Canonical, developer of the open source operating system Ubuntu, has announced that Dell will sell PCs with the pre-installed Ubuntu operating system in its over 100 new retail stores in China.
The operating system will be first pre-installed in Dell's business models and then expanded to consumer PCs.
Maria Bonnefon, market development and channel director for Canonical, said that Ubuntu will cooperate with the full range of products at Dell. The two parties started cooperating in 2009 and the cooperating range is not limited to the Chinese market. Bonnefon said millions of Dell's products with the Ubuntu operating system will be sold every year, covering laptops, desktops, and servers. The company's cooperation with Dell is both on the Internet and in retail stores.
According to Canonical's employees in China, the cooperation between Ubuntu and Dell's retail stores in China started from October 2011 and it is now focusing on the development of the eastern regions in China. It is expected that Dell PCs with the Ubuntu system will be available in its over 100 Chinese retail stores.
Ubuntu is an open source operating system which can help PC manufacturers reduce the prices of their low-end products. According to related policies, PCs must have a pre-installed operating system. Many manufacturers currently choose the Windows operating systems developed by Microsoft, but it will, to a certain extent, increase the costs of PCs.
Founded by Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical is a private company that focuses on the development of the open source operating system Ubuntu. The company currently has over 450 employees and has expanded its businesses into over 30 countries and regions. Headquartered in London, it now has branches in Boston, Montreal, Taipei, and Shanghai. In addition, it plans to launch a new office in Beijing.