Amid several legal problems (e.g. alleged fraud, accounting misconduct, secret kickbacks with Intel) and what the company call a "lost religion", Michael Dell talks about his Linux dealings, which we have covered before.

You may wish to read this.

CRN: Last week, Dell talked a lot about Linux on the desktop and with respect to the Microsoft-Novell partnership. Is that a real potential growth area for Dell and its channel partners?

[MICHAEL] DELL: Linux has been around for quite some time, and on the server side Linux is well-established. On the client side, the opportunity is more emerging. We certainly see an enthusiast segment that is interested in Linux. We see some scientific and technical users. What we're doing very much here is listening to what our users tell us. If we see demand there, we're going to go and do our best to respond to it.

CRN: How would you describe Dell's relationship with Microsoft?

DELL: Microsoft is one of our key technology partners.

CRN: Was there any blowback from Microsoft with respect to Dell's Linux moves?

DELL: No.

Last year, Michael Dell told SJVN that his company's Linux dealings were none of Microsoft's business. We are left wondering however. Why did he jump aboard the controversial Microvell bandwagon? This is damaging to Linux, maybe even to Dell.

The opinions expressed here are by no means criticism. We very much welcome Dell's embarkment on the Linux desktop market (for low-end PCs, that is). We just wish he never gave the Microvell deal his blessing, no matter how implicit it was.

In loosely-related news, the fourth alpha of openSUSE 10.3 has just been released.