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I explained to the cheery person who answered the phone that I was doing as instructed, and ringing in order to buy some Ubuntu-based Dell systems. Their first question was: why do you want to do that? This was said in a tone of voice that suggested I was some kind of weirdo who shouldn't be allowed to wander the telephone networks doing stupid things like trying to order Dell systems running GNU / Linux. When I insisted that I wanted a PC with Ubuntu, and *not* with Windows 7, they informed me that the cat had eaten the last one, or words to that effect, and the conversation came to an abrupt end.

Undeterred, I rang again a few days later, hoping that I had just struck unlucky, speaking to the one person on the team who secretly hated Ubuntu. Once more, there was the insistence that Dell definitely did not sell Ubuntu systems, no Sir. When I pointed out that there was a web page that suggested Dell really *lurved* Ubuntu, and that it had their telephone number for people who wanted to buy one, they suggested I should use the online chat facility instead – evidently keen to get rid of me one way or another.

So, returning to the Dell UK web site, I proceeded to initiate said chat session. And this did, indeed, seem to be with someone who knew more about those mythical GNU / Linux systems. While he confirmed that Dell absolutely did not sell laptops with Ubuntu (despite what the web site indicated in some of the technical specifications), he did hold out a vague hope for desktop systems. The only problem was that he couldn't find information about them, so he said he would get somebody else to phone me back with details.

Somebody did, and he seemed to confirm that there might indeed still be a few systems running Ubuntu on offer from Dell UK. However, instead of telling me what those were, and letting me buy one, this new Dell person asked me to send him the specifications of the machine I was interested in purchasing, and then he would would tell me whether they could supply it.

This seemed a huge step backwards for e-commerce – and for GNU / Linux on the desktop – but hey-ho, let's try, I thought. So off went the email, and in due course I received...nothing. Well, emails get lost, people get busy, etc., so I sent a gentle little reminder, waited, and finally...gave up.

Moreover, I had only got to this point because I am a dogged, awkward so-and-so, one who fights the good fight and hungers after free software truth: had I been Joe Bloggs, I would probably not even have started on this quest, because the main page dealing with Ubuntu systems was neither visible nor findable using the web site's search engine, and could only be accessed using what amounted to a secret address that I happened to know.

Why is Dell making this so hard? Why won't they put this stuff on their web site along with the Windows systems? It would be so easy: when it comes to customising your system, you would simply have the additional option of adding Ubuntu (assuming it were compatible – if not, it wouldn't appear). This is not rocket science, this is basic e-commerce web site design.

It seems to me that after all the fanfare of the IdeaStorm process three years ago, the company has let down the open source community in the UK in a big way here. Buying a Dell machine with GNU / Linux is perversely difficult process, and seems, ultimately, to be impossible (I'm still waiting for that email).

I'm sure I'm not the only person who would love to be able to buy a Dell Ubuntu system or two: so placing obstacle after obstacle in the way of potential customers is acting as a real brake on the uptake of GNU / Linux by general users in this country. That's a real shame – both metaphorically and literally.

Anyone got any good suggestions for where I can buy some pre-installed Ubuntu systems in the UK?

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca. For other feature articles by Glyn Moody, please see the archive.

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