Dell to offer OS-free laptops, no pre-installed Linux

In yet another attempt to revive sagging sales, Dell has announced that it will start selling OS-free laptops, aimed squarely at the IT and Linux enthusiast markets. While some outlets initially reported that the company will ship laptops with pre-installed open-source software, it now appears that that's not the case. Despite the fact that over 85,000 users requested pre-installed Linux and 55,000 requested pre-installed OpenOffice on Dell's IdeaStorm feedback site, the company will not offer open-source software as an option in configurations. The company explained in a statement that the decision was made due to the number of Linux variants available. "There is no single customer preference for a distribution of Linux," the company said. "We don't want to pick one distribution and alienate users with a preference for another." While pre-installed Linux would have been nice, most true geeks would wipe the machine's drive and reinstall anyway, so having to choose your own adventure on a blank laptop isn't so bad.

For more on the OS-free laptops:
- see this Ars Technica article