Luckily I didn’t buy it as it has major compatibility issues with the Nvidia Optimus chipset. Essentially the laptop can flip between a low performance intel video card and a high performance nvidia video card when using either 2d or 3d apps. Unfortunately, if you don’t run windows and use the special windows drivers, you’re in trouble. Linux does not support this video card flipping as the design for the drivers has not been released by nvidia, add to that nvidia has not released a compatible binary driver for linux either.

Short story, the video for the Dell XPS 15 is not very well supported in linux:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=161471
“You can’t use the card with Linux since you have Optimus. You’re stuck with Intel. Should’ve researched before you bought.”

So I dodged this bullet, but now I need to find an alternative laptop with the specs I need that is compatible with linux.
I run debian or ubuntu.

So I ask the lazyweb, what’s the best laptop that has all of the following features?

• 15″ screen
• Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution
• Video card that’s not entirely garbage nvidia or ati (read: not intel junk)
• Definitely NO Nvidia Optimus video chipset/config – not compatible with linux
• 9cell battery
• Core i5 2nd Generation
• 4gig ram minimum – 1333Mhz
• 7200rpm HD
• Wireless-N Wifi chipset supported in linux (probably Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 or Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 630, any well supported chipset)
• USB 3.0
• Good battery life
• Supported drivers under linux
• Preferably not a cramped keyboard layout (right shift key and arrow keys not crammed with other keys)

I’m open to suggestions for good laptop make/models, leave a comment on this post or email me at pete at geekpete.com

Thanks.

There’s also a lot of talk of Microsoft calling in the dogs with licensing checks and audits to collect more cash in times of need.

So what options do businesses have if they want to switch from XP?

They could always just use a virtual machine of xp and restore the vm when problems occur, this will not guard against new viruses and bugs though.

Hopefully a decent chunk of businesses will switch to Linux for stability and also to save immense costs if they go with a truly free distribution like Ubuntu or Debian. The cut over might be pricey but worth it in the end. Also, wine (the windows emulator) can run many windows programs quite successfully these days, so legacy apps might be ok in many cases.

In better times, not switching was an easy decision, just pay the fees and ignore the issue. Now with a severe economic downturn, windows xp unsupported, no suitable microsoft operating systems to choose from, will businesses act to move to open alternatives and save their own butts?

IT labour is now cheaper to get large migration projects completed, as people are fearing for their jobs and will take more pushing around than they would previously. So extra overtime and cheap wages might just get the job done without as big a cost hit to businesses. Such large migration projects will get the tick from management too if large cost savings can be proven. With Linux, you have a double cost saving, stability with reduced support calls along with much reduced licensing fees if you go with a free Linux distro. Ongoing support should be in the form of hiring skilled staff rather than the ignorant approach of outsourcing.

With a good collection of open skilled staff, the sky is the limit with your company and Linux.

—

Windows XP support ends today 14th April:
http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/142013,windows-xp-support-runs-out-next-week.aspx

83% of businesses surveyed won’t deploy Windows 7 next year, citing mistrust of Microsoft to stably run critical systems:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216500331&subSection=News

Microsoft fined 9 million euros over price fixing:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10216195-56.html

What are thoughts on this out there on the interwebz?

“Free software… good for the end user, but not so good for the programmer who needs to eat to survive…”

“Open source software… good for the end user, but a decidedly shaky foundation on which to build a business…”

“Closed-source, expensive, proprietary software… with a few notable exceptions, of questionable quality and/or function…”

The above comments are neither new nor insightful, but they are at the heart of the discussion that the author is trying to stir.

Whether you are an OSS zealot or a M$ fan boy, it is impossible to deny that the face of the software-as-a-business industry has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. The future for the “professional programmer” (ie: needs to get $$$ from programming) is now somewhat clouded outside of some very narrow speciality fields.

Enter the debate…

Does the new era of the computing industry have room for any of the traditional software-only companies ?

LinuxWorld Article: “Open source is dying — or maybe it isn’t”
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article/269891/open_source_dying_–_maybe_it_isn_t?fp=16&fpid=1