Some people will go out of their way to avoid using Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows operating system. If you look around carefully enough, you can escape the "Microsoft tax" and get a PC for a lower price. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) already sells PCs that don't use Windows, and it's about to add a laptop PC to the mix.

The world's largest retailer will begin selling an ultra-light, two-pound laptop PC in a few weeks. Made by Everex, it comes with gobs of Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) applications and links to online services pre-installed. These services include Google Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google News, Google Maps and YouTube. There are so many links to Google's online content that the laptop is already being referred to as containing the "Google operating system."

With the one possible exception of the move into Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT), I'm getting very strong messages of positive change from Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL). What I'm seeing is a company that is pushing hard in multiple directions to find the strategies that will return it to good standing. If Dell can untangle some sluggish bookkeeping and get its corporate interior straightened out, it can then forge straight ahead, unrestrained by its attempts to heal its marketing weaknesses. There's a lot of upheaval going on at Dell right now, but it's certainly not all bad.

Dell's move into Wal-Mart has met with mixed response. At first I myself didn't like the move but that's probably mostly because I wanted Dell to align with Radio Shack Corp. (NYSE: RSH). Given the fact that computer prices have reached the level where a discount retail chain can sell them for profit, I guess there's no reason why Wal-Mart shouldn't be the one to do it. As long as Dell keeps its consumer direct options open so that folks like me can "custom" build one, I'll concede that the Dell/Wal-Mart alliance may become a good one.

A definite positive move that Dell has recently undertaken is its decision to preinstall the Ubuntu Linux operating system. Linux seems to be a preferred operating system in circles of web "professionals." I have the distinct pleasure to rub elbows with some of the internet's best writers, and the more I do that, the more I find that the busiest ones seem to prefer Linux. The Linux change and other customer focused moves seem to be driven by input that Dell receives via its own community forums. "We are responding directly to feedback from customers," Dell spokesperson Anne Camden said.

Latest in a series of moves by Dell to become more deeply consumer responsive is their decision to allow consumers to "opt out" of preinstalled programming, sort of like an operating system line-item veto. Based on the success of a "no software preinstalled" option that Dell promoted with its XPS systems a year ago, Dell has determined to take the favorable response to that scenario a step further and will extend it to Dell Inspiron and Dimension lines. Analysts are speculating that there's a remote possibility that this change will mean a revenue drop for Dell, but there's little credence to that assertion. Besides, the focus here is a realignment of Dell with the consumer, and if done successfully, that's where all the gold is hidden.