Dell to ship Desktop and notebook PC with Pre Installed Linux

Now you don’t have to pay Microsoft tax :D

Dell customer demanding free Linux version pre-installation on all Dell PCs to cut down cost.

Now Dell announced that - It’s exciting to see the IdeaStorm community’s interest in open source solutions like Linux and OpenOffice. Your feedback has been all about flexibility and we have seen a consistent request to provide platforms that allow people to install their operating system of choice. We are listening, and as a result, we are working with Novell to certify our corporate client products for Linux, including our OptiPlex desktops, Latitude notebooks and Dell Precision workstations. This is another step towards ensuring that our customers have a good experience with Linux on our systems.

As this community knows, there is no single customer preference for a distribution of Linux. In the last week, the IdeaStorm community suggested more than half a dozen distributions. We don't want to pick one distribution and alienate users with a preference for another. We want users to have the opportunity to help define the market for Linux on desktop and notebook systems. In addition to working with Novell, we are also working with other distributors and evaluating the possibility of additional certifications across our product line.

This is great news. I only purchase Dell laptops and rest of my system is build using components (whitebox). My next desktop machine will be dell for sure. However using Linux on corporate desktop is still a big dream because of MS Exchange, custom made support & sales software etc. I hope this will also change in coming days.