5 ms·

I bought an XPS13 in 2012 or so with Ubuntu preinstalled and it was rock solid for years (although I ran Fedora on it). I remember buying it was really difficu

I bought an XPS13 in 2012 or so with Ubuntu preinstalled and it was rock solid for years (although I ran Fedora on it). I remember buying it was really difficult, it wasn't listed on the UK website and in the end I had to phone their sales number and was passed through several people who'd never heard of Ubuntu. A few days later I received an email with a link to an unlisted store item that had the same photos as the equivalent Windows model, but it was about £30 cheaper. Snook is an apt word for my experience, hope it's improved.

Freak_NL 3y ago
Dell is definitely weird about this; I had the same experience. Perfectly satisfied with my laptop (an XPS 13 with Ubuntu on it bought a few years ago), but Dell's online store is just bonkers.
- mcbutterbunz 3y ago
  I Googled XPS 13 and go to configure it but can’t find an option to choose Ubuntu, only downgrade to Windows 11 Home. It is weird.
  - hdjjhhvvhga 3y ago
    I see nothing weird here, Microsoft has been punishing OEM manufacturers for bundling Linux (or, more precisely, for not bundling a MS system on the computers they are selling) since at least 1983.[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows
  - frei 3y ago
    I had to search "developer edition" https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-13-plus-developer-edition/spd/xps-13-9320-laptop/usexcucto9320rpl01 https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-13-plus-dev...
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - pja 3y ago
    IIRC with the current XPS range only the "pro" variants offer you the choice of a Linux install.
  - mattl 3y ago
    Used to be dell.com/linux
jchw 3y ago
I suspect this happened because when DELL first launched laptops with Linux, it gave them some surprising bad press. Certainly the most famous being the woman who apparently was dropping out of college as a result of accidentally ordering a Ubuntu DELL laptop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qj8p-PEwbI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qj8p-PEwbI This probably seems like a weird one-off, but this story went pretty viral, of course it went viral on the internet for other reasons, but I'm sure the blame being placed squarely on DELL probably did lead to them being a bit spooked about consumer confusion. The fact that nobody at DELL or elsewhere could just tell her that she can in fact, pretty easily install Windows on the machine is... well, a little frustrating to say the least. The college's IT department was aware enough of Linux to be able to say they can handle it, but not enough to say "Y'know, just for what it's worth... You can just buy and install Windows."
- TaylorAlexander 3y ago
  I have no evidence for this but you can imagine someone at Microsoft saying "Dell has started selling laptops without Windows! We need to run an 'information campaign' to tell people why they should not use Ubuntu! Let's cough 'find' a college student who lost everything because of this operating system and then feed it to a local news channel." I can't say if this happened, but the whole story sounds like a dark PR campaign to spread fear about Dell's choice and try to take some steam out of their rollout. Microsoft obviously had a lot of money on the line if Dell found success with Ubuntu.
  - ndiddy 3y ago
    Microsoft did an anti-Linux retail PR campaign around the Windows 7 launch, as netbooks with vendor-specific Linux distributions were starting to gain traction. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/09/microsoft-teaches-best-buy-employees-how-to-troll-linux-users/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/09/micro...
- bloqs 3y ago
  This absolutely REEKS of earlier-time corpo PR skullduggery.
cryptoz 3y ago
I also bought an XPS13 around 2012, and paid for the Ubuntu version. The receipt even said Ubuntu on it. But they shipped me the Windows one! Returned and refunded based on their phone support, they said installing Linux on it would void the warranty. Never tried again, too much hassle.

Freak_NL 3y ago

Dell is definitely weird about this; I had the same experience. Perfectly satisfied with my laptop (an XPS 13 with Ubuntu on it bought a few years ago), but Dell's online store is just bonkers.

mcbutterbunz 3y ago
I Googled XPS 13 and go to configure it but can’t find an option to choose Ubuntu, only downgrade to Windows 11 Home. It is weird.
- hdjjhhvvhga 3y ago
  I see nothing weird here, Microsoft has been punishing OEM manufacturers for bundling Linux (or, more precisely, for not bundling a MS system on the computers they are selling) since at least 1983.[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows
- frei 3y ago
  I had to search "developer edition" https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-13-plus-developer-edition/spd/xps-13-9320-laptop/usexcucto9320rpl01 https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-13-plus-dev...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- pja 3y ago
  IIRC with the current XPS range only the "pro" variants offer you the choice of a Linux install.
- mattl 3y ago
  Used to be dell.com/linux

jchw 3y ago

I suspect this happened because when DELL first launched laptops with Linux, it gave them some surprising bad press. Certainly the most famous being the woman who apparently was dropping out of college as a result of accidentally ordering a Ubuntu DELL laptop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qj8p-PEwbI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qj8p-PEwbI This probably seems like a weird one-off, but this story went pretty viral, of course it went viral on the internet for other reasons, but I'm sure the blame being placed squarely on DELL probably did lead to them being a bit spooked about consumer confusion. The fact that nobody at DELL or elsewhere could just tell her that she can in fact, pretty easily install Windows on the machine is... well, a little frustrating to say the least. The college's IT department was aware enough of Linux to be able to say they can handle it, but not enough to say "Y'know, just for what it's worth... You can just buy and install Windows."

TaylorAlexander 3y ago
I have no evidence for this but you can imagine someone at Microsoft saying "Dell has started selling laptops without Windows! We need to run an 'information campaign' to tell people why they should not use Ubuntu! Let's cough 'find' a college student who lost everything because of this operating system and then feed it to a local news channel." I can't say if this happened, but the whole story sounds like a dark PR campaign to spread fear about Dell's choice and try to take some steam out of their rollout. Microsoft obviously had a lot of money on the line if Dell found success with Ubuntu.
- ndiddy 3y ago
  Microsoft did an anti-Linux retail PR campaign around the Windows 7 launch, as netbooks with vendor-specific Linux distributions were starting to gain traction. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/09/microsoft-teaches-best-buy-employees-how-to-troll-linux-users/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/09/micro...
bloqs 3y ago
This absolutely REEKS of earlier-time corpo PR skullduggery.

cryptoz 3y ago

I also bought an XPS13 around 2012, and paid for the Ubuntu version. The receipt even said Ubuntu on it. But they shipped me the Windows one! Returned and refunded based on their phone support, they said installing Linux on it would void the warranty. Never tried again, too much hassle.