Slashdot Mirror
Big Retailers Timid About Selling Linux Boxen
RollWaves75 writes "Jay Lyman reports in IT Manager's Journal that major Linux retailers like Wal-Mart, CompUSA, Fry's and Best Buy are being timid and waiting to see how a small, Midwest-based chain called Micro Center fares in selling Linux software. Turns out that Micro Center not only is out-selling Wal-Mart in Linux systems, it is taking the bold step to have Linux-knowledgeable clerks and trained sales support for customers like you and me." From the article: "[Kevin Carmony] described three levels of mainstream retail Linux: Wal-Mart, which provides no sales support, only offering its Linux machines online; Fry's, where Linux is viewed as a loss leader on the ultra low end; and Micro Center, which is only carrying Linspire Linux at this point, but is behind Linspire's in-store training for reps, Micro Center Marketing Communications Manager Ed Lukens told ITMJ in an email. He said the chain, which is selling boxed and pre-installed Linspire 5.0 desktops and notebooks, will promote the Linux systems with offers through its direct mail pieces."
I used to live in Houston, TX (back when the world was young), and Micro Center was easily the best computer store in the city. They supported Windows and Mac equally, both with hardware, software, and classes. I am not surprised that they are doing so for Linux as well. In my opinion, this is exactly what Linux needs: Public exposure through a local store that can provide technical support to your average home user when it is needed.
I think it's time to give my local Micro Center store a visit.
The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
Volume!
In the case of Microtel, they make money off of the machine they sell you. They probably still have to pay to load Xandros or Linspire on it, but nowhere near as much as Windows. And Linspire makes additional money through software purchases made on their online software store.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
In German, the slang term term for a mobile phone is a "Handy". Funny thing, everyone thinks this is a real English word ...
Back in 1999, I actually bought a boxed set of Wordperfect for Linux at MicroCenter--they've been selling at least some Linux software in-store for years.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
When I last visited an Apple retail store. There's genuine substance behind the gloss.
I've actually met a few knowledgeable salespeople at Fry's, although they vary wildly. I understand pay is horrible.
When at Fry's, it's a good bet that your fellow customers will be knowledgeable. Feel free to ask stray customers questions if your salesperson doesn't know. And that's why the Fry's formula works, even for Linux - people who want Linux buy it.
I wanted a cheap Linux box in the middle of last year, and I wanted it right away. Walmart didn't have it but Fry's did, and dirt cheap. (I'm not near a Microcenter, although I think there's one down in Orange County).
D
First off, I live in Columbus too. I think Ohio is used as a test bed because it's the most average place in the country. (Look at the presidential election).
As for tests, how many people have had McDonald's pizza?
...that the machines in question will be, how should I say it... 'more robust' than offerings in the past. The walmart laptops and desktops they've hawked have been cheap-ass pieces of shit, for the most part. Inexpensive doesn't have to mean cheap. Inexpensive and cheap are 2 different things entirely.
What's need is an HP/Dell (sic) quality _consumer_ machine with a top of the line distro, including support, pre-installed on it, at a decent price. I don't mean to sound condescending, but I'm not talking about Linspre or Xandros or Lycoris, I'm talking about the BIG distros -- Redhat or Novell/SuSE or even Mandriva... companies that are actively developing things.
Anything less is third-rate, and it shows.
...Rob
The American Dream isn't an SUV and a house in the suburbs; it's Don't Tread On Me.
I've played with Lindows/Linspire since 4.0 and you are right about the older versions, but the newest one, 5.0, doesn't automatically run as root. The install creates a user account that is the default when you boot. Yes, you can still get to password protected root if you need to, but not automatically any more.
I installed it on an old P-III machine for one of my grown kids who had a spyware choked P-4 XP machine. It took 2 minutes of instruction as to what to click on to get the dialup going and the browser. I didn't hear any more about it from them, as in no tech-support calls, until I took the Windows box back to them and he and his wife didn't want to let go the older machine with Linspire.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
Yes, it is the plural in common usage of box as a class, when refering to the type of computers which are classically placed inside rectangular (either stand-alone or rack-mounted) cases. Confusion arises because "boxes" is also used, but "boxen" is definitely used more often in my experience.
Says you. I say that "boxen" is a word too nerdy for Nick Burns your company's computer guy.
There are other professionals in the industry that despise idiots using jargon just for the sake of using jargon.
This usage stems from the 70s and 80s era usage of the plural "Vaxen" to refer to a class of computers which were based on Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX processor.
It was stupid then, and it is stupid now.
English is a living language. Cope.
Sure, when it makes sense to.
The plural of computer is computers, not boxen.
This is as stupid as the "dimpled chad" fiasco in florida.
The inventor of the newer voting machines was named "Chadless" it didn't mean that paper bits comping off of the old ballots were called "chad".
We have no reason to have to cope with extensions to our own language when they have no merit and come from a particulary annoying subculture.
This usage stems from the 70s and 80s era usage of the plural "Vaxen" to refer to a class of computers which were based on Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX processor
I worked with Vaxen in the '80s. We also used terms like "time to rebootski," "cay-byools" for "cables," and "pooter" for "computer." We also quoted Monty Python, named our Vaxen after computers in William Gibson novels, argued over why Chekov never got his own ship, and giggled a lot. We were Geeks.
But we never presumed that if we were somehow persistent in our dweebishness that some of our geek-isms would be adopted in the English language proper. What is it with you 'virii' and 'cracker' and 'boxen' bozos that you seek such vindication from the mundanes? What, did the tech boom of the '90s so over-inflate your feelings of self-worth that you think you can wave some magic screwdriver and move language in any direction other than that which majority of people, the media, and academe doesn't want it to move?
English is a living language. Cope.
Right, And the Oxford English Dictionary (not... not... 'jargonfile' or 'wikipedia' or some other self-serving "hey, kids, let's put on a reference work! Gosh, I know, we can use the Web!!" recent invention) has its finger on the pulse of that living language. When the OED recognizes 'boxen' as meaning 'more than one box,' I'll deal with it, but in the long, long meantime, I'm suggesting it's you be the one doing the 'coping.'
Linspire seems pretty solid, although I haven't played with it that much. It is definetely one of the most "out of the box" friendly system for non linux familiar people to use. So you can sell it to anyone not just those familiar with linux. I think thats the point of it.
Also, and importantly they also offer support http://support.linspire.com/ , which has bulliten boards and phone numbers. The phone is slow. But when you want to retail a linux box, that support becomes critical to your sales, so linspire shares the support of the OS.
Michael Robertson the ceo is alos very agressive, giving it marketshare with prominent partners Compusa/Bestbuy etc....