Based on a tremendous amount of customer feedback from its IdeaStorm customer feedback blog, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) says it will offer the Linux operating system as a pre-installed option on new consumer PCs. While I wrote about this earlier, it is now coming to fruition. As Doug mentions here, though, this move will not do anything to counter Dell's sliding marketshare right now. I agree completely, and here's why...

Although Dell's position here is that the company is "listening to its customers" and now will be offering Linux as an alternative to Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, the sliver of Dell customers wanting Linux, at least right now, is largely insignificant. It's generally known that the vocal minority can have the largest voice, and that is what is happening here.

It's very true that Linux (which I use on occasion) is every bit as good and robust (and easy to use) as Windows. There are arguments back and forth on everything from software applications to hardware support between Linux and Windows, but when the silent majority wants what they're used to (namely, Microsoft Windows...period), offering Linux on Dell consumer PCs will be a great marketing tool for the techno trendsetter but not to the average Joe consumer -- or the business PC user who needs that install of Microsoft Office at all times (or, funnily, the free OpenOffice suite).

Does Dell run the risk of angering Microsoft -- one of its largest customers -- by now offering a Linux option when a customer builds a PC at the Dell website? Probably, but I would think that frustration is limited. If (not when) more than 25% of Dell customers start choosing Linux on their PCs instead of Windows, then Microsoft may have a reason to be concerned. I don't think we are close to that happening at all, but one thing is for sure -- the vocal minority has spoken, and they want Linux.

This article over at The Guardian makes a pretty decent case why Dell Inc.'s(NASDAQ:DELL) possible planned foray into selling Linux PCs may not ever work like some folks think it will. I agree with the author in that Michael Dell did not build his company by not listening to what customers wanted. So the question is, do most customers really want Linux on a new Dell PC? In terms of the consumer market at large, it's highly doubtful.

Most of the general PC buyer market (consumer market, anyway) only knows Windows from Microsoft. Sure, it has a huge share of problems, but trying to change the "comfort zone" of the average PC consumer from Windows to any flavor of Linux would be a massive undertaking. It's very true that the various distributions of Linux nowadays are very, very good operating systems. Ubuntu Linux 6, for example, is incredibly slick (I use it myself). It's also free -- while Windows is not. But does the normal customer even realize this when the only thing he or she cares about (insofar as price) is the total cost of the machine?

Can Dell make that cost proposition relevant to the burgeoning consumer market that it so desperately needs to grow? Probably not. The expertise to support all the various distributions of Linux and all the associated baggage to hand hold customers who need higher levels of support may possibly make the company charge more for Linux PCs than for Windows PCs. The open source community is the best support organization out there (and by far the brightest). But will normal customers care if the actual computers are more expensive? That's one for the ages.