Lenovo officially stopped online sales of desktop PCs and laptops with Linux as a pre-installed operating system instead of Microsoft Windows XP or Vista. A year ago, the company started shipping select models with the Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop operating system, but online sales simply weren't high enough to keep the program going.
"Our commitment to Linux has not changed," a Lenovo spokesperson told Computerworld. "What's changed is that customers will no longer be able to order Lenovo ThinkPads and ThinkCentres with pre-installed Linux via the Lenovo.com web site."
A small handful of Lenovo workstations and ThinkPads were available with Linux, but interested consumers will now have to purchase Linux-powered Lenovo products through the company's channel organization, which is designed more for business customers and not regular consumers. Suse and Red Hat Linux are already pre-certified for ThinkCentre desktops and ThinkPad laptops, with Canonical's Ubuntu Linux pre-certification in the works.
Computerworld "Cyber Cynic" Steven Vaughan-Nichols showed a certain level of disbelief at Lenovo's decision to stop offering pre-loaded Linux to home users.
"So, for the foreseeable future the first-rate ThinkPads are only going to be available, in the U.S. at least, with, not even a second-rate operating system, but that third-rate piece of operating system offal we call Vista," Vaughan-Nichols wrote. "Lenovo, how could you do this to us?"
Moving forward, the company is working on new Linux-based servers and the IdeaPad netbook over the next six weeks.
Analysts have been baffled by Lenovo's decision, as Dell and other competitors are only increasing the presence of Linux operating systems with the products they ship. In fact, when Dell opened up a suggestion site where customers could offer opinions on what the company could do to help customers, offering pre-loaded Linux was one of the most popular choices.