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Edubuntu pre-installed for kids and teens maybe even school

Education, Linux, Operating Systems submitted by kevintrooper 08/07/07

Edubuntu is great for kids and Teens! It is great for school, kids games, and more! It also includes gaim *aka* Pidgen messenger!
in Desktop version it could be able to connect to a TV so little kids and teens dont require a monitor!

Thank You,
KevT 2 Comments »

Inspiron 1420 N with Ubuntu should have more choices for video and wireless cards.

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Inspiron products, Sales Strategies submitted by twocows 08/07/07

I'm not a fan of Intel, ESPECIALLY for video cards. NVIDIA and ATI make far better graphics cards that are usually less buggy and more compatible with games and such. I've never run into problems with NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards, whereas the computers that have Intel graphics cards generally have trouble running the sort of stuff I like to run. As for wireless cards, I actually prefer Dell's custom wireless card to the Intel-made ones. Just more options would be nice. 1 Comment »

Stay aware of the ongoing Vista compatibility troubles - and do better at offering XP & Ubuntu alternatives on more models.

Operating Systems submitted by jmxz 07/21/07

Another interesting Reuters article this week:

Vista's growing pains leave room for XP

Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:27PM EDT

David Daoud ran into trouble when he started using Vista, the new version of Windows that Microsoft Corp. and PC makers have spent millions of dollars advertising since it came out six months ago.

He said it short-circuited key software programs he counts on: Quicken for balancing his checkbook, Lotus Notes e-mail and a networking program that connects his home to the office. His Sony camcorder also doesn't communicate with the PC properly.

"Basically they don't work," said Daoud, a computer industry analyst with market research firm IDC.
...
Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. recently started selling XP machines on their Web sites. Lenovo Group Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. also offer similarly equipped machines.

Seems Ubuntu + Wine's got better Windows compatibility than Vista does (esp. when it comes to older hardware).

Perhaps this can be merged with some of the other cautionary ideas about Vista troubles - but it's not quite a dupe because the Idea here is to be aware that Vista's troubles are ongoing and still making major news stories half a year after they launched without signs of improvement. The followup Idea is to keep offering XP & Ubuntu so people can keep using their pre-vista software which often tends to work on both XP and Ubuntu. 3 Comments »

Sell preinstall Linux in Europe (Switzerland)

Linux, Sales Strategies submitted by sandrito 07/24/07

Please start also to sell preinstall Ubuntu Linux in Europe (Switzerland). And that you develope and pressure your hardware vendors to produce linux compatible hardware and pressure them to produce linux drivers.

Many people just use their PC just to brows the web, read/write email, produce some documents and print them. 2 Comments »

Dell Support for Windows I mean ALL OS's (phone, etc.. after the sale) should be optional

Operating Systems, Service and Support submitted by jorge 08/07/07

Why only Ubuntu, OS support for Windows should be optional as well! I ain't paying for it if I don't have to, I never have called for OS support so its wasted money! I could use it to buy another system if I count all the ones I have already and add it up.

Make all OS support optional! Not everyone is clueless or hasn't discovered how to google for it. 13 Comments »

Make your announcements easily acessable on the Dell sites.

Advertising and Marketing, Dell Web Site submitted by jervis961 07/25/07

I just found an article about dell at Ububtu Live 2007 by doing an online search but couldn't find the information anywhere on Dell.com, direct2dell or here.



Dell knows it won't happen overnight, but along side wanting to ship audio/video codecs, Intel Wireless 80.211N support for Linux, Broadcom Wireless for Linux, and being able to ship notebooks and desktops with Compiz Fusion enabled, Dell would like to see improved ATI Linux drivers. At Ubuntu Live 2007, Amit Bhutani had a session on Ubuntu Linux for Dell Consumer Systems, where he had shared a slide with Dell's "area of investigation", which Amit had said is essentially their Linux road-map. Amit had also stated that the NVIDIA 2D and 3D video drivers were "challenges in platform enablement". Dell wants to offer ATI Linux systems, but first the driver must be improved for the Linux platform (not necessarily open-source, but improved). Dell currently ships desktop Linux systems with Intel using their open-source drivers as well as NVIDIA graphics processors under Linux. Amit had went on to add that new Dell product offerings and availability in other countries will come later this summer.

http://www.phoronix.com/?page=news_item&px=NTkxOA 5 Comments »

target schools and companies for linux equiped computers

Advertising and Marketing, Linux submitted by siger 08/05/07

for your marketing strategy you should and must target schools and companies because they are places where computers are often used and they eduactes people to computers and using a computer. if people use linux atwork or t school they will want or need to use it at home . 2 Comments »

Dell Support for Unbuntu (phone, etc.. after the sale) should be optional

Linux, Sales Strategies submitted by jorge 08/07/07

Dell make the overly costly add on to your Ubuntu systems of support an option!

If this is raising the price of the Ubuntu systems make it an option!

For those of you who don't know you don't need to pay for Ubuntu Support!

Just read up on the forums, and in your native language! 2 Comments »

Linux Drivers

Linux submitted by fjgaude 08/03/07

Get more drivers working out-of-the-box for Ubuntu, including zen and raid. 1 Comment »

Make user guide OS-independent

Linux, Operating Systems submitted by iv2101 07/29/07

It's great to have all documentation available online. Thanks, Dell!
However, for some obscure reason the guide for inspiron 1420 makes references only to windows. WHY? Either explain for all OS's or don't give specifics for any. Dell currently ships inspiron 1420 with Ubuntu, too, so giving directions for that OS is a must.

STOP GIVING PREFERENCE TO ONE OS!!! 2 Comments »

IdeaStorm: Remove accounts with advertising information in their name

IdeaStorm submitted by jorge 08/06/07

Due to IdeaStorm rules and regulations (not mine) the usernames which are using advertising links or website names need to be deleted.

So based on what we've seen so far the following needs to be prevented from happening on account creation:

No dell in the name
No dot in the name (as in the word dot and the character ".")
No cuss word in the name
No com in the name
No admin in the name
No staf(fer) in the name
No name longer than 10 characters

So IdeaStorm webmaster (not the admins) can you add the account creation limits? You should borrow from the phpBB add-ons for that, they have a plethora of tools for that not to mention valid e-mail requirements.

Thanks, 9 Comments »

Streamline the MS tax refund

Sales Strategies submitted by polarwolf 02/28/07

This one is a short and easy one...if Dell doesn't want or can't offer OS-less consumer PCs or laptops, at least make it easier for customers to claim the refund they're intitled to in the Microsoft EULA if they don't accept the terms of the license. 21 Comments »

Sell preinstall Linux in Norway

Linux, Sales Strategies submitted by oleandre 07/24/07

The best ide, is to sell preinstall linux in Norway. And that you develope and pressure your hardware vendors to produce linux compatible hardware and pressure them to produce linux drivers.

Many people just use their PC just to brows the web, read/write email, produce some documents and print them. Please, support a new and userfriendly operatingsystem. 3 Comments »

Have Firefox pre-installed as default browser

Software submitted by robinjfisher 02/19/07 **REVIEWED**

Does what it says on the tin! Most people only use IE because they aren't aware of other browsers - they think Internet Explorer is the Internet! What would really drive take up of alternative browsers is if Firefox was pre-installed as the default browser so that when people look for the "Internet" in Windows, they are using FF.
Firefox advocates at Dell have initiated discussions and driven action around exploring alternative internet browsers and experiences. As you can tell from our response to the Linux community, open source continues to be a part of our conversations about new products and services.





1365 Comments »

Develop an exclusive Linux only notebook specifically optimized for Linux.

Advertising and Marketing, Linux, Laptops submitted by benjesuit 08/05/07

Fact: Most who switch over to Linux, do not switch back to MSFT.

That said, why not design a Linux only, high performance, customizeable, upgradeable, Linux optimized notebook.

1. Windows key is a the TUX penguin.
2. Only hardware which supports the open source community is used.
3. All hardware is modular. (Harddrives, optical drives, socketed chipsets, socketed wifi mini PCI, etc.)
4. Upgradeable Bios with socketed bios chip.
5. Comes preinstalled with exclusive to the system, optimzed open source software.
6 State of the art design. Cutting edge features. Similiar to the XPS 1330. But far from the Inspirons.

Gather feature request information from the Linux community to tweak this optimally. Take the first step towards exclusive Linux products in order to commercialize Linux on the desktop/notebook realm.

Above all, ADVERTIZE this system.

And advertise comparitive performance vitals as compared to a similiarly equipted MSFT machine and MAC.

Have a Dell repostiory of both optimized and community based open source software. And have a store where for a fee, customers can order customized media loaded with their software of choice. Important since not everyone has broadband to download software from the repository.

Turn Linux into a MAC-like experience of exclusivity, chicness, and wow, by attaching Linux to exclusively Linux hardware. 36 Comments »

Support for Open Document Format

Operating Systems, Software submitted by lordshipmayhem 06/12/07

Dell should encourage support for Open Document Format:
- provide a page listing the benefits of ODF over proprietary formats (OOXML and other Microsoft "standards")
- Link to the home pages of applications that support ODF (OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, KOffice)

ODF is designed to be both platform and application agnostic: anyone who wants to write one, can create applications that allow you to use any ODF file, without losing file formatting. The objective is to allow any user to keep access to their data even if the maintainer of the application the data was saved in ends up going out of business or ending support for the application in question.

I don't know about you, but I have some files that were written in word processing software that no longer exists, in a couple of cases on platforms that don't exist outside of the hands of museums and collectors. Those files are at best extremely difficult if not utterly impossible to open now. 32 Comments »

"Europe" is not only France + Germany + UK

Linux, Service and Support submitted by warp10 08/08/07

Dell started selling PCs equipped with Ubuntu in Europe a few days ago. Anyway, looks like Dell think Europe is only France, Germany and UK. [1]
In Europe there are many countries that are good markets for Dell, and that wait the possibility to buy Ubuntu-installed Desktop and Notebook.
Please, give to the *whole* Europe the possibility to buy these computers.

[1] http://www.ubuntu.com/dell 19 Comments »

Let Us Choose XP For All Machines!

Operating Systems, Sales Strategies submitted by shamarkaleo 07/26/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

Dear Dell Service Team,

After unsuccessful appeals to several levels of your support staff, I am writing to convey one last appeal regarding operating systems and purchasing options on your site.

I am the CEO of a small web and graphic design business. We decided to purchase a laptop for our staff use on trips, and after studying all our options, chose Dell as our computer supplier.

We were dismayed to find that most of the computer systems at Dell came pre-installed with Windows Vista, with only a few computers offering a choice of operating systems. Our computer of choice did not offer a selection.

I find this mindboggling, since Dell as a company won't use Vista on its own computers until after SP1 is released. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39286949,00.htm?r=8

And CNET gives Windows vista this dismal review:

"...essentially warmed-over Windows XP. If you're currently happy with Windows XP SP2, we see no compelling reason to upgrade." http://reviews.cnet.com/windows/windows-vista-ultimate/4505-3672_7-32013603.html

What is more mindboggling to me is Dell's refusal to work with our company when we appealed for a change in our order. We wanted the specific machine we ordered, we simply didn't want Vista.

As it is, the only options we were offered were:

A.) Cancel our order- though we'd already waited weeks for the order to be fulfilled - and order a machine we don't want that offers the XP operating system choice

or

B.) Wait for our machine to arrive, then go buy XP ourselves at additional cost, reformat the hard drive, and install XP on our own.

These choices are horrible! Especially since one of your own staff told me by phone that Dell has received many, many complaints about Vista.

Neither option meets our needs. We either end up with a machine we don't want which has the right operating system, or a machine we do want that we must "fix" prior to use.

So I appeal to you to allow buyers to choose their operating system on ALL your machines, not just some. You don't have to offer a huge choice, but at least one more option than Vista!

Kelli Standish


Check out the Idea in Action to find out more about Dell offering XP.
49 Comments »

http://www.dell.com/ubuntu should display an Ubuntu-specific page

Dell Web Site, Linux submitted by limulus 08/02/07

If I want to tell a friend about Dell's Ubuntu systems and don't want to give the clunky long URL: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs (which is certainly not easily memorized) I can say "go to dell.com/ubuntu"

But that page directs here:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/ubuntu?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
(the same as dell.com/open)

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FreeDOS? M$ Windows?!?

No thank you!

Please either redirect www.dell.com/ubuntu to the Ubuntu systems without the nag screen or redirect it to a different, Ubuntu-specific page that gives a short overview of the OS and doesn't try to steer people to the Windows systems.

Update: I note that if you go to http://www.dell.com/vista that you end up on a very nice page with a fancy flash animation describing Vista in the most positive terms. Something not even half that fancy for Ubuntu would be great. 11 Comments »

NICE New Dell montor! Keep making great designs like this.

Monitors and Displays submitted by jmxz 05/18/07

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/18/dells-ultra-thin-concept-lcd-with-displayp...

Dell's ultra-thin LCD concept with DisplayPort going retail?
...
Remember that super swanky Dell monitor concept we went ga ga over back at January's CES? Yeah, we still find it hard to believe it's a Dell design. Well, it'll apparently be up for sale later in the year.

Beautiful - we want more great designs like this. 42 Comments »