ubuntu-us-nj Washington Post Article: Dell Ends Linux Desktop Program

[David A. Harding]

Sad, sad news.  See below.

-Dave


Dell Ends Linux Desktop Program

By CHARLES XI
Associated Press Writer

ROUND ROCK (AP) -- Amid economic downturn affecting millions of
consumers, Dell Inc. announced the discontinuation of its Linux offerings.

"Offering Ubuntu on desktop and laptops was an experiment -- an
experiment that has now failed due to the extreme engineering time it
took to produce each system and the low volume of sales we got out of
the program," said Senior V.P. of U.S. Sales William Prince.

Dell will continue to offer Red Hat and SUSE Linux for servers. 

An undisclosed sum will be paid to Canonical Ltd., the company behind
Ubuntu & Dell's desktop Linux program, to maintain existing Ubuntu Linux
support contracts.

"This is a sad day for Linux," said Ubuntu and Canonical Ltd. founder
Mark Shuttleworth.  "Dell's desktop support was a shinning beacon of
light telling mothers and grandmothers that Linux was OK to use."

Dell's announcement comes only weeks after Wal-Mart Inc. withdrew its
hyped $200 Green PC from store shelves and online warehouses citing,
"lack of consumer uptake and satisfaction."

Hewlett-Packard, which has been considering the idea of also selling
Linux desktops, says Dell's decision has not in any way changed their
position.  But industry insiders disagree.

"I've always doubted HP would ever ship a single personal Linux
desktop," said Erehwon Beth Mary.  "They were hedging their
bets, waiting to see what happened at Dell.  Now that Dell's program has
failed, HP will quietly discontinue their own program."


Original Article:
        http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050300374.html
-- 
David A. Harding            Website:  http://dtrt.org/
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