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The Agony and Ecstasy Of Becoming a Linux OEM
jammag writes "An article at the site Datamation, entitled Becoming a Linux OEM: A Roadmap, talks about the challenges (and rewards) of selling hardware with Linux pre-installed — most likely a growth market in the years ahead. The interesting part is the description of how some smaller Linux OEMs have made it. The bottom line: surviving as a Linux OEM requires far more than making it as a Windows OEM. In particular, you have to make the systems idiot-proof for users who don't care a whit about what OS they're using."
welcome our Linux-selling overlords.
It's still very much a niche market. Most users that know of Linux (and would buy a PC with it) prob either have enough experience with it to install, or want to try installing. The rest of users PROB don't care and are just buying one because it's (cheaper|a friend said to). But now as more and more companies (ok, from one or two to a half a dozen or so) are switching to completely Linux (Peugeot did), the market moves from being a niche to mainstream, but it's not quite there yet... Give it time, and these companies that are struggling will be on for a ride...
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
As for the embedded world, they've had it made since the early days of SBC's running Linux in rom, Linksys WRT54G, and now Tivo's.
The average user just wants something that is familiar and just works.
What Linux really need is a "Linux Review Board" to standardize and make things more user-friendly.
...then you've already failed at life.
I dont want to sound like a FUD parrot, however as a businessman I would think that legality is a significant concern.
There are looming possibilities of "patent claims" and "copyright infringement" against linux and the components that various distributions include. As a Linux OEM, I would think that fact poses significant risk to your business. It only takes one weird case/judge/lobby such as the old JPG copyright scares, etc to potentially put you at legal risk.
Again I'm not saying such a thing would be justified, but the possibility of it...when it's your money on the line is scary.
Wow, a 9 minute late first post... New levels of incompetent trolls here on /.
Here in Brazil some hardware sellers are betting in this wave. Corporation like Positivo PC and others are selling Desktops and Notebooks with Linux pre-installed. There are a lot of small Linux distribution in this game, growing and getting mature. But the poor side of this is story is clear like water. Some folks buy this machines and install pirate OS's like Windows. The idea is good and is a big bussiness. A lot of people like me buy this kind of machine and know how to use it, and don't want pirate software.
Getting Linux onto the desktop requires a great deal more user interaction. I think though that Linux is getting there. Windows is not much easier to use than Linux, but it does need a lot more support from hardware vendors to get to the "just works" level.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
The article titles one section "Linux OEM companies can survive, even flourish". In this section three US based companies are considered as Linux OEMs. At least for laptops and notebooks this statement seems wrong, because as far as I can see non of these companies manufacturers these devices themselves, though they pre-install Linux on them. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a really "free" laptop or notebook available yet. But at least you can get Linux pre-installed on laptops and notebooks from different vendors around the world.
welcome our dick-sucking overlords
I say shut down the entire site and hand the domain over to its rightful owners at SCO.
Indifference is not idiocy; it's not even ignorance. User's who don't care what operating system they use are probably just as intelligent as anyone else. They're just not zealots.
The problem is everything is windows, including the stuff the accountants and government do. It makes selling Linux a very very hard sell. Speaking from experience most businesses don't even think about OS/system, they just have a bookeeping package, they often don't even know what it's called.
A small Linux OEM can really only handle small, medium businesses, but they're already locked into Microsoft before you get anywhere near them. Hell, even the enterprise councils people give away Windows based business software to help them with their IT needs.
The people who really use Linux are big businesses with thousands of employees. Because of the economics, they are also the ones who benefit most. However, a small Linux OEM has bugger all chance of getting their business as anything other than a contractor.
Deleted
Most hardware vendors are now making linux-compatible drivers. All the graphics heavyweights are (granted, ATI's aren't exactly that fantastic, but at least they're providing them). NDISwrapper works now with just about all major wireless cards. Bluetooth, sound drivers, USB block devices - check check and check. Apple's iPods don't have anything built by the vendors yet but the open-source alternatives seem to have ironed out most of the kinks.
Vista on the other hand is still playing catchup. And by the time Gutsy Gibson comes out, you think they'll have those problems licked? Christ, they're talking Service Pack now... remember what happened last time Microsoft tried to do one of those? Anybody with SP2 was being advised by just about every support department (I know because I was working with MSN support at the time) to downgrade back to SP1. For over a year after SP2 was released. A YEAR! I'll put money that Gutsy will have more hardware natively supported quicker than Vista. And its final release is still two months away!
I dunno. I think now that Dell and other major OEMs are starting to jump on the linux bandwagon, the commercial driver support is sure to follow, if it hasn't already (Big Blue, Novell, SGI, just to name a few).
And user interaction increasing between Linux and Windows? I dunno about you, but I've found the Ubuntu install process to be more intuitive and easier to deal with than Vista's billion-screen install. Not to mention you can browse the internet, chat on messenger, listen to music, etc. WHILE THE OS IS INSTALLING. The default settings are made so the transition from Windows is fairly easy.
Yeah, there's still a few kinks. But whereas Linux was for tinkerers and hobbyists in the late 90s, and around when RH8 came out it became simple for the experienced computer user, now I'd be willing to throw linux in for any intermediate computer user. That is to say, not ready for Grandma yet but a hell of a lot closer than it ever has been.
I've been Ubuntu-cheerleading a lot here, but it's nice to see that over the last 5 years of linux (the time I've been a user of it) it's improved tremendously in the user-interface department. And it's only going up from here. And a lot of that has to do with some of the more recent distros, namely Knoppix and Ubuntu.
Karma: Non-Heinous
Many of the problems that keep Linux from gaining a bigger slice of desktop market are known and could be solved. But the people who have the skills to solve these problems aren't interested in them.
Care to cite them?
No OS is perfect. But as far as I am concerned Linux does everything I need.
And from TFA:
I remember submitting reviews of NIC's years and years and years ago to one of the public hardware sites. That was then bought out and killed by a media company.
Ubuntu is collecting the information, but it hasn't put it out in a friendly format yet.
I'd like to see a bootable CD from a Linux distributor that will identify everything it can on a box and output that to something that I can upload to a website.
Then that website would identify the components that auto-magically work with their distribution (version A or B or C
And try a "best guess" at the components that it did not recognize AND the components that it did recognize that do NOT work auto-magically.
And allow the user to enter descriptions of the components that were not recognized.
The final goal being that I can take a CD into Fry's and ask to boot it to see if I want that system or not. Down to the component level. Yes, I like that system, but I want it with a soundcard that is supported.
Do that and you'll see more HARDWARE sales tied to Linux. And happier Linux users.
And I want a pony and a plastic rocketship.
>...you have to make the systems idiot-proof for users who don't care a whit about what OS they're using...
More so, they should avoid being Linux snobs and stop using phrases such as "idiot proof" if they are really interested in growing.
The irony is, this is exactly the experience Windows is trying to provide: No/limited user interactions with the PC at anything but a high-level. But an increasing number of tasks are being taken over by embedded devices. Windows' "Swiss-army-knife" approach has produced an unmanageable mass of code that is ever less competitive against cheap devices running linux.
Having done embedded Linux nearly exclusively these past 7 years, I would concur. I love it when my competition is using Windows, as I know from experience that they will run into a LOT of problems that are going to delay them. It's usually the subtle stuff which nickels-and-dimes a Windows project to death. With Linux, whenever I hit a subtle problem I can usually find a solution or workaround via the Web.
That's because everyone's got Linux. The same isn't true for Windows.
The worst case scenario means I have to modify the source code myself. At least I'm able to do this with Linux. I can't with Windows, unless I pay extra for it. And that's an added cost to the Windows-based project. I have the option of avoiding this if I have a team which understands the code. Yes, you can buy commercial support from Windriver, MonteVista, RedHat, etc. which brings the price closer to Windows. But I've never found it that useful other than to give higher management warm fuzzies. Most small scale embedded projects don't bother.
But the point is that I can choose.
linuxdevices.com has run a number of surveys over the years. Linux has gone from a very tiny market share in 2000, to where it is the dominant player, outdoing all versions of Windows combined today.
You know, I read the thing twice. I didn't see any agony. I didn't see any ecstasy.
What I saw were a few fairly vague suggestions and one piece of advice (know your market) repeated over and over. There wasn't any real research. There weren't any statistics. I'm sure my second reading was a waste of time and electrons, and the more I think about it, the first one was too.
As someone else mentioned, there are still end-user problems regarding linux in the mass market. A user wants something that works. Especially John Q. Public, who doesn't give a darn what its running underneath. What he wants is the stuff he clicks on (in the OS or in the Web Browser or Application) to work. That means when you go to YouTube, the movie plays and the sound works. When he wastes time on a web games site, the games play. When he needs some software for some idiotic reason, its easily available, easy to install, and after he installs it he clicks on the icon and it works.
I've run Linux as an only OS in the past. 10 years ago, when I started doing that, there were many challenges to running it day to day, from corporate compatibility to application bugs. The reality for me is that many of those issues simply haven't been resolved yet.
When I think of the masses and Linux, I think about my family. I have a range of people there who span from retirees to teenagers. I don't think a single one is capable, or, perhaps more importantly, has any desire to switch. I don't think I could even convince my 20 something step daughter, who grew up with computers, to switch, even though she needs a cheap computer and Linux would let her get a fairly decent machine for very little.
In some ways, Linux strikes me as being 95% of the way there. The problem is, that last 5% may well be the most difficult part. The remaining issues are ones that will prevent mass adoption. For instance, I see the issue of video. The end user couldn't care less about Codecs. What they care about is the fact that when someone sends them a video file (most likely created in Windows), can they click on it and it plays with sound? As long as there are Window's proprietary video adn audio formats, that may be enough to keep a good portion of the userbase on Windows.
Not only that, but I can't imagine what support issues must be like. Even with good customer support, if you try to sell to anyone other than a geek or semi-geek, the phone support has to be pretty deep. Like my video playing example above, what happens when someone emails some inane audio clip and it won't play? What if Uncle Leonard needs to install drivers for a USB device?
Even for me, the thought of it to the masses is overwhelming. That final 5% is just a bear of a mountain to climb, and there isn't any easy way to get over it.
I also think the author of the article misses something in his targeting of customers. Remember, you've locked out so many segments of the customer base, who is left? Gamers are out, especially casual ones. Gramma and Grandpa are out, they won't switch to save their lives. Anyone who has some favorite Windows application is probably out, even if Wine supports it. Do you really think the average user is going to want to know how to get Wine running (even with top notch support?), let alone figure out how to upgrade it each time a new version comes out?
I'm sorry, I just don't see how this article addressed anything that anyone who has even thought about setting up a business shouldn't have thought about 2 minutes after they get the idea.
Bill
What's your email address? I'll send you one today.
The problem is NOT sending the email.
The problem is getting enough new people to run the script so that the infection rate exceed the disinfection rate. Otherwise the "virus" will "die" when it is "in the wild".
The more steps required to get a box infected, the lower the infection rate will be. Five steps at 90% success each
Nope. Microsoft's security model is badly broken in MANY places. Think back to their last anti-trust trial where they claimed that "integrating" IE's code with the OS was a "good thing".
All that means is that IE is a very easy avenue for OS cracks on Windows.
Try that with a Linux-based browser.
By default, Ubuntu ships with NO open ports. On Windows, they're all open, but they have a software firewall sitting on top of them. Again, Microsoft's security model is flawed. Which is why you STILL see cracked WinXPsp2 boxes.
I read they anticipate selling millions of their compact laptop Asus Eee with linux pre-installed. I'm sure many ppl are keeping their eye on it as it develops. Looks like specs are falling and prices are rising. I also just read that it only has one mouse button, wtf?! Anyways:
Asus Eee user/info site
Besides this and OLPC, any other low cost wifi enabled cheap compact linux laptops for sale or announced to be released soon? I'd like a portable unit on occasion for web/internet stuff, but I don't want or need a full blown high-powered system, just simple and basic, and I want linux just cause. If I wanted a full blown portable system I don't think anything would beat a MacBook or MBPro...
... is the year of the Linux desktop. The article says things like "Remember, it's the job of the Linux OEM to simply make everything work - out of the box, no excuses," but I don't know how true that is, unless we are talking about niche markets. Most average Jill users don't get an OEM computer that just works (unless they bought a Mac :D) -- they get what would be a decent PC were it not for it being bogged down by bloatware (and, very likely, a bunch of useless system restore crap that was put on the hard drive to save a DVD :P). Yes, power users expect things to work (I don't want to buy a Linux box from a company who expressly provide a "Linux PC", and find out that it has a freaking Broadcom Wireless Chipset), but power computer users, especially power Linux users, are not a sizable chunk of the consumer PC market. These companies sell a "working PC" and not a "weekend project", until the end-user wants to A. play a game that isn't Frozen Bubble B. get help from their pseudo tech-savvy friend (who may well say "Linicks?!") C. enjoy true compatibility with Office D. use iTunes (I think that matters a tonne, given the number of (non tech-savvy) iPod users out there), especially the iTMS E. etc.
Much as I loathe Windows, and love *nix, I'm still weary to recommend it to any of my friends who need a computer. I think Mac OS X is an excellent alternative (hey, it's what I use primarily too!), and it seems like the Ubuntu folks aren't too far from making a distro that average Jill can use, but there's still the matter of user-friendly (GUI) apps, which I think *nix is still lacking in.
The article also mentions frustration with Windows boxes and them having Linux-incompatible hardware. But again, these sound like niche frustrations. When's the last time your aunt said "Goddamn! I wish SuSe worked on my lappy so I'd stop BSODing all of the time!"? More like "Which one is the internet?"
A lot of end-users still find Macs exotic and are grossly misinformed about them. Linux for someone who hasn't heard of Linux, to me, is, at best, just as good for them as an XP box.
-Matthew Riley "TofuMatt" MacPherson
I have a website
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The next computer I buy will be dual boot because I need Word. OpenOffice and Abiword just aren't cutting it.
For those who get their modpoints bundled with their new facebook subscription, parent is a troll - and an old one at that.
1/3 of jokes get modded OT. If you get the joke, mod 1 in 3 insightful/interesting/underrated to restore karma balance.
of the phrase
"idiot-proof for users who don't care a whit about what OS they're using."
used in conjunction with "Linux user" or "OEM Linux customer".
I second that. Plus whoever posts all the Roland Piquepaille shite. Unless that is KDawson, in which case, I dunno, nuke him from orbit perhaps. Twice.
If X is the new Y, and Y is "X is the new Y", solve for X.
It's nice to see the use of Linux move from the server and to the desktop. And, while I agree with many of the post here that say "Linux is not quite there", I think it depends on how seriously and aggressively the OEM goes after the consumer market.
Someone who is just buying PC's, installing a stock Linux on them, and reselling them probably won't see a lot of success. For the home market, stock Linux installs tend to suck. But, companies like the ones discussed in both the article and the comments here who are taking an aggressive, active, approach by creating custom kernels, device drivers, and the like, will probably see their sales double or triple over the next few years. Users want an alternative to Windows. The problem is that most Linux OEM's simply don't provide a good alternative. That is starting to change and it's good to see.
We still have a ways to go but Linux is now squarely on the desktop and competing.
Anthony Papillion
Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
"Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
Funny, I have NEVER in my life heard "it should just work" until the subject of Linux on a PC came up.
Commodores didn't "just work" - you had to write your own programs in BASIC. Nintendo didn't "just work" - you had to blow on the cartridge sometimes. Windows never "just worked" - it "just doesn't work" more often.
MacIntosh didn't "just work" - wait til something breaks and you can't find anybody local to fix it.
Come to think of it, I want a car that "just works" so I don't have to drive it, a stove that "just works" so I don't have to learn to cook, a gun that "just works" so it never fires at the wrong target and always hits the target without needing any skill. I want kids that "just work" so I don't have to raise them. I want a tax form that "just works" so I never have to figure my own taxes, a bank account that "just works" so I always have money, and a house that "just works" so the utilities never have to be hooked up, it never has to be cleaned, and it never catches fire no matter how careless I am with a cigarette.
Well, I've been using GNU and Linux software for ten years, now, and it has ALWAYS "just worked". Because I knew from the beginning that a computer is no substitute for a sensible human brain.
Aw come on. If it weren't for Zonk, who would Bill Gates keep under his desk?
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. -- Albert Einstein
By stating that it's a lot of work to create a working, well tested, user friendly linux laptop (aka "idiot proof") the submitter suggests that Linux isn't ready for OEM adoption at all.
Karma: Frotzed (mostly due to the Frobozz Magic Karma Company)
Well, I totally agree with you on this one. And I hope that, while they are at it, all these companies embracing GNU/Linux as their OS of choice declare it openly and distribute their GPL source code to the customers. Because there are sooooo bloody many GPL violations these days, specially in the embedded market...
If any of you know of any violation, PLEASE do report it at GPL Violations.
Keep up the community work!
J. Javier Maestro
There is actually some discussion of Linux happening here. It starts about a third of the way down the page.
The Wintrolls got in early and tried to drown out any discussion of successful Linux OEMs because it's a topic that scares MSFT.
It's a technique used to game Slashdot by soaking up any mod points which may have been used to upmod interesting posts about Linux OEMs.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Why Would somebody give a whit about what OS they are using? Nobody uses a computer to use an OS. The OS is a framework for the applications that make the computer useful. IMHO, this is an important perspective that many OS vendors seem to have lost. Ironically enough, the totally anachronistic SUN seems to be the only vendor that actually respects this point of view.
Because the moment you achieve it, someone will just make an improved idiot.
For instance, I recently installed Fedora on a system. This went pretty seamlessly, except that I wanted to use a dual monitor. The installtion video driver was not enough and I needed to find and install the NVidia rpms. Bummer was that the NVIDIA rpms were not built for xen, so I had to switch to a non-xen kernel (fiddle with GRUB etc). Not too hard, but a lot more hassle then Joe Average would be able to handle. XP worked straight out the box. Perhaps Ubuntu is easier....
I then wanted to get my printer going. Brother network printer. The installation was not straight forward as I had to do to the brother website, figure out which driver to install, figure out what printer management I was using, navigating a few links etc. I got it working, but the XP hook-up was a lot simpler: just load the CD and hit next a few times...
Sure, the drivers do (often/mostly) exist, but they need to be on the installation CDs or have slicker downloading.
Perhaps the biggest stumbling block to this is the tussle between various package management mechanisms. I won't start a flame war as to whether rpm or apt is better, but one thing is for sure: having just one would make it far easier for hw manufacturers to get on board and would make life far easier for Joe Average consumers who don't want to compile from scratch.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I think a quality product should be idiot proof no matter what OS anyone uses, and believe me I absolutely despise microsoft and windows. Having all the dotted i's and crossed t's and minding your p's and q's should be a matter of good business and certainly excellent engineering. Yes, you're pretty good if you can make things work even if it's a hassle. Either way, you shouldn't have to worry about those kinds of things. I could have read the comment wrong I guess.
Down here in Latin America, where exchange rates make Windows licenses unfairly expensive, many stores have chosen to sell Linux preinstalled on their computers to lower the cost, so at least down here there's a large amount of people having their computer experience turned to Linux from the very beginning.
I want a laptop that I can connect to multiple random projectors or a large monitor, depending where I go, and that will work without me spending hours futzing with an X11.conf file and various hacks.
Before you point me to things like xrandr, I want to point out that I tried it and it worked fine, until I faced a command line prompt instead of a desktop the morning after an automatic Ubuntu update. That's not acceptable. Right now I'm afraid my choices are MacOS X or Windows.
It broke programs, rewrote over files, broke the OS. It wasn't until about a year after SP2 came out that it was in its current "useful" state.
I'm not saying SP2 was a bad thing in any way shape or form - having a firewall made available through the OS explicitly was great, being able to reset the winsocks was great, popup blocker in IE6 ruled...
But it wasn't ready for a year after it was released.
Karma: Non-Heinous
Why I moved from Fedora to Ubuntu about 8 months ago. Installing my ATI (ATI!!!!) proprietary driver went through without a hitch (using the ubuntu guide). Fedora was a few pains to get working, I agree.
Karma: Non-Heinous