The Coffee Desk

Ubuntu’s OEM scare

A couple of major manufacturers, most notably Dell, have started to offer Ubuntu as their Linux choice pre-installed on Desktops, a place long held by Microsoft Windows. However, seeing as how Ubuntu (and therefore Linux in general) is now slowly creeping into Windows territory, could Ubuntu start to inherit Windows attributes that users hate about Windows, such as Dell-installed AOL trials, Dell logos plastered everywhere and other unwanted junk?

We all know the story – AOL trials, BigFix stuff that sit in your tray and hog resources, and the Dell logo plastered all over the place, and we normally associate these with Windows. But lately Dell and other OEMs are trying to start a new trend by installing Ubuntu, the flagship Linux Desktop OS on their systems and selling them for (wink wink) “just the hardware price”. But, like Windows before it, how sure are we that Dell will ONLY pre-install ubuntu on their hardware, instead of the dreaded pre-packaged ‘bloat’ that is made visible in a Mac vs. PC commercial?

Linux is heralded for its stability, most notably in the server market since it powers the majority of the internet’s web servers (and being fairly challenged for the first time in the Windows server line by Windows server 2008), but the Desktop field has always been foreign to Linux, mainly because of its (now dated) lack of a sufficient User-interactive, 100% non-command line interface that most Windows users are used to, making the switch harder.

But most of that has been corrected, mainly with the introduction of Ubuntu, whom thousands (but not billions) praise for its usability compared to Windows and other Linux operating systems, and the Wine project has made windows-bound programs unleashed to run on Linux, easing the switch. And Mac users are sure to hate the convenience of 0 popular viruses native to the Linux OS, something they have touted ever since OS 8 it seems.

But if Dell and other OEMs, which have more to promote than Apple since their OS runs on their hardware, start prepackaging software trials and “antivirus for Linux/Wine” due to a deal with some other company (AOL/BigFix/Norton?), Linux users will start complaining about the same ailments Windows users have long suffered from, and Mac users will finally acknowledge the Linux community since they will have finally dominated them in some regard.

Now most technically-inclined Linux users simply buy a no-OS laptop or custom build a souped up desktop then install Linux, but this article is written about the Windows users shopping for Linux-like-Windows in the OEM field, turning to Dell because of the lower cost and somewhat nicer hardware for that cost. And one can predict that if this happens, the Ubuntu forums will be flooded with tutorials and questions about removing the pre-installed bloat and/or reinstalling the whole OS due to the chaos, something that should have never happened in the first place.

But how can we keep this from happening? We really can’t. If Dell or any other OEM decides to do this, Linux will suffer a blow we all will remember as something FOSS advocates used to tout about just like Mac zealots, and Windows users will start to see no reason to make the switch at all. Of course, the GetAMac campaign will probably soar that day….

But one thing is for certain. This will stand as a test that if an operating system, like a PC, gets controlled by more than one OEM, or if it becomes popular enough that malware authors start to get an audience, will it stand up against the Macintosh? Only one way to find out, and the time appraoches closer and closer with each Ubuntu release on Dell machines.