I believe we are about to see some interesting times in the PC retail market.  If Dell’s offering of Linux notebooks catches on (or even if it doesn’t, but they manage to market it properly), we might see a flurry of manufacturers offering their consumers this choice, if only for fear of getting left behind.  Once people start seeing a price difference between Windows and Linux PCs, and everyone hears about the infamous Windows tax, Linux might get a lot more exposure among regular users, as people might be willing to give it a try (“it’s cheaper, so I might as well try it, if I don’t like it I can always get a copy of Windows at discount prices anyway“) .  This would pressure hardware manufacturers to provide decent Linux support.  In my previous, now defunct blog, I had stated that 2007 might be the year where we see desktop Linux take off.  I also said everyone says this every single year and so far it hasn’t happened.  Who knows, this year it might turn out differently?