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No Demand for Linux in the UK?
eldavojohn writes "If you're a Linux user in the UK looking for a Linux box, you're not going to get it from Acer. The computer maker has started releasing Linux installed machines in Singapore but cited 'no demand' as a reason for not releasing the same computer with Linux installed in the UK. From the ZDNet article: 'Before the launch of the Acer Aspire in Singapore, there had been no suggestion that any major manufacturer other than Dell was even considering releasing Ubuntu-based products. However, Acer president Gianfranco Lanci did tell Financial Times Deutschland that "the whole [PC] industry is disappointed with Windows Vista". Lanci claimed that Microsoft's new operating system had not boosted PC sales, due to concerns over its stability and overall maturity.'"
On Acer? It seems they just don't want Lunix on anything.
Lunix is losing market share to Vista in regions where consumers are paying for Vista, and Lunix is losing market share to Vista in regions where most consumers are breaking the law and using pirated copies of Vista.
If your product is FREE and you can't compete, where do you go from there? Is Lunix going to PAY people to use teh Lunix? Because that seems to be the only alternative they have to try and reverse the fact that they are losing in the marketplace (as well as the marketplace of ideas).
Combine that with FOSSie lock-in (due to the GPL's open hostility to commercial software), and it pretty much seals Lunix's doom as exclusively a hobbyist OS. Which is a shame, because teh Lunix could probably thrive in the small device market, were the GPL not doing it's hardest to prevent any kind of commerical use.
That's the stupidest thing I've heard today. MS isn't an Acer customer. Demand comes from customers, not one of your vendors.
Why is this a surprise to "the [PC] industry"? Vista's a new piece of software; at the begining it's bound to be less mature and less stable than it will be in the future.
Big vendors like Dell were forced to carry nothing but Vista but very quickly were forced by low sales to offer both XP and GNU/Linux. Just about everyone knows about Vista but less than 12% actually wants it. More people might actually be interested in free software than that! M$ has pushed hard against people's will, but Vista is looking more like a failure every day.
This move is also surprising, given the CEO's gripes about Vista not making his company any money and not being ready. M$ must have whacked him or something.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.