Don't buy HP computers

[Dotan Cohen]

>> However, now the hundreds of ubuntu-users list members know to avoid
>> HP computers.
>
> ... no, they don't know that they should avoid HP, because
> 1. It's not surprising news that there's no Linux support for this
> machine. Otherwise, it very likely would have been advertised.

Agreed.

> 2. There's a major difference between Linux not being *supported* by the
> manufacturer and Linux not *working* on a specific machine (I don't
> doubt that Karl is right on the former but I don't consider Karl's
> statement on the latter as trustworthy information).

Agreed. None of my machines are supported by the manufacturer.

> 3. "Thou shalt not buy any machine from XYZ because I have found a
> particular one from XYZ that doesn't work with Linux" (let's assume it
> really doesn't) is simply nonsense.

That works for rational people, and as personal policy I agree.
However, if you want to influence a company you do not do so with
rational. You do so with money. Influencing a large population to
abstain from a company's product is losing them money.

> 4. At best, people now know that Karl may have a specific problem with a
> specific HP machine in a specific dual-boot scenario with Vista. But
> they do *not* know whether this problem is caused by the machine, Karl,
> Vista or something else. Nor do they know if no-one can fix it or if
> just Karl is not able to.
>

They also know that HP has no interest in the subject of this mailing
list (Ubuntu Linux). Which was the point of this thread.

> Again:
> Should we let vendors/manufacturers know that we want to run Linux on
> their machines? Absolutely!
> Should we check if Linux *works* on the machine we intend to to buy
> before we buy it? Absolutely!
> Should we let manufacturers know that we didn't buy one of their
> machines because Linux didn't *work* on it? Absolutely!
> Should we base our decision which machine to buy on the availability of
> Linux *support*? Let everyone decide this on his specific needs. If you
> really want to do so, be prepared that your choice will be very limited
> and be prepared to pay for it one way or the other.
>

I agree with every point.

> BTW: Lenovo/IBM doesn't provide Linux *support* for my T60. Nevertheless
> it *works* like a charm running Linux.
>

As does my Dell (bought before they came with Linux). But that is not the point.

-- 
Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il