The Client Linux Desktop: A Dell Case Study

(08/07/2008)

10:31

Sorry for the late start - many problems with the WiFI provider at LinuxWorld!

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:31

10:32

Cole Crawford - Dell

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:32

10:32

What is a coporate Linux Desktop?

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:32

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You have two types of users - Business and Developer

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:32

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The desktop must be complian with company standards

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10:32

can ship with "enterprise" kernels

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10:33

need to have "standard apps" required by the business

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10:33

must be secure!

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:33

10:34

The Dell Experience has been:

There is the Microsoft factor - it is everywhere in the enterprise, and is required for the business user.

Management - Dell likes ZenWorks

Room for 2 - there is room for different business users

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:34

10:35

Challenges and next steps

Virtualization
Office Productivity
Next Generation Desktops
Commodity computing
management and value proposition

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:35

10:36

Dell is actively working with Novell for more robust integration to common desktop rollouot.

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:36

10:36

Next up - Daniel Judd - Dell Client Strategy

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:36

10:40

Dell has strategies with RedHat, Novell, and Ubuntu

They are continuing to understand what the clients really want - bottom line, there needs to be proven demand for any expansion of Linux desktop distros

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:40

10:41

The first phase of Dell was to get the desktop options out there - helping motivate vendors for drivers so the hardware actually works well.

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:41

10:42

Engineering Workstation - RedHat for Dell Precision and mobile workstations

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:42

10:43

Enterprise and SMB - Novell SLED certification on Dell Precision, Optiples, and Latitude

They are going to monitor and respond to market for pre-installed OS demand - so this could change where Dell goes from a business perspective.

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:43

10:44

Consumer and Emerging - Ubuntu on Ideastorm

Going forward, they will expand the platform options and improve hardware compatibility

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:44

10:45

Dell has noticed that wireless connectivity is harder than it needs to be - boy, do I agree with that!

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:45

10:46

Lots of time, the challenge with the consumer is something as simple as does their web cam work, does their favorite app work - if those ansers are no - then Linux is not the option for them.

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:46

10:47

An audience member noted that it would be nice to purchase any Dell platform, and know that any other Linux distor could be loaded and drivers would work. Dell - over time - will get a better set of drivers. This is a time and demand driven task.

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:47

10:50

An audience member was wondering what the driver behind Linux distros drives Dell hardware decisions?

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:50

10:51

The Linux Dell distro team is very small, and therefore have to make decisions based on those stable operating systems.

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:51

10:51

For Ubuntu, they feel the 6 month release cycle is too dynamic for Dell to make a decision.

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:51

10:52

What's the profile of the customer us see using Linux and Dell hardware?

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:52

10:53

What DELL sees is that established IT or experienced users are the major consumers.

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10:53

DELL hopes this might change, and in particular with other countries like India, China, Turkey...

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Does DELL provide support for a Linux distro abroad?

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No - they are looking into this. However, they have seen most consumers preference to not burden their licensing with things they don't need or use.

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They actually see the support coming from the vendors - i.e. Ubuntu, Novell, etc.

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:54

10:59

If DELL is using Ubuntu internally, why aren't they looking to roll this out?

Thursday August 7, 2008 10:59

11:00

The team is very small, and again, internally the ability for DELL associates to do one thing is quite different than what they can do for the consumer.

Thursday August 7, 2008 11:00

11:01

For Dell, they want everything to be vary seamless - integrating a Linux desktop into a Microsoft dominated environment is key. Who ever provides that will be the distro of choice.

Thursday August 7, 2008 11:01

11:02

By working with vendors, they have influence to the distro as to what they'd like to see - they'd like the same thing with Microsoft.

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11:03

Dell feels they are there - they are rolling Linux distro out, and their goal is to keep things working.

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11:04

http://www.dell.com/nseries

These pages for hardware options are localized to the market.

Thursday August 7, 2008 11:04

11:05

What about instant on functionality in the Desktop?