When it came to Android, Technology Strategist Doug Anson
wasn't exactly coy in indicating that Dell was evaluating the OS for inclusion on its netbooks. He calls this time of OS intrigue, with Linux, Android, and WebOS gaining favor, a sort of "renaissance," saying: "These alternative operating environments are truly 'different' from the traditional Windows platform - they don't attempt to simply 'mimic' Windows" -- forgetting, perhaps, that the foundation of all of those alternatives was itself an attempt at mimicking various flavors of Unix. Anson says that while Dell is not ready to
sign on to Chrome OS just yet, it is evaluating it for future inclusion in its little mobile products, and goes on to say that the company is "very interested" in Intel's
Moblin, another lightweight Linux flavor and possible Chrome OS
competitor. Confused by all these disparate OS choices with similar goals? You're not alone, which is perhaps another reason why the
big two continue to dominate.
posted Jul 16th 2009 8:17AM
nice smile.
What's the next flavor of the week?
Dell should make a choice. Develop their own Linux distro and tie it to their hardware and make it easy for the end user to install and use with all the drivers and main codecs allready there like Mac OS or just stick to making Windows based machines like before.
It would take time and money but they could do it if they hired the right people. Just take a chance Dell and stop messing around.
adrian, I hope U joking now ... enough with 3000 different linux distros. Most of them are overcomplex and soccer mom will never buy it. Moblin is the only very promising OS out there for now for casual users, let's see if Google OS can deliver.
It doesn't matter if there are 50 million distros. That's he point of Linux.
Dell already has their own version of Linux. The Dell version of Ubuntu includes drivers not in vanilla ubuntu and a program launch dock thingy. The software is also older than those available in the latest Ubuntu.
Dell, and all manufacturers for that matter, should sell computers with no OS at all IMO :P
I sure hope Chrome OS looks to Xeroc PARC for inspiration. It's been over 40 years and we're still not quite here.
*here == http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/1968Demo.html
Dell would probably not be in business today if it didn't explore options like Linux, Ubuntu, and the newly announced Chrome OS. So in that sense, it's good to see evidence of them staying on top of things.
It makes you wonder how many things haven't made it off of the cutting room floor in the past though, and if Chrome OS will suffer the same fate or not.
"Dell would probably not be in business today if it didn't explore options like Linux, Ubuntu, and the newly announced Chrome OS."
LOL!
Yeah, I'm sure Dell would be right out of business today if they had never offered up Linux on their machines. You know, the operating system that resulted in their highest return rates. Makes perfect sense.
While Linux has had a negligible, and maybe even negative, effect on Dell's consumer sales, they have been offering non-Windows options on their servers for some time. You can get RHEL, Suse, or Solaris preinstalled on a Poweredge, or no OS at all. However, I doubt that Dell would change their consumer OS lineup without some fairly high demand for it after all the issues with people returning Linux-equipped Dells the last time they tried.
I want a world where I have a nice drop down lists of OSs to choose from when buying a computer. I hope we're moving in that direction.
A world of broad incompatibilities and general customer confusion...no, I think we're pretty much going to be living in a Windows/OSX land for the next 10 years or more.
Grammar police has apparently never enjoyed the wonderful world of non-Windows OSes.. or is too young to remember when even Windows was exciting and somewhat innovative.
Amen to that. I just want an option to buy a laptop without an OS. It's frustrating to see the list price on hardware and knowing that a part of that is for inferior software that I will never use.
"Grammar police has apparently never enjoyed the wonderful world of non-Windows OSes.. or is too young to remember when even Windows was exciting and somewhat innovative."
Yeah, if I like Windows I must either be a kid or have never tried another OS. You really believe that there is a "wonderful world" of operating systems that aren't OSX or Windows out there? If it's so wonderful, how come they are barely able to break a 1% market share when they are GIVING IT AWAY FOR FREE...?
I've tried several flavors of Linux, I've used OSX extensively, and believe it or not, I LIKE WINDOWS. I like the way it feels, I like the way it looks, I like the programs I've come to learn and love on it, I like the broad compatibility, and I like the fact that it won't take me an entire day to find a wireless driver for it. I don't want this to derail into a Linux/OSX/Windows debate, but try to avoid completely asinine comments if you can.
@Jorvay
I would like that too, if it brought down the price. Let the user pick their OS. But, I think they offset the cost of Windows with crapware. Symantec, Google, and others of the like pay top dollar to have their software bundled and promoted with every new PC.
@GP, you're right about the subsidies, though they typically don't fully cover the cost of OS.
I too would like to avoid a big, pointless OS argument as well, but you gotta admit, Windows' sustained popularity has more to do with familiarity and bundling than anything else. I sometimes wonder how much of an impact there would be if you had to buy your software separately from your hardware. I think the Linux market would get a lot bigger than 1% or whatever it is. As big as MS? Probably not (at least not for a long time). But a lot bigger than it is now.
Oh, and on a side note: wifi driver issues are mostly a thing of the past. One of the great things about open-source software is how fast it evolves once the opportunity is there (i.e. hardware manufactures release component specifications to the community). Just thought you'd like to know in case you're interested in trying another distro.
I'm not sure why Dell would be "very interested" in any flavour of Linux on their netbooks considering that consumers have clearly decided that they're not.
-or that Windows itself is a pastiche of...did...did I just say pastiche?
big two?
how much is OSX's share?
Big enough for me to enjoy it.
yeah, I was going to comment on that. I'm a Mac user [by choice, at home; Windows at work] but you'd have to be pretty critically misguided - maybe the sort of thing that comes from hanging out too often with the same type of people who also use Macs - to think the consumer success of OS X and Windows are even remotely comparable. They're absolutely not in the same league.
Big enough for your mom!
Seriously though, last I heard, they were hovering around the 8-9% mark.
Bring it on!!!!
Google won't fail us. I'm sure.
Chrome OS, Moblin, Ubuntu= yawn
Alternatives = exciting. The OS market has been far too stale, lacking in innovation. Apple's done some exciting stuff, but that's just one company. Windows has been relatively unchanged and boring for 15 year now. We need more alternatives.
There were a lot of changes in Vista. People complained about nearly all of them.
"Apple's done some exciting stuff, but that's just one company. Windows has been relatively unchanged and boring for 15 year now."
15 years? So if you compared Windows 7 to Windows 95, you would could call it "relatively unchanged?" And meanwhile, you say Apple has been doing "exciting stuff" in that same timeframe?
So... are you stupid or a troll?
this is exactly what is wrong with PC & Dell. While Apple has attractive looking men (gay or not gay) advertising for their products, Dell has a real technician doesn't matter how he looks like (he's not that ugly).
PC industry's marketing decision to not use attractive looking women or men in their ads should be their down fall deservingly.
This guy gets excited over everything.
GRAMMAR POLICE, I totally agree with you. There is tiny glitch here, this discussion is not about just another OS which competes with major OS out there. This is about simple clean browser/media player/fun toy. If it is as simple as XBOX360 then it can be the future for homes. If I look at my computer activity at home (not at work), it's really 90% web, 8% music/video, 2% photos I upload from my camera. I don't want tons of icons, C drive, antivirus, FAT32, widgets ... I don't want that. I want something I turn on and use. Like XBOX360 or WII
I really really like Moblin, it just needs to get out of alpha and easy to use 10+ hours on battery $200 netbook
This is a little off topic, but I just have to ask.
Has anyone ever in the history of mankind found the tag links scattered throughout stories useful? The only time I ever click on them is by accident when I'm trying to actually go to something useful. For example, in this story the link for "Moblin" goes to engadget's tag page for "moblin." This is not at all useful to anyone ever. I would much rather go to the Moblin website.
Although I get why they do it - for SEO purposes and site interlinking, it's counter-intuitive. I always forget that Engadget actually only ever links out to other sites in those little hidden "read" links at the bottom of a story... which is another issue entirely.