Dell Snub Linux, Then Fade Away

HP has been aggressively marketing "Linux Friendly" machines. These machines are shipped with Windows XP home edition, but can very easily be converted to Linux with minimal effort. HP initially shipped their own DVD which included all the drivers needed, but Novell has since packaged all of the drivers for these 64 bit machines into their own standard issue DVD.

Ubuntu has also been very agressively supporting HP. They offer a good 64 bit solution and support quite a variety of drivers for the 64 bit machines.

Net result, HP sales are very strong and profits are higher than those of compebreastors.

Dell on the other hand has been much more bashful about supporting Linux, and as a result, has not started aggressively marketing 64 bit laptops and desktops. They have also been giving mixed signals as far some aren't, but Dell isn't very good at telling people which is which.

Ironically, HP has an advantage, because it's on the retailer shelves. Users are sticking in a Live-CD version of Ubuntu, Knoppix, or SuSE and taking Linux for a test drive before purchasing the machine.

Windows-only machines are now selling at "Final clearance" prices. They are pretty much selling them for less that it would cost to have them discarded in a legal and environmentally friendly way.

graphics, and other hardware that truly lets Linux run at it's best, are selling for higher prices and production can't keep up with demand (partly because demand was underestimated).