Dell Inc. today officially announced that it will offer Ubuntu Linux 7.04 operating system preloaded on its consumer PCs. The computer maker says it will start selling notebooks and desktops with Ubuntu “in the coming weeks”.
“Back in February when we launched IdeaStorm, we received overwhelming feedback from the community that you wanted Linux client options available throughout Dell’s product line. In response, we told you that we were working towards this goal, and we did a survey of your preferences. When asked which distribution of Linux Dell should prioritize on, Ubuntu was the most requested option. Today, we are excited to tell you that Dell will begin offering Canonicals’ latest version, Ubuntu 7.04, as an option on some Dell consumer models in the U.S. in the coming weeks,” Dell published.
Along with Ubuntu 7.04 on some consumer products, the company will continue to offer a wide variety of Linux options including Red Hat factory-installed on Precision workstations and Novell certification of all its business systems.
Previous news version (05/01/2007): Dell Inc. will be preloading the latest version of Ubuntu Linux operating system on its PCs, including Inspiron E series notebooks, according to DesktopLinux’s sources.
“While unable to confirm this through official Dell channels, we have heard the same story now from several internal Dell sources. They tell us that the Austin, Texas, computer giant will be pre-installing the newly released Ubuntu 7.04.,” Desktop Linux reports.
Besides Ubuntu preloaded Inspiron laptops, Dell will offer this Linux distribution on Dell e-series Dimension desktops an XPS desktops, reportedly.
DesktopLinux has reported earlier the pre-installed Linux on Dell Inc’s notebook and desktop computers may be coming before the end of April, but yesterday’s report says it will be in late May. In March, the computer maker announced its Linux PC offer, but it wasn’t specified which Linux distribution will be used.