You're getting Linux on Dell:

"The second-order implications are even more interesting, because I think there's no way that Michael Dell didn't see this coming," Raymond wrote. "His company has been quietly selling Linux machines to business customers for several years -- which means he's got more than enough real-world market data to see where the trends are going. Mr. Dell had to have a pretty strong suspicion that Linux preinstalls were going to show up as a top user demand before the fact -- and yet, he let IdeaStorm happen anyway. This tells me he isn't nearly as nervous about angering Microsoft as he used to be. Something in the balance of power between the world's largest PC vendor and the crew in Redmond has shifted, and not in Redmond's favor. You can bet money on that."

Running Linux on Dell laptops could have another lure, Raymond wrote. "I think one significant problem Dell and Microsoft are facing is just that Vista is too resource-hungry and bloated to run well on sub-$500 machines, which are the highest-volume market segment now. Dell may be arranging itself some maneuvering room to preinstall an [operating system] that won't make its low-end hardware look like crap."

It's too bad that ESR let his credibility to slip away by blogging mind-boggling crap at times, talking nonsense on topic of proprietary formats. I am concerned that ESR's fall damages all sorts of issues from the human right for self-defence up to and including the patent law reform. What an unpleasant picture.

I have a suggestion, if you really want to quote someone on the Dell's move in Linux area, quote Matt Domsch. He architected the whole thing, which ESR is second-guessing now.

M$ Vista is the best thing to happen to
linux in a long time.

I just checked today and I have three windows based applications that are must have for me,(beyond the normal stuff like word processor, mail etc..)
Two of them run well under WINE on Linux.
We will soon at the point where the pain of switching OS branches will be less than the pain
of switching OS versions. (XP -> vista)

Since WINE is a reverse-engineering effort primarily, it lags in features. Thus, it's best suited for legacy applications, but not for something new, like new games. So it's not a robust solution. It's amazing how far it came over time, but the quest is endless.

As for switching branches, I still remember the trouble Rand had with his upgrade to Fedora Core 5. So Linux can give you unpleasant experiences just the same. I figre that by improving the quality of experience, Linux gains more than from the accidential help by Vista's transition pains...

I am feeling some irony. . .

As I read this on an Dell Inspiron 9300 with openSUSE 10.2 . . . With my wife (a college prof) seated across from me using her HP laptop thqat hasn't seen Windows since we got it (and I ripped Windows out). . .

Oh, my kids' PC still runs Windows MCE, since the games they are interested in at their current ages (12 and 10) require it. I'm not a fanatic Microsoft-hater, just a practical guy looking for robust platforms at low costs. All I can say to Dell is "about time."

What worked ? Oh, almost everything, out of the box. So far, only wireless on my Dell did not work without modification (had the firmware been different, I have indications that it would have). Everthing else has been, to steal a MS term, plug-and-play.

What did we get ? A rock-solid O/S, a complete office suite, our choice of several email clients, several browsers, some games (not Quake, but we're not teenagers either), programming IDEs in any language my oldest son could want, photo tools (not quite as easy to use as Paintshop Pro, but my wife is a semi-geek so that's not an issue), PIMs, secure communications, encryption tools, IM, user-selectable UIs (wife likes Gnome, I'm a fluxbox fan). In short, almost everything we need. . .

Was it "hard ?" Actually, on our hardware, no. Disclaimer: I have 30 years of working with computers. But I also work with non-profits as the "IT guy," So I am used to intelligent novices. I'd say that if you accept the defaults, it's not appreciably harder than installing XP pro or MCE from scratch. I have a friend, a pro photographer, who installed it without a problem. He's not a cumputer guy -- but he is used to following detailed instructions.

Disclaimer: HP and others are selling preloaded Windows systems. If you can't load XP, DO NOT try to load Linux. It may not be much harder, but it is certainly not easier.

Disclaimer: I am referring to a workstation install, not a server. And assume that you either have a vanilla setup or you understand firewalls.

Disclaimer: I did mention I use exclusively HP (mostly) or Dell, right ? I have no idea how well everything works on off-brand or pieced-together systems. But if you build your own computer, I suspect you can troubleshoot fairly well.

What is missing ?

Several tools that I use professionally, like Allfusion Modelling suite -- predicated on Windows. I could do the same thing with diagramming tools, but they are generic (I'd hate to do it with Visio as well)

Specific IDE's, such as Visual Studio (DUH!).

Engineering tools I used to use, like a PLC comunications/programming application, most SCADA software, specialized stuff like FLUENT, etc.

Oh, targeted vulnerabilities are mostly missing, too. I only patch the Windows system on Wednesday, not the Linux systems :)

As an agnostic, it comes down to "what are you looking for, and how much are you willing to invest ?"

If you have the time to learn the technology a tiny bit, and are satisfied with a wee bit less hand-holding, Linux offers a free and solid alternative even on modest hardware.

If you have the money to upgrade the hardware to handle Vista, and you'd rather let Microsoft do the "heavy lifting," then Windows can still be attractive.

Me ? I'm smart and cheap :)

Dell have offered this on their latitude line for almost a year, losing XP Pro gets you about $100au off the purchase price. I assume the reason they don't offer the same deal on the Inspiron is because the XP Home licence gets fully subsidised by the bundled crapware.

The only news is that they now seem to be advertising it.