Ars Technica: Why Dell and Other Major Hardware Vendors Won’t Do Desktop Linux Preinstallation

“Dell’s recent IdeaStorm experiment reveals increasing demand
for Linux and open-source software on the desktop. Since that time,
Dell has said that it is still not committed to selling laptops and
desktops with Linux preinstalled for the general consumer and small
business markets. At the present time, Dell offers select
Dimension, Optiplex, and Precision desktop computers without
operating systems. Dell also offers three precision workstation
models with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4. But for a multitude of
pragmatic, ideological, and economic reasons, it is unlikely that
Dell will expand desktop Linux preinstallation support to a broader
selection of the company’s offerings in the near future…”

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