Memo to Dell: Pump Up Ubuntu Linux

Hey Greg Davis. You’ve just been named Dell’s (DELL) global channel chief -- in charge of the PC giant’s worldwide partner strategy. What are you going to do to help bolster Dell's profits? Here’s one suggestion: Offer some Ubuntu Linux PCs to Dell's global partner base. Here’s why.

Sure, Dell has successfully introduced a few Ubuntu PCs and laptops to the geek crowd. But now it’s time for Dell to disrupt the very PC industry it helped to build.

Remember: Michael Dell himself used Ubuntu Linux on a home PC before Dell (the company) decided to sell Ubuntu systems in mid-2007. Greg Davis, Dell’s new global channel chief, should do the same.

Start using disruptive technology, Greg, to see emerging market opportunities before Dell's competition. Start speaking with IT consulting firms that sell into large government organizations and large school systems. You’ll hear demand for desktop open source — very loudly — from those experts. (Heck, look at the WorksWithU 1000 list for dozens of schools and government organizations worldwide already running Ubuntu servers and desktops.)

More Than Microsoft

Windows 7 (whenever that arrives…), Windows Small Business Server and Microsoft’s (MSFT) enterprise software will remain a huge revenue opportunity for Dell and its channel partners.

But there’s room at Dell, too, for a strong Ubuntu partner strategy. Dell promoted Ubuntu-based Netbooks (those small, low-cost laptops) to kids and parents during the holidays. Next, empower solutions providers with Ubuntu, and you’ll accelerate sales into emerging markets.

Steal a page from IBM and investigate virtual Ubuntu desktops hosted on centralized servers. Get creative — and aggressive — by introducing so-called Mobile Internet Devices running Ubuntu.

Greg: Seek freedom. Seek disruption. Seek leverage against Microsoft. But most of all, seek new software solutions that will drive profits for Dell and its partners around the world. No doubt, Ubuntu Linux could play a role in that effort.

Are you listening, Greg?

Disclosure: no positions

Comments

[Smarty_Pants:]

As one of the growing number of people that are fed up with the increasingly expensive, increasingly bloated, and increasingly annoying changes to MSFT's evolution of Windoze, I spent a couple months enlightening myself on Linux use about a year ago.

I can happily report that my 12 year old home PC (it was cutting edge with Win98 when I bought it) is now running PCLinuxOS too.

It took me a while to figure out all the install issues for a dual boot configuration (I can still boot into Win98 if I want, but I don't very much any more), but there are plenty of helpful people online in Linux forums who are glad to help newbies resolve problems or just learn.

My antique 700 MHz PC now runs PCLinuxOS and is just as fast as the brand new 2 GHz pc running Vista I use at work. Faster actually and far less annoying.

I leave my home pc running 24/7 and generally I am 'forced' to reboot about once a month when I forget the limits my hardware entails and open too many big documents. If I weren't a dunderhead it probably wouldn't need to reboot but a couple times a year.

Dell could change the PC world if they built machines optimized for running a stable and "PC-like" version of Linux to the masses. The savings from dropping expensive and ever-restricted versions of Windoze would expand their market share and boost profits at the same time by lowering prices an amount equal to 70% of the cost of putting a MSFT OS on the machine and charging 30% of that cost for the trouble of installing the FREE Linux OS.

And the world would be a better place, IMHO.

Jan 07 09:53 AM