In the US Dell has famously started offering Ubuntu on selected machines as a direct alternative to XP or Vista. Fortunately these machines cost less than their Windows counterparts and that's good, but Dell really should consider moving beyond offering Ubuntu; and here's why.

In cases where computers are available pre-installed with either Linux or Windows, it is almost always the case that either (a) the Linux one is slightly less expensive or (b) the Windows one is actually less expensive, so you might as well just buy the Windows version and install Linux. Apparently, this is not always the case.

Canonical, the company behind the Linux distro Ubuntu, has collaborated with software distributor ValuSoft to sell a boxed version of Ubuntu 8.04 into Best Buy retail stores.

Linux distributor Canonical is putting a price tag on packaged Ubuntu installation CDs and making them available for purchase on shelves in retail stores.

No real surprises here, we knew the Classmate PC would be showing up at retail stores for a slight premium -- 16,998 Philippine pesos is about $408 US dollars --

Essentially, all major computer retail stores will carry computers with Ubuntu pre-installed by the end of 2008 or early 2009, predicted a Canonical manager who met with The VAR Guy at OSCON. But this isn’t another Linux desktop PC story. In this case, the computers are Netbooks (also known as sub-notebooks). Here’s the scoop.

Initially, I was skeptical about Dell's decision to sell selected consumer PCs with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed.

But after a few days of testing, I'm a skeptic no more. And I'm not alone. Dell insiders tell me that the Ubuntu PCs, introduced in late May, are selling well -- though they decline to share exact sales figures with me.

It would appear that Dell is making life difficult for UK customers who want to buy a Dell PC running Linux. Being a snooping journalist myself, I went to have a look for myself and indeed it is a lot harder to buy a Linux powered Dell than all the hype, fuelled in no small part by the Dell PR machine of course, would lead you to believe.

With Dell's new Ubuntu offerings, everyone had been wondering how much cheaper, if any, an Ubuntu PC would be compared to a PC with Windows Vista on it. Now that Dell has actually posted their Ubuntu offerings, I've configured some similar PCs on their site and compared them. I'm pleasantly surprised - the Ubuntu machines are noticeably cheaper.