Comment 598 for bug 59695

Mark Shuttleworth responded to a question from somebody who obviously was aware of this issue and brainstorm idea http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/15153/ [Canonical And Dell Should Issue Official Statement About Hard-Drive Killer Bug] on the #ubuntu-classroom IRC channel on Freenode today. [jcastro aka Jorge Castro was moderator. sabdfl is aka Shuttleworth]. Pasting the transcript here for commentators:

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15:39 jcastro QUESTION: Does Canonical ever make "Official Policy Announcements" on contentious issues? Two recent controversies were the hard drive wear issue and the issue with the Intel network cards being bricked. Are there official guidelines on what should be done when Ubuntu can possibly damage hardware?
15:40 sabdfl yes, we have a process for handling emergencies and screwups
15:40 sabdfl including making sure that we communicate clearly about what the situation is
15:40 sabdfl unfortunately we have that because there have been emergencies, and we have in the past occasionally screwed up
15:40 sabdfl but i think the policies are good
15:41 sabdfl i don't think such an issue is contentious - if we make a mistake, we need to sort it out, and keep people briefed
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I think we should be pretty optimistic about hearing an official statement soon! wuhoo! :)

PS: couple of other hardware compatibility questions were relevant too such as:

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16:25 jcastro QUESTION: The hardware database mentioned earlier seems limited to certifying whole machines. It seems like it would be more useful for most of us if we had a listing of individual hardware products that were known to work (or not work), particularly video and wireless cards...
16:25 jcastro QUESTION: .. Yet few wireless vendors would see the point in submitting their hardware for certification unless there were already a database to be added to. Is there a plan to get that sort of certification?
16:25 sabdfl i think jcastro pointed to the hardware database earlier
16:26 sabdfl we try to aggregate the information folks send us about their hardware
16:26 sabdfl it's difficult to do component-level certification
16:26 sabdfl because often, something breaks at the system level
16:26 sabdfl we do work with component manufacturers, though, if there is a machine that needs to be enabled
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I had missed the earlier questions, so asked this crucial question just in case:

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6:55 jcastro QUESTION: how robust is the laptop certification process between Canonical and its partners? should customers expect 0% system breakage (in terms of hardware or software)?
16:56 sabdfl they should expect it, and we strive to deliver it
16:56 sabdfl see above for how we handle emergencies and screwups :-)
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cheers everybody! #ubuntu-classroom is a great place to hang out! :D