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New Mark Shuttleworth (of Ubuntu) on Preinstalling Linux.
[link|http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/100|Mark Shuttleworth]:

On the face of it, there is little question that Linux pre-installation is popular with customers. Why, then, is it so difficult to buy a PC in the US or Europe that has Linux (and ideally Linux alone) on the hard drive?

The devil, as always, lies in the details.

[...]


He makes some good points.

Cheers,
Scott.
New There's a guy who understands marketing
Check out [link|https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1|Ubuntu Bug #1].
===

Kip Hawley is still an idiot.

===

Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
New :-)
New Re: Mark Shuttleworth (of Ubuntu) on Preinstalling Linux.
so Linux pre-installed would cost more than Windows?

not a good sign for open source

A
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New Ah, but the point is that's largely because of
the MSFT comarketing funds available to OEMs. In short, MSFT is partly subsidizing the OEMs to ensure that they remain the only option available on their hardware. As the article said (paraphrasing) "the msft comarketing funds are a significant portion of the OEMs profit margin." In short, MSFT does a fine balancing act between price, profit, and kickback to the distribution channel to maximize profit whilst retaining market power.

The other side of it is the lack of linux experience in the market place. I don't get support from my vendors other than the downloads on their sites; I do it myself. I also do it for a lot of other people that don't grok it... which means that the OEMs have externalized a lot of their support costs by making support provision to their customers more irritating than asking the computer-savvy friend... and there are a lot more out there that are savvy about Windows than there are about *nix, which means that in the short term at least, and prolly a good chunk of the medium term as well, that those companies would have to assume those costs that they are currently able to externalize due to the far more widespread familiarity w/ the Windows platform that is out there.

Again, OTOH, third world people are moving far more into the OSS area because they costs are simply too expensive regardless; 200 bucks for a Windows license is simply too much money for the average Ghanaian (for example), so they either pirate or use linux... and the state is going linux because they can't really pirate and also because they are concerned about what might be in Windows that they don't know about. Personally, if I were In Charge here, I'd consider banning Windows; Internetworking is moving very rapidly to being a utility, not a luxury, and no other platform has the demonstrated capability of bringing down that utility like Windows... coupled with security concerns (I'd certainly mandate moving out of windows for ALL state work; I don't care about the blandishments offered about NSA backdoors: I just don't believe those people and can think of no reason why anyone else would either) and a lot of the rank inefficiencies of the platform make it the best candidate for moving off of.

IMhO, of course.
     Mark Shuttleworth (of Ubuntu) on Preinstalling Linux. - (Another Scott) - (4)
         There's a guy who understands marketing - (drewk) - (1)
             :-) -NT - (Another Scott)
         Re: Mark Shuttleworth (of Ubuntu) on Preinstalling Linux. - (andread) - (1)
             Ah, but the point is that's largely because of - (jake123)

Yeah, would be nice if "despair" wasn't such an appropriate word choice.
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