I recently had a discussion with Canonical Director of Product Marketing Gerry Carr, with whom I speak fairly regularly about the company’s Ubuntu OS development and business. Gerry’s pretty patient with my persistent hounding about, ‘Where’s the Dell server deal?” I know I’m not the only one who’s asking, still I have yet to sense too much frustration from Gerry about the progress, or lack thereof. In fact, Gerry says things with Canonical and Dell are great. Would we see Dell rolling out more Ubuntu on more of its computers if it wasn’t?

As I was contemplating Gerry’s good point, I noticed an interesting article about Dell’s actual advertising and promotion of Ubuntu. Upon reading the story, I learned that my Sunday paper, most of which got hucked into the recycling without much of a read, might include an actual insert from Dell that features the new Inspiron Mini 9 netbook and Ubuntu. After some digging in the basement, I could barely believe my eyes when I saw it: a hard copy promotional material showing off a cool new computer and listed, not hidden, but actually listed in the specs (right after the Intel Atom Processor N270) is Ubuntu Linux Version 8.04. Now, that’s impressive, particularly considering the sad state of finding Linux a couple of years ago.

I also got a chance to speak with Gerry about some recent reports of Linux netbook returns, including an article quoting Gerry Carr. While I think netbooks remain a significant opportunity for Linux, higher return rate and all, it was interesting to hear some Canonical perspectives on the matter. Given the recent news of the Linux netbook returns (based largely on unfamiliarity rather than experience or technical glitches), Carr reported an appreciation for Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth’s long-running insistence that Linux netbooks be clearly and comprehensively described as different, running Linux, and not running Windows. Part of the reason I believe netbooks represent a significant opportunity for Linux is because it is a new form factor, and I think users will be more willing to accept and try a new OS with that. I’ve also detailed the other netbook advantages for Linux as I see them, but I could not agree more with Shuttleworth. Users should be told in a straightforward manner what they are or are not getting, particularly in the spirit of Linux and open source. Over time, we may very well find that it is the Windows XP netbooks and their hard disc drives that are coming back to the store while the Linux versions earn a good reputation among customers.