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posted by mrpg on Friday November 17 2017, @05:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the but-isn't-it-free? dept.

Dude, you're gettin' a Dell!

The whole juggernaut that is now Linux on Dell started as the brainchild of two core individuals, Barton George (Senior Principal Engineer) and Jared Dominguez (OS Architect and Linux Engineer).

It was their vision that began it all back in 2012. It was long hours, uncertain futures and sheer belief that people really did want Linux laptops that sustained them. Here is the untold story of how Dell gained the top spot in preinstalled Linux on laptops.

[...] This first attempt at Linux on laptops failed mainly because most non-technical users were blinded by the cheap price and didn't understand what they were actually buying.

[...] This time the duo had the right initial market. It was big, commercial web-scale operators and their developers who were crying out for a fully supported Linux laptop.

People who do technical work, like Linux. People who don't, don't.


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by frojack on Friday November 17 2017, @06:23PM

    by frojack (1554) on Friday November 17 2017, @06:23PM (#598288) Journal

    Seriously? Juggernaut?

    They STILL hide their Linux models, the still sell very few in comparison to windows, and they still act like you are from Mars if you ask for tech support.
    Even their XPS line, which was their Linux breed only hints at linux availability with pictures of penguins. You can only select Windows 10. You gotta dig to find the linux models.

    They are slightly more forthcoming with availability of drivers (but they seldom maintain them).

    Mostly the linux models amount to Dell choosing components where there is community supported drivers (good for them - but no real support from Dell).

    I've probably installed 10 or 15 Dell rack mount servers that came with linux installed over the years. I then learned to just buy them with freeDOS (because of their stupid agreement with microsoft to never sell a machine without an operating system). Why? Because I could never trust THEIR installation. I never found any instance of Dell malware on the machines, (charitably excluding dell "service and support" portals). Rather their linux installs were just full of brain dead stupid installation choices. Services running and ports open for no reason.

    I was going to have to fetch my own install media and do it over anyway, why buy anything pre-installed from dell.

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