It was just about a year ago that Dell Computers launched it's IdeaStorm site, a place for customers to form into a community with a voice telling Dell what would make their product lines better.

The first big thing to come out of IdeaStorm that got loads of press (and still does): 130,000 postings begging Dell to bundle the opensource Linux-based Ubuntu operating system as an alternative to Windows. Dell did it, but there's been lots of catches.

- It's only available on consumer models, not business models.
- It's preloading Ubuntu 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn), rather than the latest upgrade and more favorably-reviewed Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon).
- After extending Ubuntu to other countries, like the UK, it's already starting to yank them out of those same markets making U.S. Ubuntu fans nervous that they're next.
- Pricing: it costs the same, if not more, than similar models with Windows. One must ask why, when one of the biggest advantages to Linux is it's open source software with no licensing fee. Shouldn't it be cheaper, if anything?

Although Dell won't confirm these figures, reports abound around the Internet quoting unnamed sources that it has sold about 40,000 units with Ubuntu. So out of 130,000 Dell-istas begging for Linux, a little less than a third have actually pulled the trigger. I frankly think that sounds like a promising response.

Then again, Dell sells about 10 million units a quarter.

More on storm clouds over IdeaStorm tomorrow.