Michael A Peters wrote:
I expect the hardware I pay for to be fully functional in Linux. That's what matters to me, not what distro happens to be sitting on the hard drive when UPS drops it off.
I agree it doesn't matter too much for one and two laptops, but I can imagine if you are dealing with 100 or 1000 like some of Dell's customers it is a boost to get them preinstalled with your final OS.
But for me the most interesting thing for me is for the first time a general purchaser will be able to buy a laptop without putting money in Microsoft's pocket at all. Up until now, even when you broke free of Microsoft, you are forced to be a "taxpayer". If Dell genuinely make this a radiobutton on the main purchasing page AND deduct the specified amount of "tax" money when you select it, that will be a wonderful breakthrough.
The Vista decal from this new laptop looks good stuck next to the handle on my toilet, but I would actually leave a tux decal on my laptop.
-Andy