[ubuntu-uk] pre installed ubuntu laptops?

[Alan Bell]

alan c wrote:
> It is a situation in the shallow end of a probably a much deeper
> populist swing away from Windows. The customer is a friend of an
> elderly non technical friend of mine. My friend found that their
> existing old laptop was grinding to a halt with XP, was happy to try
> Ubuntu in earnest.
>
> This was a remarkable success, and Ubuntu 8.04.2 ran the machine
> reasonably fast. It looked like a different machine. A very great
> difference from the XP experience which was previously moving the
> person helplessly towards a purchase of a completely new laptop.
>
> Seeing the newfound joy of a reincarnated laptop, a friend of the
> friend found that their own fear of failure with Windows was not valid
> with Ubuntu, so that friend is now happily seeking to purchase their
> own and very first computer - laptop.
>
> However, it has to be Ubuntu, not Windows.
> I would gladly install Ubuntu on a new laptop for the friend as long
> as I could be sure that it would all work after the money was spent.
>
> Although there is a strong resistance to paying for a useless Windows
> tax, and also there is an attraction in supporting  the good guys, the
> main factor is simply lack of information about hardware and its
> compatibility with - say - ubuntu 9.04. So just nakedness in a laptop
> is not sufficient for my needs here.
>   

I quite agree, nakedcomputers.org doesn't quite fill your need of 
compatibility assurance with our favorite operating system. The 
advantage of the naked computers site is that it is an easy concept to 
communicate and doesn't introduce things people haven't heard of. 
Imagine the following protest chants:

What do we want?
    Ubuntu Linux pre-installed on documented hardware with Free and Open 
drivers for all components!
When do we want it?
    Now!

erm, ok, maybe 10% of people understood that, and 2% agree with it. Lets 
try again.

What do we want?
    Naked Computers!
When do we want it?
    Now!

With that you have won the hearts and minds of 90% of the population 
before you have got to the second word.
 It is a much more campaign-able subject than pure software freedom 
advocacy.

Alan.