Preinstalled Ubuntu at non Linux shop

News and Events
1

This is probably the first mainstream retailer (not Linux specific shop) to offer pre installed Ubuntu on laptops. :smiley:
Link
Have you seen them anywhere else?

2

I’ve seen Ubuntu on a PC or two on ebuyer before, but this is the first time they’re making a FEATURE out of it with an entire professionally authored page dedicated to it :slight_smile:

I posted a flyer I had emailed to me (by some other shop) a few weeks ago advertising these same HP’s with Ubuntu so it appears to be an HP push.

Christ with Dell now offering Ubutnu machines and not hiding them on some hard to find page, HP doing the same, and a major PC retailer like Ebuyer getting behind the push … I wonder if the “Year of the Linux Desktop” is at hand, I bet nobody will be brave enough to say it though :slight_smile:

Anyone else think Ubuntu with Unity was a strange choice to offer as a Win8 replacement … and that’s what this is, a response the debacle and sales failure that was Win8 … Wouldn’t Mint or even Peppermint with their more traditional layout have made a better choice ?
I’m pretty sure if you stood a Win8 PC (Metro UI) next to a Mint/Peppermint PC (normal menu bottom left) people would have gravitated towards the Mint/Peppermint layout … this doesn’t apply to Unity which is equally alien.

3

Have you noticed it says “Ubuntu 12.04” … but ALL the images show the 14.04 wallpaper ???

4

The intro to Ubuntu is what caught my eye. But there is not a word of Linux there (as expected).

Have you noticed it says "Ubuntu 12.04" .. but ALL the images show the 14.04 wallpaper
Yeah, I looked at that and concluded that they might not got in the grips with the different versions. This review title suggest it is 14.04 though.
5

SK from their Fekbook page says:-

Googling seems to suggest he’s right … In which case you have to ask:-

Would it be acceptable to advertise PC’s showing Windows 8 on the screen then selling them with Vista ? … or unless there was a plain to see caveat that “Images are for illustration purposes only and may not reflect what’s in the box” would it be considered false and misleading advertising ?

Or should the small 12.04 in the description legally be enough to override people natural predisposition to “trust their eyes”. I guess it’s not so important here and possibly a genuine misunderstanding/mistake, but a pet hate of mine is the recent drop in advertising standards and the obviously misleading info or even downright lies advertisers are being allowed to get away with these days.

Let me be clear here … I am in NO WAY knocking Ebuyer here, I use them regularly and in my experience they are a great company to deal with … I’m aware this is probably new territory for them and I’ve never seem them try to mislead in the past so this is AFAIK a one off and a genuine mistake where they’re probaby taking the lead from elsewhere. … this is just me bitching about modern advertising standards in a general sense and probably using a bad example … but it just happened to come up here.

6

I think it’s positive that Linux is getting any kind of marketing from the desktop perspective. Pretty cheap too - as they should be without Microsoft’s £100 new PC tax. But I thoroughly agree with your suggestion of Mint/Peppermint, as the change in desktop paradigm will have put a lot of people off of Windows 8. I think it’s ironic that Ubuntu pushed the change in desktop first, Microsoft sort-of copied it, then had their fingers burnt ;D

Regardless, it’s a good move they’ve made there in promoting Linux for the cheaper machines. When you don’t want/need a powerhouse machine, when a basic one will do, why pay an extra 20-30% to Microsoft for it? Don’t know if that argument will hold post-Windows 10 though, Microsoft’s licensing gets a bit wacky :-\

7

Microsoft’s £100 new PC tax. ??

8

The “Microsoft Tax” (aka “Windows Tax”, a play on the fact that historically there actually was a tax on glass windows in the UK) was so called because it’s virtually impossible to buy most models of PC without Windows preinstalled … so even if you don’t want Windows you are still going to have to pay for it.

9

Thanks for that Mark.
When I went to buy my laptop, the first stop was Currys/PCWorld.
Computers all had pre installed Win 8.1 and the sales staff didn’t give a rats shxt if you bought one or not.
Needless to say we didn’t buy.
I went to Novatech and bought a machine without an OS, installed Peppermint 6 (now) and have managed so far (with your help) to run what I want.
I think Novatech would install an OS for a fee (not Linux, although they are responding to Linux/Novatech problems a bit better now)

10

I’m not saying Novatech do this, but what p*sses me off more than the Windows tax is when The same PC is sold for pretty much the same price without Windows … so the OEM (or shop) is not paying Microsoft for Windows but not passing that saving on to the customer, instead using the Windows tax to increase their own margin.

11

Mark, I think you are forgetting that the OEM (or shop) is loosing the revenue from other preinstalled trial/crapware which they would normally get if it was Windows. :wink:

12

Ah yes, sorry, it’s okay then :o
(OEM’s:- that was sarcasm in case you missed it)