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The Agony and Ecstasy Of Becoming a Linux OEM

Posted by Zonk on from the penguins-in-houses-always-staring dept.

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."

1 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. THAT is the real last hurdle. by khasim · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Of course this ode ignores users who have time for playing games or people who still print stuff (yes I've tried to install a linux unfriendly printer and I'm burning down Lexmarks office next tuesday).

    And from TFA:

    Both of the above mentioned Linux companies have really poor hardware compatibility lists (HCLs).

    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.