Is the Dell/Microsoft Alliance Fracturing?

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/29/0154242' target='_blank'>http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/29/0154242</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Dell has historically been the most loyal of all Microsoft's partners. Even today, it is very difficult to avoid paying the Microsoft tax on most of Dell's desktops and notebooks. Recently, two things have made the news where Dell is not toeing the Microsoft line. First, was the announcement that Dell is trialling shipping desktop and notebook PCs in the UK with Firefox as the default browser, instead of IE (announcement confirmed here). Today we have news that Dell is not going to support HD-DVD, despite reported incentives that recently induced HP to do so. So, what are some theories as to why Dell has lately been less of a friend to Microsoft, and what does this mean for the future? Does it mean that it might soon become possible to order Dell's full line of personal systems with Linux installed, or no OS/FreeDOS to save the Microsoft tax?"</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Dell.jpg" /> <br /><br />Linux, by it's very design, will never reach the commercial marketability that Windows XP has in today's PC marketplace. The standardized experience Microsoft offers simply cannot be duplicated by an open source Operating System with few interface design standards. Although IBM has offered Linux to some of it's corporate customers, it also offers a "total package" IT solution, which makes supporting a non-MS OS practical. Corporate IT customers who are just buying black boxes want a standardized OS that they're familiar with. The economic reality doesn't support such theories. Saying that Dell's support of Blu-Ray means that we'll soon see Linux powered Dell PCs is a huge stretch.

[Suhit Gupta]

I think it might be a little premature to say that the relationship is breaking apart. Dell already has some very thin margins and they are only offering more and more competitive rates so we may just be seeing another set of options that Dell is going to expose to end users so they can save money.

Suhit

[Mr. MacinTiger]

Here's a thought for you:

Dell dumps MS and goes Apple! :)

[Felix Torres]

&lt;to the tune of the Hallelujah chorus> Wish-full thinking!! Wish-fill thinking! Pipe dreams and wish-full thinking...

Plain fact: Dell has been selling Linux boxes upon request for years.
They *used* to offer a choice between several pairs of models (one with win2K and one with Linux) but discontinued it because:
1- There wasn't much demand for the Linux boxes vs the windows boxes which drove the per unit support costs sky-high, which meant
2- The Lunix boxes were $50-100 more expensive than the windows boxes.

Nowadays, Dell will simply bundle the price of a RedHat package and let RedHat do the OS service and support.

With 98% of Dell revenues coming from Windows boxes, they have absolutely zero incentive to switch. HD-DVD support? It'll come.
dell just happens to be *very* conservative on Hardware andclet others blaze the trail; they were fashionably late to Pdas and MCEs and are staing out of tablet PCs until the market gets bigger. And tablet PCs outsell desktop Linux and Macs, so Dell is not about to dabble in either.

Again: wishful-thinking...
Now, we return to our regularly scheduled programming...

[Dodo]

I don't know what you're smoking here. Sure Gates and company may not be happy with any firefox distribution or Linux adoption on Dell machines. But what about XP Media Edition? Dell seems to be shipping that baby on every box they send out the door!!!