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02.21.07
Linux Tops Dell Idea Storm
 By
Dan Morrill
Linux, Open Office, and no extra software are the top three customer proposed ideas at Dell Idea Storm.
What is interesting is that besides the general whining about Indian call centers, the biggest customer idea is to support Dell and Linux in ways that are more intuitive to the user. I know and have shopped for Dell systems with Linux pre-installed, and they offer Suse and Redhat. It is always great when customers are also asking for Linux and open office.
Besides cutting hundreds of dollars off the price of a new computer, Linux computer systems are hard to find at dell, you have to deliberately seek them out. Nor does the home user really get an option into getting a Linux PC at dell unless they go into the small business/home office area. It's not a native option in the "for home" section of the web site.
Setting aside the idea that I can get a top line HP and a copy of Suse at Best Buy for about 1000 dollars less than what I would spend at Dell. The idea of a home consumer market for Linux/Open Office systems asking the following questions are also really important for those that want Linux.
Playing Games, while many games are not directly ported to Linux, TransGaming has a system called Cedega that allows windows games to play on Linux. While I have not used this software, the Linux community rates it highly.
Open Office takes care of all the word processing, e-mail, PowerPoint, and other data manipulation you would ever want.
Linux has Graphics, and other systems if you are interested in making your own graphics or doing photography.
Flash Developer, yet Adobe has a port for Linux development. Dot Net, and other Microsoft technologies have also been ported via "work alikes" so that just about any kind of development you want to do is available to you.
Since systems are relatively similar in functionality, the only remaining question is "Will Dell Listen". If those 30-40 thousand requests for this product can translate into actual sales, sales that make money for Dell. They would be foolish to ignore the marketing potential. (Number four in the list was for a Linux laptop, that would be great when going to SANS or CISSP training by the way).
Dell does not release numbers by systems sold with what operating system. They are comparable to HP in that a user can pretty much so select the kind of system that they want on line. HP provides a better consumer experience and price than Dell does. But dell has the corporate market for right now. If people are really ready to buy Linux, then Dell has to make it easier for the end consumer. Although most people are completely ignorant of technology, this choice might also end up being confusing to the average every day purchaser. It will be interesting to see how Dell deals with the direct customer input from Dell Idea Storm; maybe we will see Linux as a mainstream choice when choosing a computer.
Comments
About the Author:
Dan Morrill has been in the information security field for 18 years, both
civilian and military, and is currently working on his Doctor of Management.
Dan shares his insights on the important security issues of today through
his blog, Managing
Intellectual Property & IT Security, and is an active participant in the
ITtoolbox blogging community.
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