On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 at 09:09:47PM +0000, Peter Brooks wrote:
> Indeed this is generally good but there must be some caution for the
> thorns that may present. Some users may associate linux with the tesco
> value range and whilst it's usable linux, i really hope it's targeted
> towards the right office market.
True, Linux = cheap, and as cheap = rubbish, therefore linux = rubbish.
This is a valid concern, and the converse also holds sway:
Windows = expensive, and expensive = good, therefore Windows = good.
This is an interesying quandry as Microsoft has spent years trying to
convince people that Windows = good and Windows = cheap (as compared
to Unix). By extension it's now our turn to say that Linux = cheap
and Linux = good, and paint Windows = expensive and Windows as bad...
There have been little specialists shipping Linux for years, but I'm
sure Dell and Tesco shipping Linux will push HP and the other volume
players to start shipping Linux. In the short term I'm sure it's
going to hurn the existing Linux vendors more than Microsoft, but
with time it should lead to two things:
1) Better hardware support (always good news)
2) Clear pricing with the Microsoft tax separate for the hardware
price.
> On 28/10/2007, John Cooper <lug@???> wrote:
> > Adam Trickett wrote:
> > > On Sunday 28 Oct 2007, Dave Walker wrote:
> > >
> > >> The first I heard of it was on the ubuntu-uk mailing list courtesy of
> > >> John Levin.
> > >>
> > >> I decided to blog it, somebody submitted it to digg and it hit the front
> > >> page for a time. Around 14,000 people actually visited my blog with the
> > >> story, and many more (I suspect) would have read the story via the
> > >> planets it aggregates to. I'm quite surprised Tesco's hasn't
> > >> investigated the extra traffic those two sites have gained!
> > >>
> > >> http://digg.com/linux_unix/Tesco_Every_little_helps
> > >>
> > >
> > > I'm no ubuntu fan nor as you suggest a fan of giant supermarkets but it is
> > > good to see someone selling (hopefully in volume) something without the
> > > Microsoft tax on it.
> > >
> > > With luck we will see more vendors offering Linux, which will given time
> > > improve hardware support for Linux. It's a long road but all journeys
> > start
> > > with just one step.
> > >
> > > I've been thinking of getting my father a faster PC, it won't be running
> > > Ubuntu, Debian is my Linux of choice, but if someone ships a PC running a
> > > Linux I can probably be assured it will run my Linux. My choice is limited
> > at
> > > the moment but some extra choice is more than welcome. Tesco++
> > >
> > >
> > This is excellent news and this is the start of real choice. Anyway,
> > isn't Ubuntu basically Debian but useable, ontime and supported? ;-)
--
Adam Trickett
Overton, HANTS, UK
A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair
weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.
-- Robert Frost
