__/ [ Peter ] on Tuesday 28 February 2006 08:24 \__
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>>
>> If Dell made the choice to invest in and offer Linux, I believe the plan
>> is for a staged, gentle phasing. Perhaps Linux offers will sooner or later
>> percolate to the front page. The question is: which will the chair break
>> the camel's back and lead to tensions?
^^^
[grammatical soup]
> I think there is a quiet little standoff there. Dell wants to loosen
> Microsoft's grip on the desktop, but for the time being is dependent on
> Microsoft software to sell most of its computers. ...
Under normal circumstances, there should be nothing to prevent /any/ hardware
vendor from using Microsoft Windows, unless the vendor deliberately defames
or defaces it in the process.
In reality, Dell must have some kickback agreements which Microsoft, on which
Dell depend in order to keep unit costs down. That is why the Linux
workstation is sold for virtually the same price as a machine with Windows
and the Open PC (black hard-drive) is *more* expensive than one with Windows
XP.
> ... Dell will therefore push
> the boundary as far as it dares, knowing that Microsoft is acutely aware of
> anti-trust action. At some point Dell will be able to thumb its nose at
Dell depend on public opinion, expectation, and demand too. If Dell began
giving the wide(r) audience a taste of Linux and even advertised it on TV,
request for Linux would soon become overwhelming. That's when Dell can
become independent from Red Hat (or Novell), as well as Microsoft. They can
remain a hardware vendor and use a bastardised (fatherless) Linux
distributions, if not adopt and nurture their own (think Goobuntu).
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