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Dell Offers FreeDOS With New PCs
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Real Programmers don't eat quiche. They eat Twinkies and Szechwan food.
Real Programmers don't eat quiche. They eat Twinkies and Szechwan food.
I for one (Score:2, Interesting)
FreeDOS (Score:2, Interesting)
IMO, This is great (Score:5, Interesting)
Why FreeDos Opposed to Linux?
If its because of some MS rules, then I understand. If not, they should include more options.
Eather way, they are allowing an OSS OS to be bundled. GOOD LUCK TO DELL!
Re:Is this new? (Score:5, Interesting)
justice dept. (Score:4, Interesting)
Are they doing this for the pirateers out there? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Yes but... (Score:5, Interesting)
So you can put on whatever OS you want and Dell doesn't owe you software support. Obviously, this deal is designed to appeal to geeks who want cheap systems.
Re:IMO, This is great (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is this new? (Score:5, Interesting)
Next I'll think about replacing my server! At ~300$ I can't afford not to upgrade!
CB
Re:Yes but... (Score:3, Interesting)
There is a lot of old DOS software that is still in use by people with old hardware that don't want to upgrade. Such as small businesses that can't afford consultants that still use the same Point of Sale equipment they bought 10 years ago. They can't afford an IT guy, let alone one that can set up a Linux system for them, and a new system would cost way too much. If their computer dies and they don't have the DOS disk anymore they can use FreeDos to install on another computer, or buy a Dell preloaded with it.
Another example are non-profit organizations such as churches, that also don't have money to spend on technology consultants and still try to use the software they already have. In fact I just spent Saturday morning at my church working on a DOS machine. They have a geneology library that is open to the community to come and do family history with, and they use old DOS software for it. Someone donated a 486 to them and I set it up so they could use their existing software. That one already had DOS, but if they get a computer in without an OS, or if I have to replace a harddrive, FreeDos will be the first thing I try.
Also on the freedos site they mention that freedos is used a lot by hardware manufactuers who need to make a bootable floppy do things like flash rom for bios updates and such.
AMD Next? (Score:2, Interesting)
Not even close (Score:2, Interesting)
Try Walmart getting into the picture [forbes.com].
The blood is about to flow and Dell knows it. They are going to be slashing to the bone to prevent losing what could turn out to be major market share on the low end in the long run.
Eliminating the microsoft tax is one way of slashing, especially since it isn't a trivial tax. Better to test Microsoft now so they can prepare for the oncoming war, than to wait and lose market share.
Microsoft may dominate the market currently, but Dell sees the writing on the wall. It will only take one large distributor who doesn't have to pay the Microsoft tax to have a huge price advantage, and who will turn the market upside down.
This is simply Dell battening down the hatches before the storm.
Re:Required to have an OS (Score:1, Interesting)
Who is doing the requiring ?
Surely not MS, the company that was enjoined from making such requirements on OEMs ? Couldn't be, right ?
Re:It feels wrong. (Score:4, Interesting)
I prefer to think of it as getting a happymeal toy that lets you record your own messages, rather than just repeating "Can we go to McDonalds", "I love Ronald", and "Big Macs don't make you fat", over and over and over.
Realistically, you can do two things with one of these (and no, I don't include "install FreeDOS" as a viable option)... You can install Linux on it, or you can install the version of Windows you bought for your old machine (which, assuming you remove it from your old machine, you won't violate any likely-to-stand-in-court aspects of the Windows EULA).
If there's no MS tax, why so pricey? (Score:5, Interesting)
- Harddrive Upgrade to 60GB
- Internal Optical Combo CDRW/DVD
- Memory 512MB
- Model 17" LCD
- Processor Upg. to 2.66 Ghz P4m
- Software ProductivityPak,GamePak,SolitaireAce
- Wireless None
$1,938
iMac 17" [apple.com]
512MB DDR333 - 2 DIMMs
80GB Ultra ATA drive
Keyboard/Mac OS X - U.S. English
17-inch flat panel LCD
1.25GHz PowerPC G4
4x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
Apple Keyboard
Apple Mouse
Apple Pro Speakers
$1,899.00
iMac is cheaper, has a dedicated graphics card, a professionally supported UNIX OS, a better processor for any sort of media, better built-in software, a 4x DVD-R, and 20GB more HD space, not to mention the better design and compatibility with all sorts of other devices. Plus options for internal bluetooth, etc.
And people say Macs are expensive?
Re:IMO, This is great (Score:4, Interesting)
The new desktops appear to be a slick interpretation of Microsoft's new licensing terms and a way to navigate customer demand for PCs without an OS installed. The Microsoft licensing terms, which were put in place on Aug. 1, specify that PC makers must ship PCs with an operating system. The new policy exists to prevent piracy and to better track OS shipments.
System Specs (Score:2, Interesting)
- Dell Dimension 2400N
- Intel(R) Celeron(R) Processor at 2.4GHz with 400MHz front side bus
- 128MB Shared DDR SDRAM at 333MHz
- FreeDOS(TM) included in the box, ready to install
- Dell(TM) Quietkey(R) Keyboard
- Dell(R) 2-Button Scroll Mouse
- 40GB ATA/100 Value Hard Drive
- No Floppy Drive Included
- No monitor
- Integrated Intel(R) 3D Extreme Graphics
- Integrated Audio
- No Speakers
- Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
- No Modem
- 1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year On-site Service
Beef up the memory a little and you got yourself a nice home file server or project box.
Why not Knoppix? (Score:3, Interesting)
What good is a DOS box to a company? (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm sure there are other examples where Windows is neither needed nor wanted by a corporation, but where primitive DOS still rules the day. Even Linux would be too big (and overkill to boot) to run in these things. DOS is small, simple, stable, and runs well on slow processors in as little as 640K of memory.
It all depends on what you're doing.
Re:Is this new? (Score:3, Interesting)
Furthermore, if you're depending upon Dell's warranty to save your ass when your motherboard blows its zap, I feel sorry for you. You're far better off (if you have the technical skill) to buy some high-quality, truly off-the-shelf components and put together a real PC that you can maintain yourself.
Re:Is this new? (Score:3, Interesting)
Where I work we have a corporate support contract on the Dell desktops so we have to go through Dell to get our memory. I wanted to add an extra 512 MB of RDRAM and Dell wanted over $500 for it! You can get it on the net for half that price. The same thing for DDR. Go to Dell's site and customize a PC and add about 256MB of memory to one. They will charge you over $100 when you can get in on the net for $40 or so.
Also, pray that as a home user you never need to call Dell's tech support. Your getting routed over to India and if you don't speak Hindi, your in for a rough time.
Not True. I work there (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I bet a large number of buyers will run MS on t (Score:2, Interesting)
This will not work for Microsoft Enterprise Licence customers because the "site" licences are in fact upgrades for an OEM pre-installed version of Windows. In other words, if a business were to buy a machine with just FreeDOS on it, they would not be elligible to just install Windows.
According to Microsoft, you are not paying for Windows twice.
Dirty Play? (Score:2, Interesting)
1)A Major computer vendor makes a contract with MS to sell the majority of their systems with Windows. The more systems they sell with Windows the cheaper the copies of Windows get for the vendor. The cheaper the copies of Windows get, the more money they make.
2)The vendor, one day, decides to try to knock it's Open-Source, non-MS loving customers off of their list of problems. They find the worst open-source distro (of anything) that they can find. Not bad enough not to boot the computer, but bad enough not to be feasible for day to day use.
3)They make a deal with MS that they will be able to sell X number of copies at FULL price in return for some sort of favor. MS oblidges and gives permission to the vendor to sell the non-MS systems.
4)The vendor ships low quality systems with a low quality open-source POS distro. Bill Gates chuckles and gets richer.
5) The customers who buy the systems buy them for the price (incredibly low without Windows.) Then they find that they have no easily workable OS. Since they are not enlightened, they only know of two OS's: Windows and Mac OS. Since Mac OS only runs on a Mac, they decide to get Windows.
6) They go back to the computer vendor complaining that they don't have Windows. The vendor says: "Oh, that's OK, I'll fix that." and sells them a copy of XP or 2k at the normal (non-OEM) price. To ensure repeat business, they give you a $15 discount because you just bought from them.
7) The end result? The customer thinks highly of the vendor (for healping him with his problem and giving him a discount.) The customer is dipleased with open-source software in general (because he is told that the "broken" distro he got is representative of the whole open-source world.) The vendor has killed three birds with one stone. The vendor has a good deal with MS, made more money from the customer, and hurt open-source.
Wow. I hope that if Dell is not already doing that, that they don't read
Re:If there's no MS tax, why so pricey? (Score:3, Interesting)
Plus, there's something about being able to upgrade that PC as needed, instead of being locked into Apple's (or Dell's) lame "throw away the whole computer and buy a new one" scheme.
E.g., do I need new hard drives? Not really.
Do I need to buy a new OS _minor_ version every year, like you Mac fans seem happy to? Hell, no. This here Windows 2000 (full version, and yes, paid for) still runs everything perfectly. Maybe because unlike Apple, Microsoft can stick to an API, instead of blundering through "oh, this year we're using a completely different kernel" experiments.
Do I need a new LCD monitor with each PC, like you iMac lemmings get? Nope.
So putting that all together, it's cost me about 1000$ to swap a new mobo, an A64 3200+ and a Radeon 9800 XT into the existing computer. Even if I'm to add the price of the already bought 16ms LCD monitor (which is light-years ahead of the lame cheap-ass panel in the iMac), I still end up under 1500$.
And unlike the Mac, I can actually run games on this machine.
So what do we have? In one corner, the fastest (non-overclocked) gaming PC money can buy. In the other corner a lame iMac which is useless for anything except web browsing. No, thanks. I'll stick to my PC, and save a bunch of money in the process.
Haven't had a dead CPU _ever_, and surprisingly enough the memory was true to the specs printed on it. (E.g., surprisingly enough, if you were a cheapskate and bought CL3 RAM, don't expect it to run at CL2.) Also surprisingly enough, the machine booted on the first try. Go figure.
So, please... just because you're the non-technical kind who's terminally affraid to install a CPU, doesn't mean everyone else is in the same bracket. You stick to your Macs, I'll stick to my PC.
Re:Is this new? (Score:3, Interesting)
Out of curiosity, when you purchased these servers, was a windows CD included? Numerous times I have bought a "linux" server from HP or Dell, only to find out I payed for a Windows OS anyway, it just was not installed...
YMMV, of course
--rhad