I currently have an XP laptop which duel boots to Ubuntu when required for work stuff. At home I have a Vista machine.

Using Linux is part of my job but it's not for the average user just yet. The latest Ubuntu is good but not great. To install anything it doesn't do 'fluffy buttons'.

OpenOffice is a good product but after using Office from an early version I didn't want to learn new buttons and options all over again. MS are releasing Works 2007 (might be 2008) for free.

My home Vista has been a dream. After hours working with computers the last thing I want to do at home is to mess about with them. It's ran great without anti virus and antispyware. I can't fault it.

In terms of support, I've never had to use MS support, that's what google is for but Linux support isn't great either.

In summary for £300 I'd go for the Vista and Works 2007, Linux and OpenOffice are still a long way off.

Phillip Dixon, Durham, UK

This is a stupid idea really. Who is this aimed at?

A novice? A family? No chance! A novice is really going to struggle getting to grips with a linux install, wondering why their new program or game won't install, and why everything has changed/moved around.

A professional? Again, whats the point? Any professional who wishes to use linux is already doing so from a clean install/dual boot. Buying a PC with Ubuntu preinstalled makes little difference really.

I do not think that linux has got a place in consumer PC's.

What a lot of 'professionals' forget is that 90% of PC users know very little about PCs, and have never heard of linux. To most users, WIndows XP is synonomous with the PC, and asking them to learn a different OS would be quite a challenge.

Questions like "Where is the start button?" "Why doesn't Office install ?", "Why CAN'T I install the 'Games for Windows game'?" come to mind...

Laurence Leach, Portsmouth, England

It might also be worth remembering that the sub-£300 computer that Dell ships with Windows Vista is extremely underpowered. Vista is a memory hog, and seeing PCs with less than 1gig of ram with Vista is just mind boggling.
Ubuntu on the other hand will run on PCs built as long ago as 2001 and maybe before. Sure, the performance wont be the same, but at least it will run, and reliably.

James Clarke, Salisbury,

Competition is a good thing, but will it make Microsoft honest?
Linux offers a descent looking and working system without having to pay extra for hardware and software. Having Linux pre-installed means buyers don't have to worry about compatibility issues. You don't have to worry about document formats changing and forcing you to upgrade. My experience with Ubuntu Linux has lead me to ask the question is MS Vista ready for the desktop? And to ask is Microsoft's drive to dominate the computer world in my (a computer user) best interest? I need a choice. We are once again looking to Europe who apparently still has a conscience to lead the way.

Arnold L. Johnson, Lorain, Ohio

I bought a US sale E1505n Inspiron and it exceeded my expectations in both performance and customer service.
Overall Rating: A plus

DickRichard, Sterling, Illinois

I am not a techie, just an ordinary bloke using a pc as a tool like most other people. But when I first heard of Linux, years ago, I thought it would be 'horribly complicated' and could not foresee myself ever using it. Now, although I still do not know anything about this os, when I think of all the hours I've wasted wrestling with Windows problems I know it would great to teach a massive corporation like Microsoft a lesson. I am optimistic that, by using an open source product, the end result of learning Linux from scratch will be a better operating system than what most of us have to use now. Windows is only as 'good' as it is now because most of us use it. If we all switched to Linux, but I guess it would take a very long time, wouldn't it be great?

Chris McAndrew, Eguilles,

David Parkin is nieve at best , Linux is an opensource developed operating system, and as such carries little or no support in any formal arrangement. Shure you can pay ubuntu for technical support. But just wait until he tries to configure his webcam or obscure accessories. I think the earlier comment that Dell pays peanuts for windows is correct, I wouldn´t advise anyone simply to purchaswe linux to see if they like it, there are many free live versions that´ll run on older hardware. Have a play prior to commiting to this nerdy OS

Dave Clough, Cambridge, Cambridge

"music over the internet with [sic] having to use a computer" - surely shome mishtake? Anything that dents MS's stranglehold is a good thing. Not only is its software vastly over-engineered and poorly designed (what I have seen of Vista confirms this, let alone Windows), its huge share of the market is by itself inimical to the consumer's interests, be they techies or newbies. Experienced users - some of them my colleagues in the translation industry - swear by Linux, and I believe them when they say it's easy to learn, easy to use, more stable than Windows and more secure than Windows. I never thought I'd say this, but Well done, Dell!

John Kinory, Oxford,

I think this is a great step forward for Linux. I've been using Ubuntu for a few months and have also dabbled with a couple of other distros. Personally I don't think Linux is completely ready to take on Windows in the home PC market and win - YET. The user interface is not completely intuitive, there is a little too much manual configuration required, and there are some things you still need to go in and use the command line for. However, the pace of development in Linux means in a year, or two at most, we will be looking at a very different situation. The day I'm happy to install Ubuntu on my Mum's PC and leave her to it, is a day Microsoft should fear, and that day isn't that far off!

John Kelly, Fleet, UK

ANY option to avoid Microsoft products MUST merit a huge welcome.
I am not a Techie, just a user and am continuously frustrated by the complete lack of after sales service by Microsoft. Their products are never finished and never work to expectations.
One cannot even contact Microsoft with a query on any of their products, one is referred to hundreds of pages of FAQ's containing totally irrelevant data having nothing to do with one's query.
If ever there was a company needing a shake up it is Microsoft. I hope and pray Linux will give it to them.

David Parkin, Dili, East Timor

Really, I think everybody needs to consider whether or not offering Linux will actually offer cost savings. Dell currently sell a complete system (including a monitor) running Vista for under 300GBP. Computer systems can't get much cheaper (specs can just carry on improving though..) Even if the Linux system were slightly cheaper, I doubt it would be of much interest - after all why go to all the hassle of learning a new OS (for a novice) when they can stick with windows - just think about how much confusion has arisen with the launch of Vista; do Dell really think that people will be willing to learn a whole new operating system, when a new version has caused much worry for novices converting from XP? Sure the die hard techies will be happy to go for a Linux system (being one of them, I can see why) I think you also need to remember that HP,Lenovo,Dell et al pay pennnies for Windows compared to what a consumer would pay, and currently the cost of Windows is very small.

Hassan Azam, Banbury, England

Dell's move reflects both the rise and rise of increasingly consumer-friendly versions of Linux, most notably Ubuntu, and widespread industry and consumer disappointment in Windows Vista (whose sales figures mostly come from new computer sales where consumers don't have a choice), and Microsoft's total inability to both innovate and produce well engineered software. The world has had enough of Microsoft bugs, security failures, and bad design. The future belongs conclusively to open source, to unix (in the form of Apple's Mac OS, and Linux), and to consumer choice and freedom. Sell your Microsoft shares indeed.

Alex Kerr, London, UK

Shouldn't one of those paragraphs read:

Separately, Dell last night announced the acquisition of Zing, a privately held company that has developed software that allows portable digital music players to download music over the internet with^(<b>OUT</b>)^ having to use a computer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

James, Brownsville, TX

Sell your Microsoft shares. Faced with a choice between a computer for £500 running Vista, and the same computer for £350 with free Office tools and the ability to play any digital content, what do you think people will buy?

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK