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Dell has been somewhat slow in adopt new versions of Ubuntu. Currently, most of Dell’s Ubuntu computers offer 8.04, which was the last long term support release. Dell has changed their minds, though, at least for netbooks, which will soon offer 9.04, the latest release.
Previously, Dell had said they planned to use only the LTS (long term support) releases, since they are supposed to be more stable and are updated and given support for a much longer period of time. It is not yet clear if the decision to upgrade all netbooks to 9.04, which is not an LTS release, will also apply to any other Ubuntu computers.
Dell’s policy on Ubuntu versions has been, and remains to be, confusing. The official word has been that they would stick to 8.04 until the next LTS arrived. The Inspiron 15n, though, currently ships with 8.10. Now it looks like some of the computers will ship with 9.04. In other words, Dell will be supporting three different versions of Ubuntu.
Would you like your notebook in pink or with Windows?
I have sort of a love-hate relationship with Dell. On one hand, I appreciate that they occasionally sell Ubuntu machines, but I am really sick of their avaliability games. The number of avaliable computers, and the options that go with them, changes randomly from day to day. For new readers, I am not a fan of these variations. Today, the selection has moved from annoying to almost comical.
If Dell did as much market research as asking one person, they could learn that people buying their Ubuntu computers are very largely:
- Tech-savvy,
- Smart,
- And male
Given these attributes, why on earth do you make your two non-netbook computers a laptop that costs about $60 more than the Windows version and a semi-discontinued laptop that comes in exactly one color: pink.
I’d be great if Linux users, and technologically-centered people in general, were more balanced in gender, and I believe we are getting there, but the reality is that Linux geeks are still mostly male. Heck, I’m not even sure if it has to do with gender. There is nothing wrong with pink, but I’m not sure I know anyone, male or female, who would actually buy a pink primary computer. How many Linux geeks do you know who love pink?
Of course if you don’t want a pink computer, you can of course buy the Insipron 15n, which offers a range of colors. Unfortunatley, you pay an extra $60 or so to have Ubuntu pre-installed. Since the vast majority of potential buyers are tech-savvy and reasonably smart, why wouldn’t they just buy the Windows version and install Ubuntu?
The bottom line: market research fail.
Dell has begun shipping their Studio XPS 13 with Ubuntu 8.10, though the option seems to be appearing and disappearing from their website.
Two things are notable about this particular model with Ubuntu. First, Dell has opted for Ubuntu 8.10, rather than 8.04, making this the second model to get 8.10. This is interesting, because Dell very recently said they were going to stick with Ubuntu 8.04, since it is more stable. Still, I don’t mind seeing a newer version, though I do wish they would standardize on one version.
Second, instead of listing the Ubuntu version only on the special Ubuntu page, Ubuntu is an option, like with Dell’s netbooks, on the normal Studio XPS 13 page. This is great, since it means that Dell is putting Ubuntu where more people will see it, but I don’t understand why it isn’t also listed on the page that lists all the Ubuntu computers. This could just be a technical glitch, as I’m sure the appearance and disappearance of the Studio XPS with Ubuntu is, but I am running out of patience for website glitches with Dell.
It’s good to see another computer from Dell offered with Ubuntu, but I can’t help wondering why the 16″ version didn’t get the same option or why you can’t find it on the list of Ubuntu computers?
Even when Dell just offered Ubuntu 8.04 on all of their systems, I suggested that it would make sense to update to the latest version. I checked their ever-changing selection of Ubuntu computers again, only to discover that the Ubuntu versions make even less sense.
Three out of the four computers currently available with Ubuntu have Ubuntu 8.04, just as it has been for over a year. One computer, though, now comes with Ubuntu 8.10. This change really doesn’t make any sense to me for the following reasons:
- Using different versions of Ubuntu on different computers is bound to create confusion.
- If one of your computers is going to have a more recent version, why not the most recent version, which would be 9.04?
- Releasing each computer with whatever Ubuntu release is most convenient is a horrible strategy, since it will lead to at least two or three versions around at the same time, each of which is slightly different than the others.
It would make so much more sense just to update all of the comptuers to the very latest version, rather than spreading different versions around. This move could cause a lot of confusion and is going in completely the opposite direction of Dell’s earlier announcement.
Finally the OS juggling games can stop and we can just have Ubuntu and Windows options on all of Dell’s computers from now on. Well, all of their netbooks, that is. One of the most annoying things about Dell is their seemingly random decisions about what computers are going to be offered with what OS. Apparently, though, Dell realized how annoying this was.
Dell’s new policy is, apparently, that all of their netbooks will be offered with the exact same hardware with your choice of Ubuntu or Windows. You don’t have to worry about the model you want being Windows only anymore.
This makes so much more sense than confusing customers with all sorts of games. My only question is why it took so long. And when they will apply this policy to all of their computers.
Everyone was excited when Dell announced they would sell Ubuntu computers, but every since it has been a downhill road. For one thing, Dell keeps randomly changing their selection. Today they have four computers on their Ubuntu site, by the end of this week they might have 7. Between random website glitches and actual changes, you can’t predict what machines they will be selling when you check.
Another issue is that there are some out of the box issues with some of their computers. I haven’t tried competing Ubuntu laptops, but it seems like they could fix these problems instead of making users fix them.
Dell needs to look at Ubuntu again and decide if they want to be in or out of the game. Right now Microsoft hates them for offering Ubuntu and Linux-users hate them for messing it up. If Dell is going to sell Ubuntu machines, they should put a little more time into testing and keep their offerings constant.
Phoronix recently published an article arguing that Dell should start shipping a newer version of Ubuntu than the 8.04 LTS edition they are shipping now. Phoronix argued this point on the basis of performance, which has, apparently, improved dramatically, but there is another reason to stay up to date.
As with any operating system, the critical piece is the user experience. Hardware support must be seamless, the interface must be intuitive, and the software has to be compatible. These are some of the most important aspects of an operating system’s user experience and all three are usually upgraded with every new release.
In Ubuntu 8.10, tabbed browsing in Nautilus. a new user-switch applet, and a much-improved Network Manager were introduced. Then, in the upcoming Ubuntu 9.04, improved multi-screen support, the ability to import Outlook files easily in to Evolution, improved hibernate and suspend, and faster boot times were introduced. These features may seem trivial, but each adds a little bit to the user experience and is, thus, a worthy update.
By sticking with Ubuntu 8.04, Dell is passing up these improvements that have been made and giving their customers (or, rather, those who don’t upgrade) a slightly worse experience.
I find Dell’s half-hearted commitment to Linux as frustrating as everyone else. It took me forever to find the actual link on Dell’s site to their Ubuntu offerings (hint: they look exactly like Google AdSense sponsored links and it just says “open-source PCs”). Once you find it (or even if you use the direct link), you are greeted with a warning page about Ubuntu. Finally, to make matters worse, “Dell recommends Windows Vista” is plastered all over their site. Now it looks like at least some Dell representatives may be discouraging customers from Ubuntu.
For now, though, I would encourage everyone to ignore this. In the long term, it doesn’t really matter if a few customers are discouraged from buying a computer with Ubuntu. The important thing is that the out-of-the-box experience is as close to perfect as possible for those who do buy computers pre-installed with Ubuntu. Any reasonably intelligent person should be able to buy a computer with Ubuntu and have no problem getting started with it.
This means that you should not have to go to the terminal to set up the fingerprint reader and popular applications like Skype should be set up to work perfectly as soon as you install them. This, rather than getting Dell to recommend Ubuntu to people, should be the first priority, since it will, in the end, lead to more happy Ubuntu customers.
It’s been four days now since I got my Dell XPS M1530 pre-installed with Ubuntu. You can see the unboxing pictures here. While I am not ready for a full review, I am ready to give some first impressions. Here is what I have noticed so far:
- Not everything worked out of the box (such as some issues with the webcam/mic, dictionary problems in Firefox, and suspend and hibernation)
- It still has a Windows logo on the super key.
- A GUI utility should be provided for setting up the fingerprint reader. Also, if that is not possible, the instructions for setting it up from the CLI should be made much more obvious. It exists, but it is not obvious.
- The initial setup process asked some unneeded questions and left some out. For example, it asked what type of keyboard I had, which Dell already knows. Instead, it would be more logical to let you set up your fingerprint reader.
- The overall design of the laptop is quite nice. Additionally, the incredibly high resolution screen looks great!
- The fingerprint reader works well and was easy to set up, once I found a tutorial.
- The material of the wrist rest appears to be brushed plastic. It looks like brushed metal, but it sounds like plastic if you tap it and bends some under pressure, at least on one side.
- The glossy black finish around the power button and the media controls do collect some fingerprints, but it is not too visible. More concerning are the fingerprints that collect on the back of the laptop. This is not a huge deal, though.
A full review should be coming later, so keep looking back!
7 Days Of M1530: Unboxing the XPS M1530
I just recieved my new laptop: a Dell XPS M1530 pre-installed with Ubuntu. I plan on doing 7 posts related to the M1530. I will not, however, be doing them all in a row, so don’t worry. Anyway, today I have some unboxing pictures for you.
First, though, here are some of the important specs:
- XPS M1530 15″ Laptop with Ubuntu
- 4GB RAM
- 2.16Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
- 320GB 5400 RPM HD
- 1920×1200 Resolution (After using this for a little, I thought my other display was set at some super low resoltuion. This display rules!)
Now, on to the pictures:
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- Intel removed, cat added.
