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Netbook Return Rates Much Higher For Linux Than Windows

Posted by Soulskill on from the old-dogs-new-tricks-etc. dept.

ivoras writes "An interview with MSI's director of US Sales, Andy Tung, contains this interesting snippet: "We have done a lot of studies on the return rates and haven't really talked about it much until now. Our internal research has shown that the return of netbooks is higher than regular notebooks, but the main cause of that is Linux. People would love to pay $299 or $399 but they don't know what they get until they open the box. They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that it's not what they are used to. They don't want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store. The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks.'"

3 of 663 comments (clear)

  1. it's the manufacturer's fault by speedtux · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've had two netbooks so far, and on both, the Linux installations sucked. One came with Xandros, the other with SuSE. Both were poorly installed, neither of them updated correctly over the network, and neither of them was properly adapted to the device (screen, keyboard, etc.). If I hadn't been able to install Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I would have returned the machines myself.

  2. An MSI problem, rather than a Linux one. by Naughty+Bob · · Score: 5, Interesting

    RTFA, and unlike the submitter, you'll see that the interviewers point out that MSI offer a poorly configured version of Linux.

    I wonder what it would cost someone like Microsoft to have MSI spike the competition.

    --
    "Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
  3. Fixing some manufacturing stupidities. by Zombie+Ryushu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Alright, couple things. Yes. It is true that the vast majority of the general public don't want to learn how a computer works.

    But I see some fault by manufacturers too. Couple things.

    Stop shipping laptops with relatively unknown "Lets evade the MS Tax" Linux distros with little support or documentation. This whole "Get a Linux computer so we can pirate Windows" thing has gotta stop.

    From now on, contract with the BIG BOYS in Linux, Red Hat, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Suse. No more gOS. no more *insert Bizzare distro no one has ever heard of here* distro.

    Make sure all your drivers for your cards work and can survive things like Kernel patches.

    Stop shipping broken configurations. If my Screen can support 1200x800, it better not be set to 1024x768.

    Stop Advertising Linux as "Almost Windows" or "Sort of Windows" - Advertise Linux as - Linux. Put a big Penguin sign up next to the row of Linux Laptops, and say "These are Linux Laptops." and if they are

    Install Wine on Linux Laptops. Show customers that they can take their Windows applications with them where Applicable.