Dell: Linux v Windows netbook returns a ‘non-issue’
Demand (not technology) in question — Free whitepaper - The security implications of Web 2.0 — OpenSource World Dell has delivered a dose of reality for both Microsoft and the Linux community on the subject of netbooks.
Context & Ripple Effects
Dell's Linux line dates to its 2007 decision to offer Ubuntu, when Ars Technica's teardown of the pricing showed buyers paid roughly a $50 "Windows tax" to stick with Microsoft. That made returns data politically loaded: any evidence that Linux netbooks came back at higher rates would hand Microsoft an argument against preinstalled desktop Linux.
The backdrop for this week's intervention is HP UK pulling Linux from all new netbooks in February 2009, which fed reports that Linux netbooks were being returned in droves. Dell, speaking around its OpenSource World presence, is now disputing exactly that premise — framing the issue as demand for Linux netbooks generally, not technology or buyer regret.
First-order effects
- Dell publicly denies that high Linux-versus-Windows return rates exist, removing the strongest piece of evidence rivals and Microsoft could cite against shipping Ubuntu netbooks.
Second-order effects
- HP's February 2009 exit left Linux netbook availability resting largely on Dell; if Dell holds the line while demand stays soft, OEMs face a choice between keeping token Linux SKUs as community goodwill or quietly narrowing them as HP did.
Third-order effects
- The netbook episode is turning into a real-world test of the long-running 'year of Linux desktop' thesis (preached back in 2007) — with hardware makers' returns and demand data, not advocacy, becoming the arbiter of whether preinstalled desktop Linux survives on consumer PCs.
The trend: Netbook makers are shifting the Linux-desktop debate from ideology to retail economics, with returns and demand data deciding which OEMs keep shipping open-source SKUs.