I knew it. Vista simply wasn’t ready for prime time. Some internal documents that emerged from a class-action lawsuit over Vista Capable illustrated that hardware vendor, Dell, pushed back on Microsoft to fix issues with Vista before launching. Microsoft knew fully well of Dell’s feedback as early as Aug 2005.

Part of Michael Dell's strategy to revive his namesake company is operating systems. But with technical glitches plaguing Microsoft's Vista software, many tech eyes are waiting to see if Dell will tip his hat toward a favorite - Vista, XP or Linux.

Forty-four percent of businesses would consider moving to an operating system other than Microsoft Windows in order to avoid moving to Vista, according to systems appliance management firm Kace. The reluctance to step into Redmond's latest OS could prove to be a boon for competitors like Linux and Apple, not to mention makers of virtualization applications.

Dell Ubuntu Linux buyers were recently outraged when a price comparison between identical Inspiron 1420 laptops showed that instead of the Ubuntu system being cheaper, it actually ended up costing $225 more than the same laptop with Vista Home Basic Edition.

The long-awaited release of the first service pack for Vista is now just around the corner. Software maker Microsoft is still planning a mid-March release of the update that is reputed to increase the security and stability of the operating system. But there have been challenges along the way.

The 'bonus' is XP instead of Vista. Dell has found a loophole whereby they can continue to supply XP, after the official cutoff date, to their many customers who are reluctant to sample Microsoft's latest and "greatest".

As far as we can tell, on Dell's cumbersome UK website the price of the cheapest Inspiron 1525 with Vista home premium is £359. The same specification machine with Ubuntu is £379.

Dell is putting (paid-for) Vista ads in GNU/Linux ads; Microsoft wants to capture Australian schoolchildren

I find Dell's half-hearted commitment to Linux as frustrating as everyone else. It took me forever to find the actual link on Dell's site to their Ubuntu offerings (hint: they look exactly like Google AdSense sponsored links and it just says "open-source PCs"). Once you find it (or even if you use the direct link), you are greeted with a warning page about Ubuntu.