Dell has taken its first major step into the open source world beyond the good ol' US of A. The PC assembler is to begin shipping the Ubuntu 7.04 Linux operating system on two of its Inspiron brand PCs.

The company said that because there are no software licence costs associated with Ubuntu, it is able to offer the Inspiron 6400n laptop and 530n desktop machines at a “competitive” price. It also said the move was based on customer feedback from its IdeaStorm website, which is a designated customer feedback site.

The machines will be available in the UK, France and Germany from tomorrow. The 6400n will retail for £329 and the 530n will cost £399.

Dell’s announcement comes just days after Lenovo announced that it would be shipping its ThinkPad laptop series with the option of the SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 OS.

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