[ubuntu-uk] DELL w/Ubuntu available in the UK

[Tony Arnold]

Mark,

Mark Harrison wrote:
> Tony Arnold wrote:
>> I've never understood how or why this works! Why should the vendor of
>> the bloatware pay Dell to install it? Surelly, Dell should buy a license
>> for the bloatware from its vendor and pass this on to the customer. It
>> just seems counter intutitive to me, but then I work in a University and
>> have almost zero understanding of how business works!
>>   
> It's the "free trial" principle.
> 
> The software that's included is something like a 30-day version of a 
> paint program, or a 6-month subscription to an anti-virus product.
> 
> Once the customer is hooked on the product, it's easier for them to get 
> out a credit card and pay the fee to enable it for longer than to start 
> looking around for alternatives.

Ah! That makes sense. I've never bought a machine from a retailer with
pre-installed software, so I've never experienced this. Just goes to
show that there are even more potential hidden costs to the Vista
machine that aren't there with FL/OSS.

> On the bright side, sometimes this approach gets people into FL/OSS 
> software.... my brother, for instance, used the paint program until it 
> expired, decided he needed a paint program, and now uses The GIMP.

I bet you influenced your brother in his decision! Most people, I'm
sure, will just cough up the money being unaware of the free alternatives.

> Once you've got someone on The GIMP, OpenOffice, Firefox and 
> Thunderbird, it's not a long stretch to get them onto Ubuntu....

This is very true.

Regards,
Tony.
-- 
Tony Arnold, IT Security Coordinator, University of Manchester,
IT Services Division, Kilburn Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL.
T: +44 (0)161 275 6093, F: +44 (0)870 136 1004, M: +44 (0)773 330 0039
E: tony.arnold at manchester.ac.uk, H: http://www.man.ac.uk/Tony.Arnold