Lenovo polls users for Linux preferences

Lenovo's current forays into Linux-based laptops haven't exactly generated the excitement that the company may have hoped, but it doesn't look like it's giving up on the idea just yet, and it's now turning to its user base for advice. In a post on the official Inside the Box blog, Lenovo's Matt Kohut admits that the company has been "spending way too much time on the enterprise market and not enough on the enthusiast market," adding that "like other vendors we're trying to figure out what our strategy should be." To that end, Kohut asked readers of the blog which Linux distribution they'd most like to see supported on ThinkPads, providing an ample number of options to choose from. As you might have guessed, as of this writing, Ubuntu is the runaway leader, with well over 12,000 votes, compared to just over 3,000 for Debian (the next highest vote-getter). From the looks of it, however, the poll is open-ended, so all those Slackware fans out there still have time to get themselves organized.

[Via Digg]

[Graham @ Sep 10th 2007 1:23PM]

UBUNTU FTW!!
Its nice to see a company pursuing linux...other than Dull...sory I meant dell =P Who I would really like to see get linux would be HP, they have the best looking and preforming computers out there..in my oppinion. Either way its a good step, I cant wait to see linux based computers in the shopping adds right next to the windows. Who cares what distro.

[Ian @ Sep 10th 2007 1:24PM]

Ubuntu is the way to go these days. It's just the distro with the best chance of long-term viability. Fragmentation of the Linux world is both its greatest strength and a weakness.

[Froggy @ Sep 10th 2007 1:24PM]

Awesome. Maybe the entire driver support process gets some backing. Now that would be something to see.

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 10th 2007 1:58PM]

It's a great option for a lot of folks.

Nice to see choices.

[Bogdan @ Sep 10th 2007 2:03PM]

Lets hope that someday they'll make Photoshop that runs under Linux. Please, Adobe?

[John P @ Sep 10th 2007 2:08PM]

I switched my Thinkpad from Windows to Fedora (because my school uses it) about a year ago. From what I can tell, though I have not experienced ubuntu hands-on, Fedora is alot more work than ubuntu to keep stable and up-to-date. As Ian said, Ubuntu offers the longest viability of the linux distros. I'm glad that Lenovo is still pursuing linux, as I'd have that pre-installed on my laptop hands-down if I choose to buy another one anytime soon.

[Mr. Picklesworth @ Sep 10th 2007 4:16PM]

I agree. I would love to have Ubuntu on HP machines, because those ones are well stocked in computer stores.

There are a surprising number of people who, when looking for a computer, want to be able to read the text clearly. Linux may not have the greatest font rendering, but it completely blows away Mac OS and Windows for accessibility, all thanks to one capability: Flexible fonts. Both GTK and Qt (particularly GTK) allow for any window on the desktop to be smoothly resized thanks to their native use of containers. With that simple capacity (which also happens to ensure that every application is organized and pleasant to look at), we get a lot of usefulness. Another nice example is a handheld device switching between portrait and landscape mode completely seamlessly, thanks to native applications all using GTK for their widgets.

It would be fantastic if I could actually recommend and demonstrate a distro using Gnome, the next time somebody asks about resizing text. As it is, I instead have to choke back that suggestion (knowing that I couldn't follow up on it), and point out the completely half-assed alternatives in Mac OS and Windows; the magnifying glass or *shudder* changing the screen resolution.

[huh @ Sep 11th 2007 12:12AM]

I think (and hope) with higher resolution screens and an aging population, "resolution free" (fully scalable) desktops are the near future. Mac OS already has the option-scroll feature, which while a hack is very useful (which Compiz/Beryl emulates fairly well, but stupidly UMPCs don't consistently support). I didn't know that Gnome's desktop was so well designed, that could work in its favour.

[Yo @ Sep 11th 2007 4:23AM]

Considerably more interesting, the list also includes last minute additions from guests. One of those is already in third, with more than half the votes that Debian has thus far garnered. "Anyone that refuses to carry binary-only drivers, so that all others will also benefit, as it will require documented hardware."

[wilkmd @ Sep 11th 2007 5:32AM]

Can't believe people still think Lunix will save the world. It's crap. It alway will be. Get used to it.

[malcolm @ Sep 18th 2007 1:49AM]

Looking forward to Notebooks pre-loaded with Linux here in Australia.

[docsharp01 @ Mar 31st 2008 9:44PM]

Excellent article and comments about Lenovo.
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