Dell's 'Love Letter' to Linux: Now You See It, Now You Don't?

Dell gave Ubuntu Linux a wet, sloppy kiss on its Web site recently, asserting that the distro is just plain safer than Microsoft Windows. It was item No. 6 on Dell's list of things people should know about Ubuntu, and Linux lovers were pleasantly surprised by the candor. Within days, though, the mention of Windows had been removed. "To be honest, I'm surprised that Dell had that up as long as they did,".

Well, it's been an emotional rollercoaster ride here in the Linux blogosphere in recent days, thanks to Dell's proclamation -- and then apparent retraction -- of its love for Linux.

"Ubuntu is safer than Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows" read item No. 6 on Dell's "Top 10 list of things you should know about Ubuntu" as recently the middle of this month. "The vast majority of viruses and spyware written by hackers are not designed to target and attack Linux," it added.
"Hoorah!" one might say. "At long last!"
Dell's uplifting words of endearment caused considerable joy and jubilation among Linux aficionados far and wide, including The VAR Guy, Network World and the rowdy crowd over at Digg, among many others.
Too bad it didn't last.

'Ubuntu Is Secure'

Sometime between the June 16 and 21, apparently, Dell thought better of its little public display of affection and carefully reworded that particular item.
The new wording: "Ubuntu is secure," item No. 6 now reads. "According to industry reports, Ubuntu is unaffected by the vast majority of viruses and spyware."
Foul!
Bloggers everywhere could be heard expressing sentiments to that effect when the news broke, and Linux Girl was no exception.
 To be honest, I'm surprised that Dell had that up as long as they did."It's not that Microsoft would take objection to their saying nice things about Linux -- Dell is still saying nice things about Linux, after all -- it's that they were undermining the promotion of a competing product that they also sell." The original wording, in fact, "was an extraordinarily bad idea from a business perspective, and somebody at Dell dropped the copy-editing ball by allowing it to be posted,".
Ubuntu may be safer, "but you have to have a CS degree to run it," he explained. "If I lock a Windows box in concrete and bury it, the box will be pretty safe too, but not very usable."
"As long as Dell isn't saying something like, 'Windows is more secure than Linux' or 'Linux is not secure,' and as long as they're actually providing models they certify for Ubuntu, I'll definitely check dell.com/ubuntu before purchasing a computer,"
Even more to the point: "It's safe and secure. Over 95 percent of viruses, spyware and other types of malware are designed and targeted to attack Microsoft Windows," the video asserts. "So, by definition, if you're not running Microsoft Windows and if you're running Linux, you just don't have to worry about malware and viruses and spyware."