Dell says sorry for charging for free software

BOX SHIFTER, Dell has admitted overcharging punters for installing Ubuntu on their machines.

Linux fans were incandescent with rage when they noticed that Dell was charging users $250 more than similar PCs equipped with Windows. This is a bit of a problem because Ubuntu is free, whereas Vista home certainly is not.

On its corporate bog, Direct2Dell.com Dell said that it was a "simple oversight" and the machines should be $50 less than a version of the Inspiron 1420 computer with Voleware on board.

A spokesDell said that the error has been fixed and you should find the similar promotions on both Ubuntu and Vista systems. However, there has been no mention of refunds for anyone daft enough to buy one and pay the extra for free software. Maybe no-one was that silly.

More here. µ