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How Open Source is Faring in Retail
SilentBob4 writes to tell us MadPenguin is running the first of two articles taking a look at the 'world of retail as Tux is experiencing it'. From the article: "Of the stores we visited, only Linspire Linux was sold pre-installed on computers in-store. Those FOSS boxes were often among the store's best volume sellers, primarily because they were the cheapest, according to store staff. The staff believed, based on conversations with frequent customers, that most customers were buying the boxes to install Windows on them. But that is not surprising to us, because, as we discuss in section two, brick-and-mortar "computer" stores are still part of the Microsoft distribution chain. The fact that there were some open source products at all in these stores is actually surprising, as Microsoft guards its distribution chain jealously, and punishes those business partners who stray into carrying FOSS products."
"The staff believed, based on conversations with frequent customers, that most customers were buying the boxes to install Windows on them. But that is not surprising to us, because, as we discuss in section two, brick-and-mortar "computer" stores are still part of the Microsoft distribution chain."
And if they sold systems with no OS, they'd sell like hotcakes. Take your pick: pirates or people sick of buying an XP license each time they want to upgrade to a new machine without the trouble of buying it part-by-part?
I'm amazed that you can actually find a computer that comes with anything other than Windows pre-installed. This has to be at least one step in the right direction though. Even if people are only buying them to put windows on the effect on the market will be the same as if they were going to become hard-core open source supporters. It still gives a bigger market share to this stuff, and with bigger market shares bigger companies want to get in on the action... then it snowballs
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
I hereby grant my unused Windows Licenses to Linspire "customers."
I've worked for both a retail outlet and two small OEMs, one of which is a Microsoft gold OEM partner, or whatever that program is now.
At all three places we talked openly to MS reps about offering Linux to keep prices down. At one of the OEMs we went from all MS to about 20% Linux in the space of a year. Not once did any of that hurt our relationship with them. This sounds like a bunch of FUD to me.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
This has very little to do with how Linux is doing at Retail. It has everything to do with if given the chance to pirate an OS, will people do i?
Then again, im not really shocked. I think to some degree people view pirating an OS or pirating from Microsoft in general as a lesser form of pirating.
Microsoft guards its distribution chain jealously, and punishes those business partners who stray into carrying FOSS products.
And the source for this little gem is what? Do you suppose the DOJ would be interested if it were true? Do you suppose that MS' competitors would be screaming if it were true? Do you suppose that with the size of MS' market, the number of retailers and speed of the internet, if this were true it would be on the front page of the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal?
You don't need fancy sociology about "disruptive technology" to explain why Linux distros do or don't have prominent in-store displays. If the makers write their checks to the store, they get their displays; otherwise, they don't.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
We're forced to do that too, to get decent hardware with our OS of choice. Maybe we can work out something with these guys buying bargain-basement just to put pirated Windows on it...
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
so in other words, the FOSS community is content to just act as a 'spoiler' to Windows, enabling the theft of software, rather than actually competing on an equal footing.
And yes, COMPETING is possible; the 'distribution chain' excuse is just that. Linux is FREE, Windows is not. If that isn't viewed as a HUGE fundamental advantage in Linux's favor, you are obviously too drunk on the kool-aid.
Rumors abound that Google will soon offer some type of operating system, which has led to this hilarious parody by The Register that Google supposedly is planning to create a Ubuntu-based distro hilariously named "Goobuntu."
This guy needs to get out more. I would have thought 'amusingly' to be enough overstatement but, 'hilariously?'
i think a big problem is a lack of people who could answer any questions on these machines. i bought a 500$ linspire laptop at walmart. the price was cheap enough and the CNR service was pretty cool so i figured, 'why not?'.. after playing around a bit i ended up selling it to a friend after i a got a new power book.. anyways, the amount of questions i got about that linspire machine (how can i set up my printer, why can't my kids use for school, etc..) was a headache enough.. i couldn't imagine a big box store that would be willing to deal with this type of feedback for one type of product.
Why on earth would anyone buy a PC with linux preinstalled only to install windows on it? Most PC's with Linux preinstalled are alot more expensive than those bundled with Windows XP Home.
I know microsoft got into trouble a few year ago for charging PC distributers for a copy of Windows (Or DOS maybe, oh shit I feel old) even when they requested a different OS preinstalled. Several years later they were fined and told to stop but they appear to have just found a more subtle way of achieving the same result - you want to use something other than Windows, you have to pay more for the previledge.
I dont read
I actually think they are still trying to get the script approved...
I know microsoft got into trouble a few year ago for charging PC distributers for a copy of Windows
Microsoft also agreed to never use a per-processor pricing model. And yet, Windows NT Workstation can't seem to use more than two...
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
They have been running diskless Linux terminals on the POS stations for years. But they would let anyone know it because they are afraid of MS.
Build. Your. Own. F'en. Systems. And. Stop. Bitching.
Who, exactly, is forcing you to buy hardware with Windows installed on it?
If you really want to buy your systems complete, Dell sells Linux systems or systems with no OS.
In the UK, the PC World chain is the main purveyor of PCs at retail. It, err...well. How shall we put this? It doesn't have the greatest reputation for knowledgeable staff and customer service. Alternative names I've heard for it are PC Woe and The Purple Temple Of Sadness (which is the best term I've heard for the place).
As you'd expect, it pushes cheap* PCs and whilst the odd Mac sits at the back somewhere, it's pretty much a Windows-only place, happily pushing Microsoft Anything and Norton at people.
It came as a surprise then, when I needed to grab a router right that moment and so went in, to find internal stock lists and part numbers getting checked using OpenOffice spreadsheets. Interested, I had a word with the guy doing the check and he said OpenOffice was used throughout the store.
I'm not certain as to whether he meant just that store or the entire chain, but it was interesting to see OpenOffice having taken over a shop so strongly identified with WinTel and Microsoft-only solutions.
Cheers,
Ian
*Not that I have anything against cheap PCs - all depends on people's needs really.
Can't RTFA but discounting the usual Slashbot FUD that Microsoft 'punishes' those who stray into selling Linux (or whatever)... what exactly is the problem here? That retailers "should" sell Linux because "everyone" knows it's "better" than Windows? What is the rationale for expecting Circuit City to sell boxes with some other OS preinstalled?
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
A lot of OEM software says you can ONLY use it on that computer. I have seen Windows CDs that claim this. Is it legal? I kind of doubt it. I think this is the reason you are seeing more "restore disks" coming with computers now. The restore disks check that you are only using them on the computer you are supposed to.
Kind of crappy if you ask me.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Ummm, lol, check your burner dude. I've never had an iso of any sort fail me, assuming the MD5SUM was proper. And only once have I downloaded something with an incorrect md5sum. A quick redownload fixed it.
I suspect that, years after Vista is released, you will still find a BUNCH of machines running XP.
One thing I have noticed is the maturity -> longevity effect for computer hardware and software. Years ago, the rapid pace of hardware development and the commensurate evolution of end-user software meant that a three-year-old box was not just NOMINALLY obsolete, it was obsolete IN FACT. New hardware peripherals and (above all) new applications could effectively not be used on systems just a couple of years old.
Nowadays, however, even though an Intel or AMD processor-based system from four years ago might have rings run around it by current stuff, the old systems are still very serviceable and can run almost any software you car to install short of the latest games. And they can be upgraded enough (e.g. video card) where even the "gaming barrier" can be negotiated in large part.
I suspect that a brand new AMD64 X2 processor-based system of today will stil be VERY useable eight years from now despite the advent of Vista or any other software technology. They're just not really coming up with very many "new things" to do with a PC (look at MS Excel 2003, for example. Does it REALLY look or work that differently from a Windows-based Excel spreadsheet from ten years ago?)
And FWIW, you can ALWAYS take an obsolete box, install the latest Linux distro onto it, and breathe new life back into that puppy like you wouldn't believe.
People are keeping their automobiles longer now, and I'm sure that's coming to be the same for PC systems.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
Every time I read a slashdot article about linux it seems like all the Linux fanboys do is blame Microsoft for keeping Linux down. While I do know that Microsoft has forged some exclusive deals with PC manufacturers, I don't feel that thats the main reason why people arn't adopting Linux. I frequently build my own systems and have plenty of experience installing Linux, but I chose to use Windows as my primary OS. Linux is still lacking in many areas and if I were to try to switch the rest of my family over it would be a nightmare. Windows does have its own flaws but all in all it's the best thing on the market for most people. Back in the day of Windows 95/98 the OS bluescreened at least once a week and full OS crashes were constant, but with XP I hardly ever experience a full OS crash and I leave my system up for weeks at a time. It's usualy third party applications and drivers which cause the crashes I deal with but people are quick to blame Microsoft for these faults. A good example is my firefox install, which has been crashing quite frequently recently. I know this is probably caused by a poorly writen extension but yet I find myself thinking 'Damned Firefox'. I have a feeling that when a third party app causes trouble people are quick to blame Microsoft.
Yep, processor speed isn't increasing as fast as before, so people have less reason to upgrade. Also general users who do office and internet stuff will find a 1GHz machine just as good as a 3GHz machine.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I'm glad to hear that these low-end Linux boxes are selling. Perhaps the majority of these boxes will get a pirated version of Windows installed but who cares?
I would imagine that this Linspire is profiting on these units. Linspire has provided financial support to a wide variety of projects which is a good thing.
If sales are as good as this article makes out -- it would stand to reason that these retails (And others) would be more open to stocking additional models (perhaps higher end) and provide some additional numbers for hardware manufacturers to provide support (drivers, etc).
A PC without Windows installed, that is? I mean, yeah, I can get one with Linux installed and still pay the Windows tax, but I'd really prefer to save my money rather than sending it to Bill...
Thou shalt not install any open source operating systems, or any likeness of any thing that is not Microsoft Windows XP. Thou shalt not recognize the commercial viability of Linux, FreeBSD, or otherwise: for I Microsoft thy Monopoly am a jealous Monopoly.
2nd, if you have a 50% failure rate on burned ISOs your CD-writer is crap, you are using sub-par CD media or you are burning at too high of a rate. With my cheapo CD burner I get around 5% (1 out of 20) failures and on a better one in my work PC I have yet to have a failed burn out of around 160 CDs at max burn rate on inexpensive Imation CDs.
If you had said that you have dial-up access then a boxed set may really make sense. If you said that you like to support Linux companies I could respect you for that too. This, however, just sounds like you are cheap and lazy.
"Yes, you can do that, yes, it is legal, and no, MS is not stopping people from doing so."
Maybe now you can after this poor dude, David Zamos, tried to sell his copy, and faced the wrath of Microsoft's lawyers. But David fought back. An amazing and sad story, IMHO, how big corps expect us pee-on consumers' to just roll over.
Software cost is already padded to take care of pirates. Thanks for the gesture though.
Because you can get $199 Linspire computers and a free burn of your neighbours Windows XP Pro CD. Combine those with some easily obtainable Windows key codes from the Internet and boom... you've got a cheap MS Windows box. I think MS relies on the pirates to keep them in business. Imagine if nobody pirated Windows! Windows would be long gone and people would be using primarily free Linux OS's.
Meh.
Convertible tablet PC. You know anywhere that sells one without an OS or pre-installed with Linux? Because I certainly haven't seen one.
The Farewell Tour II
I've bought a few of these Linspire boxes and they are perfect for Linspire, but for XP pro, they are a bit underpowered (i.e. 256M memory). I've converted 2 so far to XP and reverted since the horsepower wasn't there. Then again my requirements never use 100% of XP's features and need 24/7 uptime.
This assumes there is no fundamental change in how a PC is used.
Vista for the home is a media center oriented OS and specifically an HD-media oriented OS. Audio and video. In 2006 that is marketable, in 2009, and beyond, that may be essential.
Buying a PC as a "media center" is really rather ridiculous. It's expensive and redundant compared to the myriad other "embedded systems" one can go with.
(And how long until someone builds a FOSS PC-based system that is so inexpensive that MS can't hope to compete? I have a year-and-a-half-old D-Link Media Server, which is at heart an embedded Linux system, and it works just fine for anything I need, using my home PC network to store media and streaming it on my television).
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
How about you name something with a smaller market share?
(most|all) of those tablet PCs you see out there exist because MS pushed their Tablet PC software.
Tablet PCs are useful because of their software. So, if MS is going to charge $200 for their software, so what? I know... you'd want it for free...
It was Wal-Mart, the only retail company in the World big enough to kick Microsoft's ass down the street like a leaf in the wind, that did the Linspire thing, right?
Wal-Mart will go to any means to sell a computer $0.99 cheaper than the guy down the street. They will lead a FOSS retail revolution, if the right distro can be pulled together.
Like laws and sausages, retail computer marketing is not pretty.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
OpenOffice for Mac OS X is available as a boxed retail product along with some other open source applications at Apple Stores. It is meant to be a cheaper alternative to Microsoft Office. I believe it is $40.
Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
I could have sworn that said "How open source is farting in retail."
It's been a long day.
/^([Ss]ame [Bb]at (time, |channel.)){2}$/
(And how long until someone builds a FOSS PC-based system that is so inexpensive that MS can't hope to compete? I have a year-and-a-half-old D-Link Media Server, which is at heart an embedded Linux system, and it works just fine for anything I need, using my home PC network to store media and streaming it on my television).
MS is trying very hard to become the defacto DRM standard. iTunes seems to be monkeywrenching that a bit for now but there is still plenty of opportunity for them to do that, especially in video. Once MS gets all cozy-cozy with the MPAA, just how is the manufacturer of that Linux based media box going to get DRM tech licenses to play that Hollywood content? If it were just a matter a price and technology then no MS wouldn't be able to compete. They'll play dirty with lawyers, lobbyists, sooper-sekrit WMP DRM; it'll most likely work too.
I could swear it said "Farting" for both the first and second reads....
It's not just Win2K ... there are still a lot of users running Win98. That especially boggles the mind, since Win2K/WinXP made drastic improvements to the stability of the OS. (Blue screens were common for me on Win98, but very rare on my XP machines)
At work, we regularly take a look at the number of people using certain browser/OS combinations on our web site, just to see what we need to keep supporting for our compatibility tests. It's surprising how many people remain on Win98/IE5. Sure, they're not the majority by any means, but it's enough to still warrant a test pass on that config.
-- jchenx
You know of a good place to buy empty laptop cases and parts to put in them?
Have the people who think this ever tried to do a Windows install on a computer that didnt have it pre installed? If they think Linux is hard to install they have no idea the problems they will run into. Where are they going to get the drivers? That modem, sound card, and video card will most likely not work right if at all. How are they going to get the drivers with no internet access because the modem/ethernet card isnt working?
Are they going to try and use a reinstall disk? The ones that everyone loses within a year? Are they going to use a downloaded copy? The one that isnt going to pass the "genuine windows" check that lets you download updates?
All in all they must have asked a bunch of high school kids working for minimum wage with no idea what they were talking about.
I trust Microsoft as far as I could comfortably spit a dead rat
>the distribution has much the ways as Linspire, they DO NOT SHARE what they build
Linspire shares a lot back to the community as can be seen on bugtrackers all over the open source world, in their own projects (like NVU and PhoneGAIM) and on their own web site. I think all the proprietary stuff they "do not share" (apart from CNR) is stuff they do not own themselves but just license from others.
Yes they charge money, but they do that for services. Personally, I only run Ubuntu, but there is talk of CNR for Ubuntu, and I'd happily pay for that (easy codecs, apps with no free alternative, apt-friendly).
Don't bash a good community member just because they like to pay their developer for the work. I'd rather see a guy be able to make a living on making more open source than having to have another job on the side.
This is a good place to start. http://techbuilder.org/recipes/163101045
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
with XP I hardly ever experience a full OS crash and I leave my system up for weeks at a time.
Then:
my firefox install, which has been crashing quite frequently recently.
So which is it? XP stays up for weeks or crashes frequently?
if I were to try to switch the rest of my family over it would be a nightmare.
Let's shell over to the wife's box. Hmm, uptime 121 days. She sits there emailing and chatting with her web friends way more then she should.
Let's shell over to the 4 year old girl's box, the nicest in the house. Oh yeah, 11 days ago I put it down to use it's power chord for another computer. No pop ups or other nasties on that box. Do your kids get flooded unmentionable things?
If not having to do anything to keep the computer working well is a nightmare, I must be having a nightmare.
From the fine article:
Fry's had three FOSS computers on display, all low end boxes, and all with Linspire Linux pre-installed.
The neglected to mention that all those "low end boxes" were running circles around the expensive Windoze machines despite the tremendous effort lavished on every windoze computer to make it look "factory fresh". Running a retail windoze box is much like running a kiosk, you have to lock it down and never let it touch a network. Running a Linux computer might require a periodic wipe of the guest account if you are too lazy to configure it so it can't be screwed up. Other than that, you can let your customers do whatever they want. I run garbage hardware, but it routinely does better than my peer's windoze burdened hardware which cost much more and has processors two to ten times faster.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
See here for original story of the "delicate dance" vendors are expected to perform.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Things with no price have no interrest and no value
When potatoes went to France, nobody cared or wanted to eat that strange thing.
Then, Parmentier had a brilliant idea. He put a threatening sign on a field where potatoes where grown. Promising heavy punishment for who would stole it.
Then, every night, growing potatoes where effectively stolen and people gained appreciation and taste for thhe new vegetable.
Let people steal the valuable OSS sotfwares, even publish heavy threats to who may steal it and you will see people loving pirated OSS and gaining interrest to OSS at all.
Léa Gris
http://web.archive.org/web/20020321092752/http:/ /www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,s=1884&a=24242,00.as p
http://www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,s=1884&a=24242 ,00.asp">link
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
He might not be able to spell "moron", but he makes some very valid points.
To think of the media center PC simply as a glorified PVR is a mistake.
The media center PC takes a powerful computer into a new environment. Its uses and potential are not yet fully understood and defined.
how long until someone builds a FOSS PC-based system that is so inexpensive that MS can't hope to compete?
Microsoft can offer DRM'd media content from the majors.
In a world where Harry Potter has made J.K.Rowling richer than the Queen of England, that is generally considered a plus.
The cold truth is that even Walmart hasn't shown it can significantly undercut OEM Windows on price.
Did anyone else read that as "How Open Source is Farting in Retail"?
End of Line.
... but I live in latinoamerica (Argentina) and at least 50% of the computers come with some form of Linux, and its even announced like some technology great and new. Only Compaqs and high-priced PCs come with a original copy of Windows. It`s not a joke, i gonna take a picture of the ads and post somewhere. Linus gonna piss their pants!
Well said, I've found the notion to be very true: the oldest component left in my computer (apart from the several hds i just left in for extra storage as i added in newer and larger ones) is my video card, an ATI Radeon 9000 pro with 128mb of ram which I bought in late 2002 as an expensive top of the line card. The card it was replacing was a similar age, but it was a STB Velocity 128 with 8mb of ram; which was unequivocally obsolete. But today, the ATI card is still serving me very well, and I have absolutely no intention of replacing it for at least a few more years. It's by no means obsolete and performs reasonably well even with newer games, Doom3 in medium detail is great, and still playable in high detail (although the AMD64 3000+ and 1GB system memory probably help); not that I do that much gaming in games that demanding of video. While the current list of supported GPUs doesn't include my card, I have to wonder what the problem might be; since it meets Vista's Aero Glass requirements between the memory, 8x AGP, and DirectX 9.0c running. So why wouldn't WDDM work? And I wouldn't upgrade it just for Aero, although it might push the upgrade time to 2 more years instead of 3-4.
The less intense gaming with the latest titles you do (or CAD/3d video work, etc), the longer and longer it's becoming before you have to upgrade.
What about numbers of returns. People may return the boxes when they find out how the machine they bought is different then what there used to and incompatibl with there old stuff from there old computer.
The only reason we upgraded to XP at the company I work was because the service desk can no longer reliably support Windows 2000. There was no "business reason" to do so as such. Everyone was happy to continue with Win2k so long as it was supported. Indeed there was open hostility to the upgrade. This is a 40,000 seat company, so basically lots of guarenteed free cash for microsoft once they EOL any OS. There is no business reason for us to upgrade from XP either, though I'm perfectly sure that in 4 years or so we will all be doing so. Well, it must be nice to be microsoft is all I can say.
As people have written, your FOSS pc has no DRM licensed from anybody. It can't even legally play DVDs for heaven's sake. What's more, your free analogue TV is going to disappear. Like CDs, like DVDs. Next generation DRM might still be flawed, but it won't be half so flawed as the current generation.
Like it or not that is an issue for mass market penetration, since you can't download King Kong "to own" without the DRM system. I'm quite aware that this is quite irrelevant (today) for hobbyists, and quite irrelevant in an "ideal world", but in the real world of average consumers and draconian IP rights enforcement, the ability to get content legally from the majors is a make or break issue. You can bet that Microsoft will be on the winning side when it comes to money changing hands.
Say rather: "Its uses and potential remain 'potential' rather than 'use.'" There really IS no "defined use" for a Media Center PC--er, like the one I'm using to post this right now.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
Install Windows and Office(koffice&OpenOfice) and Photoshop(gimp)and a full C/C++ compiler (gcc) a Webserver (apache for both) Then compare.
Sure if I installed only Linux, it's utilitie and X windows it would all fit on a single CD.
Yeah. I'm curious about that. What brand of hard drive do they have that hasn't gone south in all this time? Get my drift?
Heard any good sigs lately?
http://emperorlinux.com/systems/tablet/ I'd like to see more out there, though.
Remember BeOS it went into the grave for this very reason. No larger distributor would touch it because MS threatened to remove any discount if they did. Wow that is freedom of the market in action!
hmmm..is that why I can get almost every commercial linux distro available alongside windows in Best buy, Microcenter, (insert your local computer store here)? I think the reason Linux isn't mainstream is because it just isn't ready yet. When the the developers finally realize this, they will be ready to create a desktop operating system that can compete with Windows.
Emperor Linux: $2750
Lenovo: $1,979.00
The Farewell Tour II
"The staff believed, based on conversations with frequent customers, that most customers were buying the boxes to install Windows on them. But that is not surprising to us, because, as we discuss in section two, brick-and-mortar "computer" stores are still part of the Microsoft distribution chain."
Does that make sense? Because other stores have windows installed by default, people have to buy a non-windows box, and pirate windows?
I know that I sure don't. I thought the only support from msft was super expensive, and worthless.
No 17" widescreen available, no Core Duo available, and most importantly, even the top end model carried by FIC (linked from your link) has integrated graphics.
If you want a cheapo POS laptop, yes, you can find one without Windows preinstalled/build most of it yourself.
Unfortunately, if you want a decent high-quality machine with a decent feature set, you still have to buy premade.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Have you ever noticed how many people are still running Windows 2000 Professional? There really are a slew of them
What's funny is my new (purchased used) laptop came with Win 2K pro installed. It's my first copy of Win 2K. I bought the laptop because I wanted to use a PC based light console using the Open DMX USB interface. The software desk uses Windows and the driver for the interface is Windows.
There is no reason to change the OS for the intended application. Win 2K crashes less than Win 98SE which is important for a live event.
When shopping for a PC I use the rule of thumb of buy the hardware and software nessary to do the job.
For E-mail, IM, Web Browsing, letters, & such, a Linux PC works fine. I have one. For special apps and hardware, then find what will run it, and use it. Win 2K Pro will run the desk just fine. The laptop is portable and fits on the desk in the sound booth. There are reasons to run older versions of Windows. I have no reason to upgrade the OS. There is no reason to spend the bucks on a OS upgrade or the latest hardware. This is not a net attached machine.
A used $295.00 laptop does the job just fine with the original OS.
The truth shall set you free!
Remember BeOS it went into the grave for this very reason. No larger distributor would touch it because MS threatened to remove any discount if they did. Wow that is freedom of the market in action! hmmm..is that why I can get almost every commercial linux distro available alongside windows in Best buy, Microcenter, (insert your local computer store here)?
2 1&page=2
hi kz45, No, you can't get almost every commercial Linux distro in most computer stores. Check out the videos that I took while in the CompUSA store, for example. They offer ONLY two commercial Linux distros: Linspire and SuSE. Mepis Linux is not there, nor is Xandros Linux. The videos are found on page two of my article here: http://madpenguin.org/cms/index.php/?m=show&id=65
That link will take you to page two of the RA, and scroll down to the bottom to see the videos and to play them.
Not only are there only a few packages of Linux available, but they are on the bottom at the end of the row. The lighting is so dark down there, that it is difficult to see those boxes. Placement is everything in retail. Your point is not well made.
hi kz45, No, you can't get almost every commercial Linux distro in most computer stores. Check out the videos that I took while in the CompUSA store, for example. They offer ONLY two commercial Linux distros: Linspire and SuSE. Mepis Linux is not there, nor is Xandros Linux. The videos are found on page two of my article here: http://madpenguin.org/cms/index.php/?m=show&id=652 1&page=2 [madpenguin.org]
hi christian.
what the hell is mepis linux?
most stores will only carry well-known distros (that have the money to put them there)). I have about 5 or 6 computer stores in my area, and almost all of them carry redhat,xandros,linspire and suse (I can't remember the names at the moment). They are also right alongside microsoft products. You can even get computers with linspire on them instead of windows.