Dell users demand Linux on laptops

By Ben Ames, IDG News Service, 02/22/07

The new team of leaders at Dell is weighing a request to give customers the option to purchase PCs with the Linux operating system instead of the default Windows, after thousands of users voted for that idea on a company blog.

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The idea appeared Friday on a company-hosted blog called Dell Idea Storm. CEO Michael Dell unveiled the blog Feb. 16 as part of his effort to reinvigorate the struggling company. Dell said he hoped to use the blog to collect user feedback and improve customer service.

Since then, company executives and department heads have been monitoring the site, paying closest attention to the ideas winning the most votes, Dell spokeswoman Caroline Dietz said on Wednesday.

The most popular threads on Wednesday included demands for Linux-based laptops, consumer PCs that are not preloaded with unsolicited applications, and requests for Sun's OpenOffice applications instead of Microsoft's Office suite. Popular requests also included a preference for Mozilla's Firefox Web browser instead of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and pleas for Dell to stop routing service calls to operators in such overseas countries as India.

Dell leaders have heard those ideas "loud and clear," and plan to post a statement on the blog this week explaining how they will react, Dietz said. But she warned that the company would judge ideas on more than just their popularity.

"Just because an idea is No. 1 or No. 2 doesn't necessarily mean Dell will do it, but it does mean it will receive the highest level of attention," Dietz said.

Dell already has changed the blog rules to make the voting more accurate, after the site was flooded over the weekend by certain users clicking multiple times on their favorite links, Dietz said. Beginning Wednesday, Dell required users to register, ensuring that each person can vote just once for each posting.

Another misleading aspect of popular threads is that each vote awards postings 10 points, meaning that the Linux thread has about six thousand supporters, not the posted number of 67,703. The second-most popular thread -- the request for OpenOffice -- has 40,572 points, and a plea to avoid unwanted software applications has 27,476 points. Most other ideas on the 95-page blog have won only a handful of votes.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.