Dell Joins Countdown to Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

It’s time to give Dell a little credit, folks. By agreeing to offer Ubuntu on selected systems earlier this year, the company has opened itself up to a flood of ideas from passionate Linux users. In fact, the Dell IdeaStorm website remains flooded with thousands of Ubuntu-focused comments from the Linux community. And Dell itself continues to prepare for Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, the next major upgrade from Canonical.

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Ubuntu Backlash Begins

Take a niche operating system. Put it in the spotlight vs. Microsoft’s disappointing Windows Vista. Hype the niche operating system for a few months. Win a business deal with Dell. And at some point all that wonderful buzz will produce expectations that you can’t meet. Such is the case, apparently, with Ubuntu.

Update: Dell’s Ubuntu Strategy

So far, so good. That statement sums up Dell’s current desktop Linux strategy, which focuses heavily on the Ubuntu operating system

from Canonical. Even so, Dell representatives are careful not to hype the machines. Here’s why.

“You’ve got to crawl before you can walk and run,” says John Hull, a Linux OS development manager at Dell. “We’re still at the crawling stage with consumer [Linux] systems.” As a result, speculation about Dell preparing an Ubuntu marketing campaign appears premature.

Get to Know Parallels

You might recall that I’ve got both a MacBook Pro (running Mac OS) and a Dell PC (running Ubuntu). I’m in the market for another PC, and just received a friendly reminder from the PR folks at Parallels — the company that makes virtualization software for Mac hardware. One of my PR sources at Parallels tells me that the company has sold 650,000 licenses for the virtualization software over the past year. And as I work at trade shows and conferences, I can’t help but notice all the Mac users who leverage Parallels for Windows and Linux virtualization.

Easy Way to Install Ubuntu

Here’s an interesting post from PCMechanic, describing how to easily install Ubuntu. But I’ve got to be honest: Ease-of-install isn’t going to make-or-break Ubuntu. We need to see Dell and other PC vendors start to put a few marketing dollars behind Ubuntu, promoting the fact that you can get systems with Ubuntu pre-installed. Dell’s decision to pre-install Ubuntu was the tipping point that made me leave Windows.

Dell Prepping Ubuntu Ad Campaign?

Sure, Dell Inc. sells desktop and mobile PCs with Ubuntu Linux preinstalled. But will the company actually advertise those systems? Such a move would stun Microsoft Corp., which had expected 2007 to be the year of Windows Vista. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that Dell is taking a look at a potential Ubuntu ad campaign.

50 Things You Need to Know About Ubuntu (20-11)

Here’s part four of The VAR Guy’s five-part countdown, highlighting 50 trends and takeaways from the Ubuntu Live conference in Portland, Oregon. Items 20-11, with the final chapter of our list to follow soon…