Woman Blames Dell, Ubuntu for Missing Two Semesters of College

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The story concerns a Wisconsin woman who ordered a laptop from Dell with the hopes of enrolling in online classes at a local technical college. Only she ordered a laptop that came with the Ubuntu Linux operating system by mistake. Apparently she had never heard of Linux, or Ubuntu, and assumed all computers came with Windows installed. She realized her mistake and tried to return it, but the reps at Dell talked her out of it saying it would do everything she needed. Apparently she couldn't load the Verizon high-speed Internet setup CD and Microsoft Word wouldn't run on her laptop (surprise) and without Internet access or Word, she claimed she couldn't take classes and has thus missed the fall and spring semesters. Never mind that her laptop came with Open Office installed , which can read MS Word documents and save them in a Word-compatible format and that she can connect to the Internet using Ubuntu. It makes you wonder just how badly the woman wanted to go back to school.

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Waco on January 15, 2009 11:52PM She's trying to milk the system. reply to this

injijagwalaafq on January 16, 2009 01:38AM You have got to be kidding me. epic lame. reply to this

HotCoffee on January 16, 2009 12:09PM Dell will pay or do something. They are hurting so bad right now. Acer is about to overtake their #2 spot reply to this

Bosco on January 16, 2009 10:23PM Shakes head sounds like another idiot I think she might be added to the Darwin Awards haha reply to this

PhilliKon on January 17, 2009 04:11AM I think people seem to forget, that for the type of person who uses computers a lot or it is there hobby Linux is fairly straight forward, but I have learned that for many users who just want to type a letter or send and receive emails and little else, Linux is an absolute nightmare. I support many users in the field, both commercial and domestic, this includes many older people who are just learning, and it is very difficult for them, the addition of Linux would probably in the vast majority of cases stop them from attempting to use the computer as there are very few places they can turn for help. The first person to say, “just look on the internet” has totally missed the point. reply to this

disgusted on January 17, 2009 11:42AM She should have known that she could not use the computer within a few days of purchasing it. Also, How many people could have given her a Windows install disc to help rectify the problem. Most college campuses also have extremely good deals on Microsoft products. She did not care if she returned to school. reply to this

PhilliKon on January 18, 2009 03:59PM she did know within a few days that she couldn’t use it, the article states that when she tried to return it, the Dell sales person talked her in to keeping it.. However I do agree she couldn't care less about school. I guess I was just trying to make the point in general about Linux and "not too initiated users" reply to this

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