rx7speed

I take it you never have worked for a large corperation that does any sort of work likethis. they train you for everything and they train in excess. so while you and I might think the install process is more or less just put the disk in and click install, companies on the other hand don't see it that way. chances are it's a week long training course to install linux and wouldn't surprise me if they hired people just for the linux install as it is a seperate program from windows.
then comes the extra training to support windows. unless dell is planning on installing linux on a computer but yet offer no software based support/warranty for the product. now how similar are windows and linux to support, troubleshoot, and fix? Either way even if they are the same large companies have to complicate things so it wouldn't really matter anyway but you wouldn't worry about it anyway as it is prolly as they will give you a training course anyway.

thealmightyone

You are forgetting that Dell has to provide SUPPORT (eg, technical and driver support) for Linux, which requires a lot of training.

nepas

I agree that the support staff will require training,however as for the installing of linux,that side of things requires no extra training whatsoever(if you dont believe me as a few people on here who work for dell in the uk)

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RonindeBeatrice

Seriously? They don't even install linux... I refuse to believe that there's some monkey on the assembly line that clicks next during the Ubuntu installation. More likely there's some monkey that pulls lever A for Windows and lever B for Ubuntu and lets the imaging software do all the work. It's not that hard to develop deployment images. If you think any Dell worker installs an OS you're kidding yourself.

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biatchi

Bingo

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Gexx

Oh man, imagine how bad the tech supports gonna be for Ubuntu hahaha

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Manyak

No they don't. They configure each computer model once then copy over the hard drive image to each unit sold. And they do it in bulk!

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DigitalSonata

An improvement over Windows only I suppose, but what I really want is a blank drive and a price to reflect that. I'm going to install Linux anyway, so why should I have to pay for Dell to install something (or pay for windows)?

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oronisi

They install windows like 1,000 times a day and have installed Ubuntou 0 times a day. It slows down their process so much that they are losing money. It's not about Ubuntu being free or harder to install (last time I installed it, it was comparable to an XP and Vista install), but that it's simply something different.

trueg50

It is very easy.

Dell does have to walk them through troubleshooting "is X or Y installed in this or that location". It will be a very annoying undertaking to support Ubuntu on laptops due to the wireless configuration being a royal pain.

I am surprised they chose Ubuntu over something like Suse (which seems to be the most Windows-like, and easier to use).

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