"scrappy skunkworks project"

But why should Dell kit (or any kit) need a specially modified version of Ubuntu?

By seagull on 29 Nov 2012

How can they justify charging more for software that's available for free?

By rowanparker_uk on 29 Nov 2012

@rowanparker_uk

They won't sell as many so they have to get the costs back quicker I guess

By TimoGunt on 29 Nov 2012

No way

I am a developer and I love Ubuntu, but... the Dell XPS 13 running Windows 7 64bit sells online for $1,200. I don't see why I should pay the extra $300 for Ubuntu.

By tr00don on 29 Nov 2012

But ...

Why would the target audience not just buy the Windows version and install Ubuntu themselves? They save some money and they have a Windows licence too.

Or have Dell managed to lock this down by close-sourcing the drivers? Would Canonical let them do this? A bit of a betrayal of the open-source ethos if they have!

By JohnAHind on 30 Nov 2012

Services

I noticed in a video announcing the launch of Project Sputnik as an official product, that one of the services through the laptop was JuJu, a Canonical product. My guess is the reason it costs a little more than it's Windows counterpart is that a Developer who buys the Ubuntu version is paying for the Canonical services included with the laptop. Anyways, even though the Ubuntu version is a bit more expensive, I would still buy it over the Windows laptop. If we support our Linux, then maybe we could get some consumer products down the line too.

By 1roxtar on 30 Nov 2012

Services

I noticed in a video announcing the launch of Project Sputnik as an official product, that one of the services through the laptop was JuJu, a Canonical product. My guess is the reason it costs a little more than it's Windows counterpart is that a Developer who buys the Ubuntu version is paying for the Canonical services included with the laptop. Anyways, even though the Ubuntu version is a bit more expensive, I would still buy it over the Windows laptop. If we support our Linux, then maybe we could get some consumer products down the line too.

By 1roxtar on 30 Nov 2012

Pricing has been corrected.

FYI, Dell has corrected the pricing, now *less* than the equivalent Windows version at: $1,449.00

By RobbieW on 30 Nov 2012