Dell, the second largest computer maker in the world announced recently that it had chosen to offer Linux in response to customer demand. Dell conducted a survey and 100,000 people took part in a Dell survey.

The results were posted on Dell Ideas In Action:

• More than 70% of survey respondents said they would use a Dell system with a Linux operating system for both home and office use.
• Survey respondents indicated they want a selection of notebook and desktop offerings.
• Majority of survey respondents said that existing community-based support forums would meet their technical support needs for a tested and validated Linux operating system on a Dell system.
• Survey respondents indicated that improved hardware support for Linux is as important as the distribution(s) offered.

Though it is not known yet which Linux distribution/distributions Dell will be supporting, and which models of Dell desktop and laptop machines will have pre-installed Linux as an option. But I am eagerly waiting for further announcements regarding this. I hope favourite distributions will be included. Last month Dell asked customers which distributions they would most like to see. This survey was closed on march 23rd. The options were:

• Novell/SUSE
• Red Hat
• Fedora
• openSUSE
• Ubuntu

Responders also have the option of nominating their favorite Linux distribution that isn’t there in the options. In the Dell blog that introduces the Linux survey, Matt Domsch, Dell’s Linux software architect, wrote:

“We’re crafting product offerings in response, but we’d like a little more direct feedback from you: your preferences, your desires. We recognize some people prefer notebooks over desktops, high-end models over value models, your favorite Linux distribution, telephone-based support over community-based support, and so on. We can’t offer everything — all systems, all distributions, all support options — so we’ve crafted a survey to let you help us prioritize what we should deliver for you.”

Personally I prefer Debian for server grade for its stability (that wasnt there in the default options in the last month survey) and OpenSuse/Fedora for thier usability as desktop/laptop OS. Which distro you would like pre-installed in your new Dell?

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