Hi Folks - Here's some things I didn't know (Leonovo and the significant pricing advantage over Vista, which I never expected to be passed on to customers...) ''...Until recently, major PC makers shied away from Linux. Now the industry is watching as Dell is selling two Linux-equipped desktop models ($549 and $870, including a monitor) and a $774 notebook PC. (Hewlett-Packard offers Linux systems to businesses, and Lenovo, the Chinese company that bought I.B.M.’s PC division, sells Linux machines in China and says it will soon offer Linux-based computers in the United States.) The Ubuntu version of Linux runs the Dell computers. Because Dell does not have to pay a licensing fee for the operating system, the computers are $80 cheaper than PCs with Windows Vista Home Premium or $50 cheaper than the stripped-down Vista Basic edition. ... '' Positive vibes: ''...Ubuntu is generally regarded as one of the more consumer-friendly versions of Linux, so the Linux PC experience is similar to what you would get with a Windows-equipped Dell. When you start the machine, the screen looks familiar; preinstalled applications can easily be found and run from an Applications menu at the top left of the screen. A “Places” menu lets you search for files, and a System menu is there for setting preferences and finding help. And there is a lot more than just an operating system. Ubuntu, like some other Linux distributions, comes with a lot of free software, including OpenOffice, an alternative to the Microsoft Office suite with a full-featured word processor, spreadsheet, database and presentation program. It also comes with the popular Firefox Web browser as well as an e-mail program, an instant messaging program, a graphic image editor, music player and a photo manager. Thanks to open source developers, there are thousands more free programs. An Add/Remove function actually makes finding programs easier with Linux than it is for Mac and Windows. Without having to go to Web sites, it lets you browse through categories of software. It took me only seconds to find several additional music players, a PDF reader and other programs. In addition to downloading the software, this feature installs it and finds any necessary additional files. ...'' http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/technology/circuits/04basics.html?_r=1&ex=1349150400&en=f1e147767abb91ac&ei=512&oref=slogin I guess "a rising tide lifts all boats" but Fedora is invisible. I did a quick google earlier and the closest reference I found was a suspected fake $150 laptop, and a RHEL 5 Desktop preinstall you can buy, probably at some premium. At this rate it starts to seem, considering that eventually someone I know will get one of these and expect the level of meddling I can do for Fedora, that perhaps one can no longer practically avoid getting experienced with The Debian Way as well as the Redhat Way... -Andy
