Open Source Blog

“This is historically a vocal community... so I'm not surprised they would express very strongly a desire to be recognized through Dell IdeaStorm. We have to peer more deeply into the data and see whether underneath that vocal component is also a commercial component, folks who would genuinely vote with their wallets,” he said.

“Based on the numbers it appears that there is that underlying commercial level of demand, and what we're about to do is step up to service that demand.”

Dell also noted that it will continue to support Red Hat's Enterprise Linux on its Precision workstation line, while Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is certified on its Linux systems. Nevertheless, the choice of Ubuntu is a significant endorsement for the community driven Linux distribution.

Expanding on the implications of the announcements for Linux, Shuttleworth doubted that it would have an immediate impact on desktop Linux adoption, but did point to longer term growth. “I don't think there's going to be a big bang event when the world suddently shifts from one platform to another but I think that Linux is coming into its own as a viable, reliable platform,” he said.

“An initiative like this from Dell is phenomenally important in raising the attention in the industry of the importance of Linux as a platform. I think one of the consequences of this is going to be lots of computer consultants out there that have Linux expertise but have never talked about it are going to say 'we have Linux too'.”