Guys: you're missing the point. The point is not about the original article, the point is that the media leveraged the first reddit/slashdot/whatever to do a follow-on: a spectacle article on Linux users who took the bait and flamed some girl. The fact that it's a girl is absolutely paramount. They caught geeks in a trap, a trap the geeks knew was there and they were happy to jump into.

Geeks need to figure out how to reach out to people and be nice.

Somebody could make a ton of money with a start-up for geeks to help non-geeks. Get a little client app, a splash screen for every distro who will take it: GetGeek@boot. Like people who volunteer to burn free live-cds, but instead, volunteer help. Encourage geeks to volunteer their favorite communication methods through a website, sync it to free time on their calendars, especially phone, then let people call in to a central number and route the calls to available geeks. Collaborate with online communities to give contributing geeks extra karma. 10 points for taking the call, 50 points for positive review by the non-geek. -10,000 points to any geek who calls in and asks for help with a server. :-)

That would be one way to get people to try Linux.

Meanwhile, Dell is probably wondering whether to pull the whole product line. Who knows, maybe the whole thing was a Microsoft stunt.

Maybe it was an Ubuntu stunt to test Dell's loyalty. Who knows.

I do kind of like the GetGeek@Boot idea, though. It would also motivate geeks to increase the accuracy of their schedules.