Verily I say unto thee, that Mark Kent spake thusly:
> [H]omer <spam@xxxxxxx> espoused:
>> I note with interest that of those who initially declined the
>> offer, many have since switched to Linux independently anyway, and
>> done so quietly. I suppose people just really hate admitting
>> defeat.
> It's an interesting point isn't it, the idea that using Linux could
> be a defeat.
Well actually I was thinking more in terms of Windows users thinking -
"I spent money on something I was promised would work. It didn't. I
persevered with it, advocated its use, and sought extensive assistance
to get it to work. It still didn't. I give up. I wasted my money. I
advocated a lemon. I look foolish. I am defeated."
>> The official numbers just don't add up in real life, which is why
>> I've been pushing so hard for pre-installed Linux, in preference to
>> blank systems, on DellIdeaStorm.
> Ahh, don't underestimate Microsoft. They will still claim a Windows
> install for every PC sold, because they'll claim that the number of
> linux pre-installs is so small that the numbers can be ignored.
Given the nature of the current predatory pricing system, that is
unfortunately very likely.
> You wait - Mr Weisgerber is lining up his malodorous maltruths as we
> speak. I do wonder how these people sleep at night.
I was under the impression that billwg had given up and moved on, like
so many of the other "spent" Shills.
>> I believe it is essential for OEMs to act now, not just for the
>> sake of those OEMs (in terms of capitalising on new trends), but
>> mostly for the sake of the Linux community, in order to "correct"
>> the skewed metrics that IMHO are grossly inaccurate (and therefore
>> give entirely the wrong impression about Linux).
> You are pushing against a couple of major problems from the OEM
> perspective here, though. Firstly, they *like* OSes which decay and
> need replacement with modern hardware within 18 months - that way,
> they get to sell more hardware.
Well Operating Systems are not the only thing that pushes hardware
sales. In fact AFAICT the best motivator for hardware upgrades in the
consumer market seems to be advances in graphics technology (and the
subsequent follow-on from the games industry). Or perhaps that
particular cart and horse are the other way round.
AFAIAC Operating System upgrades should not drive hardware upgrades; it
should be the other way round. *Applications* driving upgrades is one
thing, but Messers Gates and Ballmer seem to have forgotten what
constitutes an OS and what constitutes an application, as exemplified by
Gates' procrastination in answering the simple question "define an OS"
in his 1998 deposition.
People will still want to upgrade hardware, but yes, in a market
dominated by Linux, that need probably would be greatly diminished.
However, ultimately the market will (nae *must*) change, and when it
does, OEMs will just need to adjust. One way or another, OEMs and
retailers will get their pound of flesh, even if it's in a different
manner than they do today.
> The counter-pressures are that Linux is surely set to overtake
> Windows in sales fairly soon, and if the existing major OEMs do not
> give the customers what they want, alternative suppliers, probably
> from India & China, will happily step in to offer alternatives with
> Linux pre-loads. How many DVD players are made by Philips, Panasonic,
> Sony, GEC, etc. these days? Very few, I think.
One minute DVD players are sold exclusively in Hi-Fi shops for hundreds
or even thousands; the next minute you can pick up a region-free player
in ASDA (Walmart) for peanuts, stuffed into your trolley on top of your
groceries. It was quite a culture shock when it first started.
The irony is, that these cheap Taiwanese imports are often much more
functional than their more expensive counterparts (at least in every way
that actually matters - such as being region-free, or being able to play
a wider range of media like XviD and MP3, for example). And all that for
just 10 or 15 quid. Amazing.
I foresee a future where supermarkets sell 50 quid Linux PCs, maybe even
the OLPC XO system itself, and the era of rip-off Windows PCs comes
crashing to an end (pun intended).
--
K.
http://slated.org - Slated, Rated & Blogged
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| "Future archaeologists will be able to identify a 'Vista Upgrade
| Layer' when they go through our landfill sites" - Sian Berry, the
| Green Party.
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Fedora Core release 5 (Bordeaux) on sky, running kernel 2.6.19-1.2288.fc5
22:20:00 up 28 days, 9:45, 3 users, load average: 1.05, 0.44, 0.30
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