Certainly that money helps Dell (internationally) in general, so in a very round about way it could be said to help Ubuntu, as it’s helping one of their partners. But I think you’ll find that money helps Microsoft more … a whole lot more, as it’s their OS I’m paying for (in part), not Canonical’s.

Given a choice between benefiting Microsoft with my money, for an OS I don’t want and will never use, for the sake of also benefiting one of Canonical’s partners (maybe, in a very indirect way), or going elsewhere that benefits neither Ubuntu nor Microsoft, I’ll take the latter option every time. No contest.

Sorry Dell and Canonical, but Microsoft is simply not getting my money, ever, no matter how much you think it might “help” either one of you. It doesn’t help me.

I’d sooner glue together my own computer from AirFix parts, and install Linux From Scratch, just on principle.

By the end of 2009, the Dell Latitude 2100 netbook was available with Ubuntu in Belgium (for small enterprises only). I bought one in Feb-10. Since then, the Latitude 13 laptop is also available with Ubuntu.

So, I think that it is worthwhile to let Dell know if you are interested by Ubuntu PCs. If enough people ask for Ubuntu, Dell will provide Ubuntu on some of theirs PCs (at least for the professional market – they still have no Ubuntu offering in Belgium for the home market).

Whether the computer will come with FreeDOS, Ubuntu or something else is something we can discuss on. What we do not want is pre-installed Windows. For our computers we do not want pre-installed Windows on them.

Buying a Dell with a legacy operating system installed isn’t supporting Ubuntu in any way. I would rather make them aware that they have lost a sale because of their lack of suitable options.

Currently Microsoft dominates over the computer manufacturers so any new computer comes with Windows pre-installed. In our effort to get computers without Windows, we might have to refine our position so that we get wider support.

There are students that have access to Microsoft Academic licenses and Windows, that would not need to buy a new computer with Windows pre-installed.

There are users that prefer some other operating system (apart from tested-Ubuntu), wish to accept some unsupported hardware, and want not to pay for pre-installed Windows (available in non-European markets already).

And there are users that want manufacturers to test their hardware on Ubuntu, and we want a first-class experience when we buy a new computer. When we customize our new computer with Dell, we want to pick and choose the operating system, either Windows, Ubuntu Linux or FreeDOS for those who want to do it on their own.

I got my Dell XPS M1330 laptop pre installed with Ubuntu and it is still working great. Unfortunately it looks like Dell no longer stock the kind of laptop I would want to get if I wanted to replace it with Ubuntu pre-installed.

System76 and ZaReason while popular as OEMs because they provide a better product selection than Dell do not materially support Ubuntu. None of the price you pay for a pre-installed Ubuntu system from either System76 or ZaReason flows back into Ubuntu development or infrastructure.. none of that money helps keeps the lights on and the release process flowing. If the goal is to make sure your dollars are being spent materially supporting Ubuntu…Dell’s pretty much the only consumer OEM that actually does that.

You can get as upset as you want about how limited that support is..but going off and spending your money with another OEM that has a wider range of Ubuntu pre-install selections doesn’t mean your money you are paying(and its typically a higher price point than an equivalent Dell system with windows) is going back to support Ubuntu at all. If you care about materially supporting Ubuntu with cash, demand the OEMs tell you how they support the costs of keeping Ubuntu going.