Lenovo Backtracks on Linux Support Statement

After a report that the company would not install or support the Linux operating system on any of its PCs, morcego writes "Looks like Lenovo decided Linux is a good idea after all. From the article: 'Lenovo executives Monday backtracked from remarks last week that the company would not support Linux on its PCs, saying it would continue to pre-load Linux onto ThinkPads on a custom-order basis for customers who purchase licenses on their own. In addition, they said, the Raleigh, N.C.-based company was working behind the scenes to boost its Linux support in conjunction with the expected July release of the next version of Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.'"

Comments

Their Logic

[eldavojohn]

According to IDC Research, there may be a rise in mobile operating system use and Linux will probably retain around 15% of the market share. Granted, this isn't for laptops but instead for things like phones or tablet PCs, it still probably holds some weight.

I doubt Lenovo would be changing their tune because it seems to be that (as of 2004), Linux runs on something like 2.4% of desktops and probably less laptops. Lenovo probably is imagining their products getting smaller and competing with cell phones & PDAs. In order to do that, they're going to need to support applications written for Linux or maybe even Symbian OSs so that they can steal users from the other side of the market.

Plain and simple: Laptops, PDAs, cell phones & tablet PCs are all about to vie for the "must have" device that does it all. Any manufacturer needs to be sure they can support the other side's applications if they want a piece of the market share. I think Lenovo knows the winds are changing and they are trying to support as much to satisfy their consumer. It's only natural that a buyer wants as many options as possible even though they have no intent whatsoever to utilize said options.

Re:Their Logic

[skiflyer]

I think you're over thinking this one, alot.

My guess to their logic is much simpler, even with their consumer lines Thinkpads are primarily business machines. Lenovo's comments probably raise a bit of a stink with a couple high dollar clients who said, if you're not going to support Linux on the 100 Linux laptops we order yearly we're going to stop ordering the 10,000 Window laptops from you as well and find another vendor. (Insert whatever numbers make it realistic to you)

But I'm just guessing... I didn't RTFA, I'm still on my first cup of coffee.

Re:Their Logic

[strider44]

I doubt Lenovo would be changing their tune because it seems to be that (as of 2004), Linux runs on something like 2.4% of desktops and probably less laptops. Lenovo probably is imagining their products getting smaller and competing with cell phones & PDAs. In order to do that, they're going to need to support applications written for Linux or maybe even Symbian OSs so that they can steal users from the other side of the market.

That's not very good logic. Dismissing that your link said 2.8% in 2002 and taking your stats as true, not only was 2004 a long time ago in the Linux world (it was before Ubuntu took off even) so probably the real figure would be even higher now but 2.4% itself is an amazing amount of desktops. There are, what, a few hundred million desktops in the world? At least tens of millions sold each year? 2.4% of this could be perhaps a million desktops each year, being conservative. As many people have said before, a million customers would be an entire market for most companies, so it's not something a sane corperation would shrug off lightly.

How much does Novell hate Lenovo right now???

[soren42]

After all these back-and-forth stories in the press, I imagine that Novell is pretty ticked at Lenovo around SLED 10. I mean, at the end of the day, it'll still be more sales - but not what it could have been. I think Linux-consumer confidence in Lenovo probably isn't very high now.

And that's sad, really, because Lenovo bundling/installing/supporting SLED would have been a big win for Novell and Linux on the desktop in general. Now it almost seems like an apology.

Not what I'd call enthusiastic....

[DoraLives]

pre-load Linux onto ThinkPads on a custom-order basis for customers who purchase licenses on their own.

Pretty tepid "support" if you ask me.

The Great Swarm isn't going to be doing much special requesting, which means there's not going to be all that many machines that actually wind up with linux on the hard drive.

Better than nothing, I guess. Sigh.

Re:Not what I'd call enthusiastic....

[TheOtherChimeraTwin]

But where can I purchase a Debian license? I've been trying to buy one, but no one will sell me one.

Re:Not what I'd call enthusiastic....

[flosofl]

But where can I purchase a Debian license? I've been trying to buy one, but no one will sell me one.

I'm sure SCO will sell you one that will cover all distributions. Cheap, too!

Re:Not what I'd call enthusiastic....

[writermike]

The Great Swarm isn't going to be doing much special requesting, which means there's not going to be all that many machines that actually wind up with linux on the hard drive.

Better than nothing, I guess. Sigh.

Yes, you're right, but I think it ultimately depends on what they wind up doing. If they offer a button during the customization phase of ordering, then that's progress. Yes, we would hope that, say, when the next Ubuntu came out they'd put a big flash banner on the front page announcing it's now available for all Lenovo laptops, but it's all still progress.

I think it's very interesting that they decided to backtrack at all. Clearly they've changed their minds and certainly that has to have come from some sort of outside pressure. In years past, I think any company such as this could have just as easily said, "Screw 'em." But Lenovo didn't. And for whatever reason they ultimately wound up announcing their backtrack, it's still progress.

I guess this means...

[gEvil (beta)]

I guess this just means that there aren't Linux drivers for all those snazzy spytools that Lenovo's been putting in their machines...

It may have gone like this...

[thebdj]

Lenovo: "We will not support Linux."

IBM: "We won't let you keep using the names and trademarks we made famous if you do not support Linux."

Lenovo: "We will support Linux."

The only thing missing is a little ass kissing...

Re:It may have gone like this...

[vrwarp]

I thought the announcement that Lenovo was going to drop linux support was odd since they are a China based company after all. The last time I checked, the chinese government wanted to move away from windows and instead, back linux.

Re:It may have gone like this...

[lxt518052]

I'd rather view the decisions purely from a business perspective.

Unlike in the 70s, there're more and more things over which the government has no control, Lenovo being one. A lot of people think Lenovo is a government controlled company and that's why they bought IBM's PC business. The truth is, however, if Lenovo had been such a company, it wouldn't have stood a chance in competition against rivals such as Dell and HP. The bureaucracy alone would have killed it. They've got to have a hell of business sense to become what they are today.

On the issue of Linux on their PCs, I don't think that's IBM's influence either. They might have been the first major (local) brand to sell PCs preloaded with Linux in the world. Here's a news page in Chinese. http://news.chinabyte.com/395/1246395.shtml Note the date was 20/06/2000.

But again, they've probably been the largest OEM customer of Microsoft in China and hence contributes to MS China's revenue more than anyone else. There must have been a lot of pressure from MS to keep them away from Linux (Hint: pricing of their OEM Windows).

Sure, IBM gives a big push behind Linux. But they've SOLD the PC business to Lenovo anyway. They don't pay Lenovo executives wages. The previleges and responsibilities in regard to the IBM PC brand have been written on the contracts, memos and leagal documents on the day of acqusition. What influence does IBM still have over Lenovo?

Whether Lenovo is pro-linux or against it, that's Lenovo's own decision, and they make that decision purely on a business basis.

Re:did I miss something here?

[freshman_a]

I thought Lenovo was based out of China, not Raleigh?

That was always my impression as well. However, from their "About" page (http://www.lenovo.com/lenovo/us/en/):

Lenovo's executive headquarters are in Purchase, New York, USA with principal operations in Beijing, China, and Raleigh, North Carolina, USA and an enterprise sales organization worldwide. The company employs more than 19,000 people worldwide.

Linux Crowd

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps if the Linux crowd would voice their opinions about Linux, and other topics as well, instead of acting so timid and polite, in fear of offending others, perhaps Lenovo would learn that there's a large group of people that have strong feelings, deep, down inside, about Linux.

Non-Story

[NutscrapeSucks]

This entire thing is non-news. IBM was not shipping Linux on PCs and ThinkPads. Now Levano is not shipping Linux on PCs and ThinkPads. There's been no change in policy or "backtracking".

Apparently a lot of you saw an IBM Linux commercial and then invented a fantasy world where IBM was selling Linux to desktop users. They weren't, and they've been consistant in saying that there is no real demand for such outside of particular consulting opportunitites.

Re:did I miss something here?

[kfg]

Lenovo has always been based in Beijing, although much of their business operation moved to Hong Kong. The company was founded to make Chinese language expansion cards for the IBM PC and eventually became the largest PC manufacturer in China, under their own brands. When IBM went looking for someone to manufacture overseas Lenovo was a natural choice. They were called Legend then, but early in the century decided to move on their own into the international market, changed the name to Lenovo and established a corporate headquarters in NY.

Raliegh was the base of IBM's Personal Computer Division which Lenovo acquired when IBM sold it out. It's fairly natural for old timers in the trade to think of Raliegh as the base of operations when discussing the laptops and Lenovo is centralizing its nonasian operations there.

And it is good western business for them to foster the continuing impression that the company actually resides in Raliegh and is some sort of spinoff of IBM. In "west facing" press you will always hear about their American bases of operation and never about the Chinese.

I was researching a new brand of guitar (Walden) the other day. I wanted to know where they were based, and where the guitars were made. On their company website I couldn't find any clue as to where they are based and in only one place the mention that the guitars were made in the "small town of Lilan."

It turns out that the "small town of Lilan" is so small and obscure that it took a bit to track it down to China.

This is how the Chinese will be doing business here for awhile. Under American sounding brand names and either obscuring their base of operations or establishing/acquiring American bases and directing all press to that base. And so Lenovo becomes based in Raliegh, even though their "home" stock exchange is Hong Kong.

KFG

Re:Lenovo's two stools

[jdbartlett]

Lenovo-not-IBM aside, is any discount offered for taking the Linux option instead of Windows? Chopping $300 off the price of a Thinkpad would make it much more affordable, especially when I don't intend to run Windows anyway.

Purchse Linux license on their own??

[noidentity]

"[...] it would continue to pre-load Linux onto ThinkPads on a custom-order basis for customers who purchase licenses on their own."

Oh well, if only Linux licenses were a little cheaper this would be a nice outcome.