The bit about the warranty is surprising, since in this country, Dell are one of the few companies which openly state that their warranty is not void if you install Linux (let alone Windows).

It seems that she has been misinformed all the way down the line, but I do think Dell may be partly at fault here. I’ve just looked at their US website, and you can just pick Ubuntu or FreeDOS from the product selector on the left-hand side, and the Ubuntu laptops which come up are all netbooks and are all either $30 or $50 cheaper than the equivalent Windows XP ones. (Why they allow FreeDOS is beyond me – that is an even bigger recipe for disaster if someone who doesn’t know anything other than that it costs less gets one with that on it, although I suppose it’s good for someone who wants Linux but not Ubuntu.) In the UK, the Dell Linux machines are tucked away in a corner of their site, although Linux netbooks are readily available elsewhere.

Could someone have just gone and helped this lady get set up? Was it a case of Linux being incompatible with her hardware or her network equpiment? (That is a long-running problem, which I remember from the days of dial-up connections and “winmodems” and the old Alcatel Frog.) If you have a standard broadband connection and a router, Linux will work very well; if you have anything else, you might come unstuck.

one thing which bothered me the most after upgrading from hardy to intrepid where the regressions. Things that work and after upgrading stop working are a nuisance. (btw there are bugs for them)

seb