With HP in, all OEMs now ship desktop Linux

Logic operations

Dear Steve,

I still don't understand, why do these big computer companies openly disregard the options offered by elementary Boolean logic.

They all use only the "OR" operation - they build into their computer "Windows OR Linux", the customer must make a hard decision, what are his preferences, without any option to reconsider it later.

Look at me - I use the "AND" operation - I have GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) installed in the MBR of my computer, I have Windows XP residing in 42 GB of disk storage "AND" I have 3 different Linux distros residing in 21 GB, 19 GB and 22 GB respectively, with the rest of the 250-GB drive given to data. This data is accessible from WinXP "AND" from all Linuxes.

Why wouldn't HP(Compaq) do a simple thing - install GRUB to the MBR, carve out a 30-40 GB partition, install there Ubuntu (or Mepis or Vector), install WinVista and sell the resulting system, offering cbstomers A CHOICE of operating system to boot. The only additional thing necessary would be to provide a short file with a Make-it-compatible tutorial...

Makes good press, but...

Sounds suspicious. At any rate, if true, then HP totally missed an opportunity for a sale to me.
I just bought a Dell with Ubuntu for my wife for Christmas.
I checked HP's site, and even talked with a sales rep "Maria" about getting a desktop with some form of Linux. Their site suggests that they have been avid Linux supporters since 1995(!). They even have pages that suggest which models are Linux-compatible.
But Maria said no dice. Don't sell any with Linux, because "all of our support is Windows-based, so we wouldn't be able to help you if something went wrong."
I don't doubt that they will sell a business a computer with Linux, but for home? Not by my very recent experience.

It's not everybody...

Lenovo has dropped their Linux offerings completely. I was just on there, talking with customer service when I couldn't find any systems with a Linux option. I was informed by the rep that Lenovo has discontinued their Linux line.

I'll Believe it when I see it

Five years ago, I bought couple HP Evo desktops that came with Mandrake at that time. Then they removed all Linux desktops but started offering FreeDOS on certain models on their web site. Who knows what really happened to make them take this move. I suspect MS was behind it.
Since then, HP was never serious about offering Linux on their desktops. Up till now, if you go to HP site and try to find a pre-configured desktop with linux or FreeDOS, you couldn't find one. But, they do allow you to configure one with FreeDOS or Linux. The catch though is, when you configure a desktop with exactly the same hardware as the pre-configured one, you end up with a cost that is $100 more, even though the pre-configured one comes with Windows Vista Business 32 included.

When HP offers desktops with Linux pre-loaded like they offer Windows pre-loaded, then and only then I say they are really supporting Linux.

Please, stop the hype Steven.

If you don't like SLED, get FreeDOS

This is a great move by HP. But if you don't like SLED, you can order any of HP's business notebooks or desktops with FreeDOS installed, and then overwrite it with your favorite distro. This way you can evade the Microsoft tax.

Typical HP

HP is extremely close to Microsoft, and I suspect that their use of a (lets face it) sub-par Linux desktop distribution is almost certainly related to the love-in between these companies. One actually has to wonder whether Microsoft is in fact getting a cut of the action every time you buy a Novell-HP desktop box.