So, after months of speculation, hard tinkering among the free software camp-people and alot of public press — Dell went public with its offering of Ubuntu Linux pre-installed on computers from their ‘DellDirect’-webpages. Dell will not provide software-support. That goes to Cannonical – the company thats business is based on the success of Ubuntu.

I have been thinking abit about this, and first off I can’t help think ‘Why now?, why Ubuntu?’

It would be clear that Dell have recieved a lot of response to their request for response about what people would like to see happen with their offerings. Ubuntu was the single most requested ‘feature’ most consumers asked for. That would explain ‘why Ubuntu’, mostly. Seccondly this shows the push behind Cannonical, the financial backing company of the Ubuntu distribution. Mark Shuttleworth and his team of sales, marketing and support have really gotten it right.

The Ubuntu slogan ‘Linux for human beings’ seems fitting for the outline of this deal. This is for sure an explosive bundle: Dell have for years had some problems with it’s business reputation among ‘professionals’ for being ‘low-end’. With one of the Ubuntu-people on the image of the latest edition of the Ubuntu-webpage proudly wearing a Dell jumper that has for sure changed at the Cannonical/Ubuntu camp. The planet is buzzing with ideas, embracement and acceptance right now. I think Dell will see a surge in direct shopping of Linux-ready(!) computers from it’s webpages.

I for my part have ran Ubuntu on my Dell PowerEdge-servers for years. I think I have about 60 of them in production right now, and others at work have about 20 Windows-based servers. My laptop is a Dell – Inspiron 9400 (yes people I *have* a permit for moving it around!). It has never seen anything else than the Edgy Eft and the Feisty Fawn. Clearly the hardware and the Linux-kernel is working well. Old differences in terms of hardware-based RAID-controllers, missing drivers for hardware, etc are now a story of the past. Both servers and laptops works great with Linux.

I guess you have it there. Ubuntu was just ‘right’ for Dell. It’s been the single most successful Linux-distribution the past year in numbers of downloads and hits (distrowatch says so). Dell wanted to get a shot of the free software fun and Linux-business before their peers took it all home. I can’t say that I’m either surprised or pessimistic right now. This will for sure mean alot more press, a lot more people atleast reviewing Linux as a choice and option and ofcourse – support for Linux-based solutions will grow among the hardware-makers as they rush to get some of the droppings Dell leave behind.

Way to go Cannonical – Dude, you’re getting Ubuntu.