TG Daily reports about some controversy regarding Ubuntu on Dell laptops. Earlier this week local TV station WKOW, channel 27 in Madison, Wisconsin, broadcasted a story about Abbie Schubert, a young female student at Madison Area Technical College (MATC).
She accidentally bought a laptop from Dell with Ubuntu on it and blames the Linux operating system for preventing her from taking two semesters of online classes at MATC because she was unable to load her Verizon High-Speed Internet CD and had no Microsoft Word on her Ubuntu-powered Dell notebook:
Schubert says she never heard of Ubuntu until learning that she accidentally bought it. She called Dell the very next day and says the representative told her there was still time to change back to Windows.
But she says Dell discouraged her.
"The person I was talking to said Ubuntu was great, college students loved it, it was compatible with everything I needed," said Schubert.
So she stuck with it.
Later, she discovered Ubuntu might look like Windows, but it doesn't always act like it.
Her Verizon High-Speed Internet CD won't load, so she can't access the internet. She also can't install Microsoft Word, which she says is a requirement for MATC's online classes.
As a result, with no internet and no Microsoft Word, Schubert dropped out of MATC's fall and spring semesters.
She also says Dell claimed it was now too late to get Windows and any changes she made herself would void her warranty.
"I'm extremely frustrated," said Schubert. "I wanted to get back to school, but I needed a computer to be able to do that."
