On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 at 11:21:13AM +0000, Philip Stubbs wrote:
> * Dr Adam J Trickett (adam.trickett@???) wrote:
> > 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.
>
> I don't know that it would hurt the existing Linux vendors much. It
> seems to me that at the moment Dell and Tesco are using Linux as a
> method of making 'value' machines even cheaper. This may tempt
> people to buy them who may not have gone out looking for a Linux
> machine. The specialist vendors will still have a market for those
> that know what they want form their computer, and are unlikely to be
> satisfied by a bottom of the range PC.
I think DNUK et al may loose out at the value end for a while. I'm
looking for a cheap PC for my dad. When I got my last boxes I bought
two bottom end boxes from DNUK, now I have Tesco and Dell to add to
the mix. People like DNUK may lose some "value" business in the short
term, though I agree it is not an issue at the middle and higher end
of the market.
> Linux will be ready for the home when people can buy these machines,
> take them home, plug them in and turn them on, and be on the
> Internet without having to even ask what operating system they are
> using. For those familiar with Linux, we are probably there now, but
> it will be interesting to see how someone without a clue gets on.
I don't think people without a clue really know what they are doing
with a Mac, Windows or Linux. I don't think that any of them are
that easy.
People with a bit of an idea can struggle through with a Windows/Mac,
I see lots of people using them very badly. We may have reached the point
that Linux is no worse and that users with a bit of a clue could probably
use a Linux machine just as well as a Windows machine.
I don't know how you do it, but there is money to be made from providing
a computer as a service, all set up and configured. Essentially that's
what I do for my family, they use Linux with no more or less problems
than if they were Windows machines. From my perspective being Linux
makes the maintenance much easier for me, I'd hate to look after Windows
boxes...!
> I once watched a TV program where they found a computer virgin, and
> asked them to setup a PC and an Apple iMac and timed how long before
> they got to the shows website. I wonder how Linux would fair in this
> type of test? As I have used Linux for years now, I find that Ubuntu
> makes the whole process very easy. But I find it very difficult to
> imagine how had it would be if I had no experience.
A lot depends on how the software comes out of the box. I think if you
gave someone a naked machine, then the Mac would fare best, Linux
could come second if you have a live disk.
My Linux boxes from DNUK came running Debian all set up, just switch
on and enter the username/password from the invoice and away you went.
I'm not saying it was optimal, but the box came with nvidia running,
MP3 playback enabled, DHCP on and I'm sure if I'd asked for a 32-bit
system there would have been flash on the box. Obviously the first
thing I did was reinstall from my own media, but it was nice how they
arrived.
I think I'm coming back to the believe that what I want from the hardware
vendor is service not a random bunch of stuff and a "grey box" copy
of Windows.
I want:
* the box to be put together cleanly with decent parts
* all hardware supported by the software
* a three year warranty on all the bits
* a properly installed and configured software selection
I think the service element is more valuable that the actual software,
something IBM is very much in favour of and Microsoft is dead against.
A Mac is a serviced combination or hardware and software and some
people like it an awful lot.
--
Adam Trickett
Overton, HANTS, UK
We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity
has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.
-- Richard Dawkins
