Listen to Jack's advice about Dell and Linux

Jack's been answering techy queries over on the Manchester Grauniad's Ask Jack column for as long as anyone can remember. "What colour iPod should I buy?", "Is the CPU the brain of the computer?" Soul-destroying work, but Jack remains resolutely cheerful every time we meet him.

But this week, Jack doesn't wait to be asked, he proclaims. Commenting on Dell's decision not to offer Linux on its PCs, pointing out quite correctly that it would be impossible to know which of the 100 or so distros and which GUI to choose, he makes a very valid point:

Mikey Dell started out with nothing and built a multi-billion dollar company. If Linux is the best thing since sliced bread, why don't the fanbois stop flaming hapless writers about how we just don't understand, get off their backsides and build some ready-to-go systems themselves? "If there's a market, it should be really easy," he says.

Adds Jack: "Sadly, most people think they should be able to buy a Dell PC running Linux for less than the cost of a Dell PC running Windows. In fact, they usually cost more."

Please don't flame us on this one, read the whole thing over here and have a pop at Jack instead. µ

L'INQ
Grauniad