Trying to turn its troubled ship around, Dell sought guidance last week from end users on the company's new IdeaStorm site ("Where Your Ideas Reign"). Judging from the thousands of responses so far, users want penguin power but they loathe "craplets." Dell is listening, and has already announced plans to offer more machines without operating systems, along with a plan to reduce the amount of pre-installed software on its other systems.

85,000 users have already gone to the trouble of creating an account and voting for the "pre-installed Linux" option, and another 55,000 have asked for "pre-installed OpenOffice." In a blog post on Friday, Linux Software Architect Matt Domsch announced that Dell is expanding its n-Series (no operating system) product line to include Latitude notebooks.

In a separate statement, the company explained why it would not be offering pre-installed Linux: customers want too many variants. "There is no single customer preference for a distribution of Linux," said Dell. "We don't want to pick one distribution and alienate users with a preference for another."

One of the other top suggestions on the IdeaStorm site is the removal of the extra software that Dell installs on most of its computers as a way of earning extra revenue. This software goes unused by most power users and simply clutters up the system with "craplets." Dell has pledged to make it easier for customers to opt-out of most installed software in the future.

Dell doesn't promise that this will be free, however. When Managing Editor Eric Bangeman sat down for a roundtable discussion with Michael Dell at CES this year, one topic of discussion was paying for the privilege of getting a crapware-free PC.

Dell has seen the bright light that is "Web 2.0" in recent months and has expanded their customer feedback tools to include a corporate blog and the new IdeaStorm site. They are also at pains to keep users informed about how their ideas are being implemented inside Dell, which seems like a great strategy for any company to adopt. The danger is that feedback comes only from the most vocal fans/critics, and a company can sometimes be led to think that such opinions represent mainstream opinion.

Dell's current moves are smart, though, because they simply expand customer options. Those who want to install Linux are free to do so, but Windows users can continue to receive preinstalled copies of their OS. Those who value time more than money can pay for a craplet-free experience, and those who don't mind a few uninstallation routines can save a few bucks. Sounds good to us.