Dell says no to phones, yes to tiny laptops?

By Liam Tung, ZDNet.com.au
07 February 2008 01:36 PM
Tags: dell, china, ubuntu, windows, ipod, apple, macbook air, linux

Dell gives Ubuntu, but Linux fans want MacBook Air

"[Desktop] Linux is driven by customers asking for it. We can't deny that Linux has been a success on the server side and continues to be an option that people want to have on the desktop. So, we have made it available and it's working well," Ferrand said.

But while Dell's customers prompted it to launch its Ubuntu machines, open source users could be more attracted to another laptop manufacturer -- Apple.

Asked what he thought of Apple's MacBook Air, outgoing president of Linux Australia, Jonathan Oxer, told ZDNet.com.au: "I want one." But rather than running Leopard OS on it, Oxer said he would install Linux.

"In terms of the profile of the device, the hardware, it pretty much suits my personal usage requirements. That's because when I'm after a laptop I want it to be small and portable but I also want reasonable performance so I'm seriously considering getting a Mac Airbook and running Linux on it," he said.

Although many applications on the MacBook Air are for Apple only, the fundamental architecture is based on BSD, which makes it easier to add open source software to the machine, said Oxer.

"[Installing Linux] shouldn't be a problem at all. Mac hardware over last few years has been based on an industry standard architecture, which means that -- with a few exceptions, such as the notorious wireless Ethernet cards used a few years go -- most of the hardware is extremely well-supported," he said.

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Talkback 1 comments

    Dell says no to phones, yes to tiny laptops? Vincent -- 08/02/08

    Ha Ha Ha. The funniest thing I have heard in a while.

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