/linux

I’d read recently that Dell were going to offer systems pre-loaded with Linux and I thought that was interesting because I am interested in Linux but I ain’t really interested in building systems. If I could buy a system from Dell in which everything was guaranteed to work with a Linux distro then I might think about it.

So, I typed in www.dell.co.uk/linux cos I believe in Url hackability and I thought it would be the most obvious place to go. Bizarrely, that takes you to the Dell Outlet Store. Actually, it maybe isn’t that bizarre; the theory might be that you want the cheapest kit you can get for a Linux box…. maybe not. www.dell.com/linux takes you to the ‘Dell and Linux’ page where you are invited to ‘Choose the freedom of open source on Dell. Get more out of Linux.’

Ok, Dell thinks it has something you might be interested in but it doesn’t really have it available in the UK (yet?).

www.hp.com/linux takes you to the ‘Large Enterprise Business’ page; no desktop linux here. If I go to www.compaq.com/linux, however, I get a 404 page telling me that hp are ‘very sorry.’

www.apple.com/linux gives you, ‘The page you tried was not found. You may have used an outdated link or may have typed the address (URL) incorrectly.’

And, not surprisingly, www.microsoft.com/linux says ‘We’re sorry, but there is no Microsoft.com Web page that matches your entry.’

Any more?