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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...
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
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
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.
"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.
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
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.
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 $0.99 cheaper than the guy down the street. They will lead a FOSS retail revolution, if the right distro can be pulled together.
Like laws and sausages, retail computer marketing is not pretty.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
If you think imaginary property and real property are the same, when does your house become public domain?
Have the people who think this ever tried to do a Windows install on a computer that didnt have it pre installed? If they think Linux is hard to install they have no idea the problems they will run into. Where are they going to get the drivers? That modem, sound card, and video card will most likely not work right if at all. How are they going to get the drivers with no internet access because the modem/ethernet card isnt working?
Are they going to try and use a reinstall disk? The ones that everyone loses within a year? Are they going to use a downloaded copy? The one that isnt going to pass the "genuine windows" check that lets you download updates?
All in all they must have asked a bunch of high school kids working for minimum wage with no idea what they were talking about.
I trust Microsoft as far as I could comfortably spit a dead rat
This is a good place to start. http://techbuilder.org/recipes/163101045
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
See here for original story of the "delicate dance" vendors are expected to perform.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
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!
You have a totally screwed-up conception of how the law works. You are almost completely wrong, on every point.
the first is the one you mention: it's delivered after-the-fact. you've already bought the s/w, and a lot of stores won't take open boxes back, so it's a major headache if you don't agree with the terms.
You don't BUY the software. You pay money in order to enter a contract with the owner of that software. By paying money, you have acknowledged that you accept the terms of the contract, whatever they may be. Generally, you can read the EULA on the manufacturer's website or request that they send you a copy.
Second, the terms are unilaterally imposed. You have no opportunity to negotiate the way you could/would if you were in fact negotiating a contract.
This is true of almost any contract. If you are entering into a contract with a company, it's generally a take it or leave it proposition. Try negotiating the terms of your cellphone contract, or an apartment lease, or an insurance policy. Hell, most contracts these days even restrict you from disputing the terms of that contract in court -- and this is legal! Read up on mandatory arbitration provisions someday.
But for me, the biggest concern (illustrated by the Brick EULA) is that they can list any kind of terms they want. How legal the terms are comes down to a judge. Companies add all kinds of additional terms that simply don't exist in property law: neither physical nor 'intellectual'.
That's kind of the whole point of a contract -- to impose requirements onto two parties that are not already imposed by law. The parties of a contract are already expected to follow all applicable law. After all, there isn't a law that says you have to pay $55.84 a month to have a cellphone and that you have to pay $400 if you decide to cancel service.
Copyright law allows content owners to decide who gets their content, but the EULA extends this authority over how you use the content.
Wrong. Copyright law prohibits anyone from using a copyrighted work without the owner's permission. The copyright owner is free to impose _any_ conditions they may require in exchange for permission to use the content. There is nothing in copyright law that says software has to be sold for a fee or that licenses have to be indefinite. If I wanted to, I could lease software for a monthly fee or prohibit you from using it to harm animals or prohibit you from talking about it to anyone. This would be perfectly enforceable.
Once Ford has sold you the car, they have (essentially) ZERO say over how you use it.
That's because Ford _sells_ you the car. Software is licensed via a contract, not sold. If you _lease_ a car from Ford, they could do any of the things you mentioned. For example, they could make the lease non-transferable, require you to keep the car clean, specify what kind of parts you can use, specify that they are not liable for accidents, restrict your right to sue them in court, and even specify how many people can ride with you. As long as your name is on the dotted line, it's perfectly legal to do this.