Dell's Linux hardware support plans good news for desktop Linux
In a blog entry today, Dell has revealed new technical details that provide insight into the company's Ubuntu Linux preinstallation plans. Dell will offer a default Ubuntu installation on select systems that it says will have …
Context & Ripple Effects
The road here ran through customer feedback and Canonical: after Dell launched IdeaStorm in February 2007 and drew overwhelming requests for Linux on desktops and notebooks, it committed on May 1 to ship Ubuntu 7.04 on select consumer systems with Canonical as partner. Mark Shuttleworth had already made the case publicly in March that pre-installation, not installation polish, was the real barrier for desktop Linux.
Today's Direct2Dell post adds the layer that makes or breaks an OEM Linux SKU: which drivers are covered, what software ships by default, and which hardware is qualified. That matters because a preloaded distribution only helps buyers if the machine's components actually work out of the box — precisely the qualification work Shuttleworth argued OEMs were positioned to absorb.
First-order effects
- Buyers of the selected Dell systems get a default Ubuntu 7.04 install on hardware Dell has itself qualified, shifting the driver-testing burden from the customer to the OEM.
Second-order effects
- Component vendors whose parts land in those Ubuntu SKUs now have to keep Linux drivers current to stay in Dell's supported configurations, and rival OEMs face visible proof — via IdeaStorm demand — that a Linux catalog line is commercially testable.
Third-order effects
- If the model holds, desktop Linux's gatekeeper becomes the OEM qualification process rather than the installer's skill: distributions compete to be the preloaded default, and 'works on my machine' gives way to vendor-certified hardware lists as the standard for retail Linux.
The trend: PC makers are moving from Windows-only catalogs toward OEM-qualified Linux SKUs wherever structured customer-demand channels make that demand impossible to ignore.