Returned because my pirated copy of Office doesn't work."
Maybe M$ is right (Score:1, Informative)
I worked at a common retail outlet until recently and I know for a fact around 80% of the linux netbooks we sold were returned. Perhaps people that order them from dell actually realize that they are buying a linux based system.
Re:in your face microsoft! (Score:5, Informative)
You're absolutely right about customers having to seek it out. Heck right there in the article they basically say that when they subtract the people who are returning the netbooks because it isn't windows, then the returns are a non-issue.
Which is why I think it's such a shame that you go on to invalidate your otherwise perfectly reasonable point by perpetuating a worn-out, well-debunked meme.
At my local supercenter I wrote down brands and looked them up and was looking at barely 20% "supported", if you call doing a CLI voodoo dance for hours and barely getting half functionality support.
Since you don't bother to state what kind of devices you're talking about, I'll simply relate my experience. My mother's a 57-year-old computer illiterate. I put ubuntu on a machine for her to try out. Once in a while (maybe twice a year) she has to call me to ask what program she needs to do X. Her multi-function printer: worked out of the box, including scanning. Her ipod: worked out of the box. Her $5.00 keychain digital pictureframe: worked out of the plasticwrap. Her DSLR? works out of the box. Her HD video recorder: works out of the box. I haven't seen one single device touch her computer that failed to function on the first try, without her ever doing any "cli voodoo dance". She never does any research about whether stuff works with linux, she just goes and buys stuff and uses it. And she's getting a nice supply of new coasters from all the worthless driver discs that come with these products, that I've comfortably told her she can just ignore from here on out.
Re:It does not matter (Score:3, Informative)
I found upgrading the Dell Mini 9 to Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix [ubuntu.com] cleared up #3, and probably fixes 1 & 2, too.
(Granted, 9.04 Netbook Remix has a different alternative desktop than the one that comes with the Dell version of 8.04.)
Re:in your face microsoft! (Score:5, Informative)
Heh... As an exercise, I conducted a little experiment. I wanted to see if your claims were at all true...
First click: A search for "netbook" on dell's main page [dell.com]
Second click: The netbook product lineup main page [dell.com]
Third click: "Choose your mini" [dell.com]. At which point you're offered a choice between a blue one or a red one (A 10v or a 10) which lists Linux or Windows XP as the OS.
At which point you're into purchasing. Now... Oddly enough, there was only one choice which was clearly marked "Customize With Ubuntu"- but it's one of the ones you'd really, really want, whether you're doing Ubuntu or XP, unless you're unable to afford the extra $20-50 for the stock config on the price. Seriously.
As an observation, neither "Linux" nor "Ubuntu" was plugged into looking for this ephemeral "buried" netbook you're claiming- just "netbook".
Four.
Clicks.
And it was the same number if you were looking for a Linux preinstall or an XP one.
Sorry, you're neither correct nor insightful- and I wish the people that'd modded you up had bothered to do the same little experiment I did and didn't give you the time of day, any more than the discussion threads over at Linux Today gave you an inch on this stuff you're coming up with. Which, I might add, is verbatim what you posted over here.
Re:Playing with words (Score:4, Informative)
Re:in your face microsoft! (Score:1, Informative)
The loose ABI encourages open source drivers, which is a good thing for long-term hardware support. Which is part of the reason why Linux supports more devices than Windows, or any other OS.
The linux stays a niche problem will be solved by the "free as in beer" part given enough time. Linux is the platform of choice for embedded systems as well as high-power systems. So the reasons preventing it from not being dominant in the middle of the spectrum are cultural, not technical.
Still, as you are in the trenches selling the stuff, I trust your expertise. Just don't expect the situation to stay the way it is now forever. Cheap has always been the driving force in what dominates the PC market. Ask IBM. Or Microsoft, for that matter.
Re:Dell has dropped most Linux models (Score:5, Informative)
You [dell.com] are [system76.com] not [linuxcertified.com] looking [hp.com] hard [thelinuxlaptop.com] enough [mcelrath.org]. Please check at least the last link.
What Asus did wrong with the EEE (Score:3, Informative)
Everything worked okay, except the OS it shipped with had serious security holes. Especially with the ancient version of Samba. Last time I checked, they were never fixed. perimetergrid.com - asus eee pc and linux vmsplice vulnerabilities [perimetergrid.com].
Also the restore disk was a CD (The EEE doesn't have a CD drive), and it was MS Windows only (so you had to have a windows machine to use it). So if I did need to reinstall the OS my netbook came with for some reason, I would need not only a separate computer, but it has to be one running a MS OS. I do have other computers, but they all run Linux.
The drivers did not work with people's favorite distro because the hardware Asus chose wasn't compatible with Linux. For example, the Atheros wireless chipset wasn't open sourced until after Asus shipped their EEEs. The drivers were introduced into the 2.6.29 or .30 kernel. Most distros probably don't even have that version on their repositories today.
These are all things which asus did wrong. This isn't a reason not to ever buy from them, but if my choice was between a EEE and a netbook which didn't have these problems, I would choose the other netbook.
I just don't get why they never updated the kernel or samba.