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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.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday November 17 2017, @07:36PM (4 children)
I'd be happy to get a laptop for free that's full of crapware and ads and even sends all my private data off somewhere. Why would you not want this?
In short, what kind of Linux user uses the OS that's pre-loaded by the manufacturer? Crapware and spyware doesn't matter when you just wipe the HD as soon as you get the computer and install a better distro.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday November 17 2017, @08:37PM (2 children)
It depends on whether the "Ubuntu" option is the same price as the "FreeDOS" option. If I'm going to wipe the preinstalled OS first (which I am), then FreeDOS may be the actual choice I want.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday November 17 2017, @08:44PM
Yeah, if the FreeDOS option cost more, why would you pay for that if you're going to wipe the HD anyway? In fact, hypothetically speaking, if you could get the exact same laptop with Windows preloaded for $100 less, why bother with those more expensive options? Just to prevent MS from getting a license fee (which effectively is being paid by the crapware vendors, plus an additional kickback to you)?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2017, @10:56PM
OTOH, if it ships with Linux, you can check to see that all the hardware is supported under Linux before paving over the pre-installed distro.
N.B. Yeah, this is pretty ancient lore.
Most whitebox vendors have learned to just avoid hardware manufacturers who won't support Linux properly.
(Some years back, AMD muffed a quarter-billion dollar contract because they didn't offer Linux drivers.)
The partitions are probably already ext4 as well.
.
Heh. The thing that amused the hell out of me was when the vendors would pay to have their crapware installed on Windoze boxes then, after collecting that fee, the whitebox vendors would offer a de-crapped box to consumers^W suckers for an additional fee.
.
FTFS: People who do technical work
...in addition to those who don't want to paste a new layer of security^W band-aids on their OS weekly^W daily^W hourly.
...nor wait until the 2nd Tuesday of next month for patches
...nor defrag.
It's been quite a while since I had to maintain a Windoze box.
I may have (gratefully) forgotten some of the nonsense that I had to tolerate back in the day.
It took several years for them to catch up, but I understand that MICROS~1 now offers virtual desktops (multiple workspaces).
I liked those from the 1st day I used Linux.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @03:22PM
Reminds me of the punchline to an old joke: "We've established that you'll prostitute yourself. Now we're simply negotiating the price."