Dell has refuted Microsoft’s claims that returns of netbooks loaded with Linux are considerably higher than those running Windows.
Speaking at OpenSource World, Todd Finch, Dell’s senior product marketing manager claimed return rates for Microsoft and Linux machines were about the same, and that Microsoft was “making something out of nothing”.
“We are not seeing any technical reasons for why they are returning Linux machines so…we don’t see a significant difference between the return rate for Windows versus the rate for Linux. We’ve been quite pleased with the stability and technical soundness of the Linux machines,” Finch claimed, according to a report in The Register.
We don’t see a significant difference between the return rate for Windows versus the rate for Linux
The comments fly in the face of claims made by Microsoft’s chief operating officer Kevin Turner, who told analysts that returns of Linux-based machines were “like four or five times higher than what we’re seeing on other PCs that have Windows.”
On the other hand, Finch did admit that the company had a problem with user expectation. He noted that where returns did happen, it was because customers expected to find Windows on their machine. He said this would be addressed with more “explicit marketing”.
Disclaimer: Some pages on this site may include an affiliate link. This does not effect our editorial in any way.
