Could this be signs of a move away from MS :)

More of MS losing monopoly.

sweet!

this should be a much needed boost for linux

they probabley should have gone with a better distro than ubuntu but still its a step in the right direction.

Does anyone know the difference in price between one with the MS license and one without? I think it's silly that they are pre-installing Ubuntu but not offering a no-OS option... Even I'd rather do a fresh install of Kubuntu over the GNOME-based Ubuntu plus package-finding...

Anyways, I just bought a MacBook and am very happy with it :)

I think this is definitely good for Linux. With more Linux systems out there, more people will develop software for Linux, which will give consumers even more incentive to buy Linux systems.

This is definately a good thing, I really think Microsoft needs more competitors in the OS market in order for Microsoft to price their products in a more customer friendly way and also make more creative unique choices on some of their products. Hopefully this will lead to a widespread knowledge of what Linux is, because as we all know not alot of people know about Linux. Hopefully this will open Linux up to more users, I mean even though it's Dell I think it's a good start.

Originally posted by nonoitall:

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With more Linux systems out there, more people will develop software for Linux, which will give consumers even more incentive to buy Linux systems.

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For a majority of users, Ubuntu Linux already offers a huge repository of quality free software, easily installed with just a few mouse clicks, enabling users to do more things with their pc than they would have time to do those things.
Some of the software is as good as its commercial equivalents, some i like more.
There are some windows only software i would like to see come to Linux natively, some software can still be installed in Linux. Overall i'am very happy with software support on Linux.
In all honesty, I find the software available in the Ubuntu repositories much more helpful than the software (you need to search the web for) on windows. It is also quicker and easier to install software on Ubuntu compared to Windows.

Quite often i wasn't too impressed with commercial software, finding it hard to see the value. Commercial software often becomes very restrictive, due to licence agreements and closed source, patent protect technologies. Compatibility between vendors software can be an issue due to this restrictive nature.
Choosing the correct repositories in Ubuntu, you can install completely free (free as in beer and in speech) software with no restrictive license agreement and best of all the source code is completely open to tinker with and improve for the benefit of all users or just yourself. Applications work well with each other and often provide good functionality due to supporting open technologies and standards.
I have been able to play all video and audio formats i've come across, i can watch/record tv, i can surf the net, buy off ebay, watch video on youtube etc, edit my home movies/photos, rip CD's/DVD's, convert audio/video formats, record & mix music, web design, graphic design, 2d/3d animation, play more games than i have time to play, it's good enough for me, i'm overwhelmed by the volume of software available.
I have found Ubuntu to be a mature and highly stable OS. I have had software crashes and other issues as you do with technolgy so it hasn't always been smooth sailing but overall its a reliable system with great functionality.
i used Ms OS's for 10 years before trying out various Linux distro's on my notebook 8 months ago. 6 months ago i installed Ubuntu 6.10, i used it until a month after 7.04 was released before i upgraded using the update manager found in Ubuntu. after upgrading i found that some issues i had were fixed. I would say that most problems were self inflicted from being a newbie. I chose to go deep into the runnings of this Linux OS, to see how it works, to understand it and to customise it, i made some mistakes and i screwed up bad sometimes leaving me with no Desktop/GUI to work with, i even stuffed it so bad it wouldn't boot. I fixed it each time and I found pretty much all solutions to each problem on the Ubuntu forums and i haven't had to post a question, so far, so good.
I knew i had broken things from my newbie linux adventures, so i decided to reinstall the new Ubuntu 7.04. I had put my /home directory on a separate hdd partition, so it was easy to format my root partition and install a fresh 7.04. When i booted for the first time i was welcomed to a desktop which pretty much looked as it did before the new install. The default applications retained all personal settings and my personal data was still intact. Re-installing extra software that i used, i noticed that personal settings were still intact. All personal data and personal settings are stored on your /home partition, if you never format it, you will retain them both after each re-install, that is if you need to re-install. this saves an incredible amount of installation time. also Ubuntu has software pre-installed which will work for most users everyday tasks. If you buy a Ubuntu system through Dell, you'll be assured complete hardware compatibility. It should appeal to many people.
If you use only the pre-installed software and keep the /home partition separate from the rest, you won't need to install any software, customise, install themes/skins/wallpapers or restore your personal data after a re-install.

Newbies can use it and power users will enjoy its flexibility and open source code.

Never are you obliged to pay for the software, but giving up a small donation to the developers is always welcomed, as this helps development continue to grow and keeps the software free.

I have no pirated software installed and i have a much more productive system for multimedia tasks, plus it was far quicker to set up the whole system the first time and even faster after re-installing compared to Windows.

Originally posted by fungyo:

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If you buy a Ubuntu system through Dell, you'll be assured complete hardware compatibility.

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I think this is the most important factor of the new Dell offer. It was sometimes hard to find proper Linux drivers to every piece of hardware in a computer, especially laptops. It seems to be fixed for Dell anyway, which is good. :)

FINALLY!!! There's absolutely no way I'll ever buy a box with Vista installed, so I'm starting to look at other OSs.

I read on another site that the Ubuntu computers come as $50 off, that's really not a good deal at all.

Not a good deal? I'd pay to NOT have Vista on my system (OK I haven't got it anyway, but you know what I mean. Dell will be first on my visit list when my old lappie buys the farm.

Well, good deal is subjective. If you are going to dual boot and don't have a key for Windows, $50 is a very good deal as it will cost you at least $250 to get a legit copy. If you are going to run Linux exclusively, then I suppose it's a better deal than paying for a license you won't use.

Apparently MS charges $90 for the OEM license, so Dell apparently is pocketing $40, making it a pretty poor deal.

And yes, Vista is shit, but AFAIK it is not very hard to still get a notebook with XP, or custom-build one with no license whatsoever. Ubuntu is not a bad build, but I would personally prefer a fresh install of either Kubuntu or Mandriva One, both of which I was able to install driver-hassle-free on my old ThinkPad R51.

I've got to agree, I also would pay extra to not have Windows Vista installed.

I would love to have been a fly on the wall of the Microsoft boardroom when they heard of this announcement.