It's great to see Linux being offered as an alternative operating system on commercial desktop/notebook systems.
HP now sell systems such as
this with Linux offered as an alternative pre-installed OS.
Flexibility is what the consumer wants, and ultimately is what the consumer should indeed receive. I always think that a completely "clean" OS-less system should also be an alternative, as well as a range of Windows and UNIX based operating systems - the end-user should be free to decide what he/she wants on their new machine.
Things are certainly looking up!
Cheers
ZB