Time to step up the game Linux lovers!

[davemc]

There are two things going on here and both are really behind the scenes for the most part. One is that Dell (regardless of how you feel about the company) has made a really seriously bold and market shattering move by deciding to preinstall Linux on any of thier Desktops. This has such a huge impact in so many area's. If they fail at this, because the Linux comunity turns an elitist eye on them at thier hour of need, it will set mainstream Linux back 10 years or more because no distributor will touch a dead horse (if that is what this turns out to be). The next major thing going on here is the Linux vs. M$ worldwide struggle. When I say "Linux", I mean the entire Open Source, FSF, GPL, thing to boot because its all part and parcel. If M$ succeeds in marginalizing Dells efforts here, and you can bet your bottom $ that they are going to throw every dirty trick in the book at this, then the M$ market share will not just grow, but other entities such as Government agencies and businesses who are sitting on the fence now, may, and most likely will begin to view Linux as unsuitable for thier needs as well and stick with M$ even buying new Vista support options. But thats just looking at this from the top down. There are many more subtle issues there that will crop up either way.

[random guy]

davemc why dont you turn this into a poll and see how people at large feel about buying a system. as i can see it there are only 2 real opinions here

1) i would buy a dell system with linux preinstalled to support linux
or
2) i would rather ignore that linux is preinstalled for better quality hardware

my opinion is number one becuase if dell gets enough popularity with this linux will eventually be shipping on those better quality systems too. i have dell machines and had told myself never again will i get a dell but would be willing to buy again for linux (when i need a new system).