Comments on: Dell to Offer Linux PCs http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/dell-to-offer-linux-pcs/ Digital Trends is your home for technology news, CE product reviews, mobile app reviews and daily videos. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:46:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Nathan http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/dell-to-offer-linux-pcs/#comment-54325 Nathan Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:34:44 +0000 http://www.digitaltrends.com#comment-54325 Chances are, the people that were shouting out to Dell were an EXTREMELY small percentage of their actual potential market - but regardless of this fact, this is still one of the best moves Dell could currently make.<br /> <br /> Why?<br /> <br /> Who do non-tech savvy people ask opinions of when making decisions about their next home PC? Well - the tech savvy, thats who. And who uses Linux? Generally - the tech savvy.<br /> <br /> By meeting the demand of the 0.1% of the PC Market that is actually savvy enough to demand Linux, Dell has basically earned itself a lot of Word-Of-Mouth marketing that it was starting to lose. These techies are going to be much happier with Dell's services/offerings, and therefore they will be much more likely to suggest Dell to anyone asking about who they should use for their next PC - even if that techie KNOWS that the user will not be using Linux - they will still have a good enough impression of Dell to make the reccomendation. <br /> <br /> Dell has seen declining sales, because there has been a huge move to Linux - so rather than buying the XP or Vista license, and then wiping the HDD, only to load up GRUB and the closest live CD for an installation, the market that is capable of doing so has really started building their own PCs (good news for newegg, tigerdirect, etc.) is doing so - killing the sales of Dell. And of course, since Dell is losing these customers, they are also losing the reccomendation. I think this move will make a drastic change in that department - and was probably an even better move than the purchase of Alienware. Chances are, the people that were shouting out to Dell were an EXTREMELY small percentage of their actual potential market – but regardless of this fact, this is still one of the best moves Dell could currently make.

Why?

Who do non-tech savvy people ask opinions of when making decisions about their next home PC? Well – the tech savvy, thats who. And who uses Linux? Generally – the tech savvy.

By meeting the demand of the 0.1% of the PC Market that is actually savvy enough to demand Linux, Dell has basically earned itself a lot of Word-Of-Mouth marketing that it was starting to lose. These techies are going to be much happier with Dell's services/offerings, and therefore they will be much more likely to suggest Dell to anyone asking about who they should use for their next PC – even if that techie KNOWS that the user will not be using Linux – they will still have a good enough impression of Dell to make the reccomendation.

Dell has seen declining sales, because there has been a huge move to Linux – so rather than buying the XP or Vista license, and then wiping the HDD, only to load up GRUB and the closest live CD for an installation, the market that is capable of doing so has really started building their own PCs (good news for newegg, tigerdirect, etc.) is doing so – killing the sales of Dell. And of course, since Dell is losing these customers, they are also losing the reccomendation. I think this move will make a drastic change in that department – and was probably an even better move than the purchase of Alienware.

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