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Lenovo On the Future of the Netbook
thefickler touts an interview in tech.blorge with Lenovo's Worldwide Competitive Analyst, Matt Kohut, who spoke about his vision of the future of netbooks, which involves Windows 7, bigger screens, built-in 3G, touch integration, and lower prices. Linux fans will be disappointed to hear that Kohut thinks Windows 7 will dominate future generations of netbooks because it offers a better, more familiar solution, with the benefits of touch. Quoting Kohut: "The other challenge has been, in order to keep the price points down, a lot of people thought that Linux would be the savior of all of these netbooks. You know, there were a lot of netbooks loaded with Linux, which saves $50 or $100 or whatever it happens to be, based on Microsoft's pricing and, again, from an industry standpoint, there were a lot of returns because people didn't know what to do with it. Linux, even if you've got a great distribution and you can argue which one is better or not, still requires a lot more hands-on than somebody who is using Windows. So, we've seen overwhelmingly people wanting to stay with Windows because it just makes more sense: you just take it out of the box and it's ready to go."
Everything you see today, only larger, faster and cheaper.
Nice "vision". Where can I get a job like that?
You know, I thought the whole point of a netbook was to be cheap and portable. Why would you throw a bigger screen on it? I've got a 17" laptop. It's great for long-term use, since it has a full-sized keyboard. Great use in class, when I was taking notes. And yet I'm *still* considering grabbing a netbook and an aircard so that I'd have something tiny to carry around for if I need to look up something quickly (bus schedules, addresses, etc). Something with a larger screen would just be relegated to laptop uses, especially with an increased battery drain from the larger screen. Seriously, what's the point?
Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
What with their ridiculous SL series and their lack of Linux support (and flagrant linux dismissal) since IBM spun them off, I say goodbye to you. I shall miss the trackpoint, but as you are trying to phase it out anyways, c'est la vie.
Why is there no major Linux vendor, anyways? Aside from repackaging Windows machines with Linux? Why can't somebody do for Linux what Apple does for OSX?
Linux, even if you've got a great distribution and you can argue which one is better or not, still requires a lot more hands-on than somebody who is using Windows. So, we've seen overwhelmingly people wanting to stay with Windows because it just makes more sense: you just take it out of the box and it's ready to go."
If Linux netbooks aren't ready to go out of the box, the vendors are doing a poor job.
If people are trying to install non-bundled apps, they might run into trouble. Otherwise, everything should just work. If it doesn't, something's wrong.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
Linux *is* awesome, but not ready for the masses who don't have an IT staff to tweak their image. Linux is vexing to those who support the idea of open source, but don't have the time or skill to navigate the endless FAQs needed to complete simple tasks (play DVD's, etc..). The key points of a netbook is ease, portability and its "appliance: nature. If there were a way to develop an instant on environment and purpose optimize the device a la kindle, then that's great. However, windows will rule until an easy GUI is developed that does not require a background in technology to use. The first poster is right, there is definitely some intellectual laziness out there, but I'd also argue that there are people without time to learn an OS during late night camel lights/sierra nevada fueled geek sessions. The iLife suite is a POS, but it's easy to learn and use, and that's one reason why apple has been so successful. If pcs were marketed solely to technology-inclined people, it would be a different story. Do you really think Joe the Plumber would be able to burn ubuntu isos and learn to use linux without getting frustrated?
There are several varieties of "wild boar" (at least in N. America). Some are viscous.
Jesus....really?
=Smidge=
Is it just my observation, or is eldavojohn an idiot?
I will keep an eye on Thinkpad hardware to run Linux as I have for years, but I will have to remain paranoid and assume the worst until some testing and validation has occurred, whether by me or others in the Linux world.
It is sad to see people like Kohut gaining prominence. He has blogged more than once indicating his belief that the Thinkpad value is in that gimmicky crap software they add on top of Windows (whether the wireless manager, or power manager, or hybrid graphics driver), which truly shows that he has no respect for the robust hardware platform they used to provide. If they had any remaining pride in their hardware, they wouldn't need gimmicky software to differentiate.
It's worth checking out Ubuntu Netbook Remix, an official ubuntu thing. Myself, I use debian and have no complaints. But then I use it on nearly every computer I own or have access to :)
Guidance/instructions for the eee range are here:
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC
I don't know how well it works on other netbooks, but I'm sure it's just a quick google away.
I honestly can't blame consumers from returning netbooks loaded with Linux, and exchanging them for the Windows versions. I don't think it's a fault of Linux, though, but rather with OEMs who haven't even *tried* to polish it up before sticking it in their low-cost machines.
Here, now, how many of you have bought a Linux-equipped netbook? and how many of you *weren't* tempted to replace it with Ubuntu as soon as you first booted it up? fact is, most OEMs are treating Linux as they used to treat FreeDOS: something to stick in the machine until the user goes home and installs their pirated version of Windows in it.
Missing drivers, non-working features, ugly non-standard interfaces and practically no apps out-of-the-box, it's a pity OEMs are giving Linux such a bad image just to save themselves the effort of giving their users a quality, distinctive experience.
Guess Linux' world domination will have to come from business after all, pity...
No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
A friend of mine works part time at BestBuy. He more or less has told me the same thing. All brands of Netbooks (Asus, MSI, HP, and Dell) have had a very high return rate on models that were preloaded with Linux. It's not that people don't like Linux, it's that they want it to work the "Windows" way. So far, only Microsoft and provide that for obvious reasons.
If people really wanted something to work other than Windows, I'm sure they would have chosen Mac instead.
Life is not for the lazy.
What the TFA mentions that "Linux, even if you've got a great distribution and you can argue which one is better or not, still requires a lot more hands-on than somebody who is using Windows" is blatantly false. I unpacked my Linux eeePC, plugged it in, turned it on, and started working, something I never managed to do with any Microsoft computer.
In windows you always need to get and install all the software you need to actually do something with the computer.
In my case, I do a lot of Python programming, and that was there. I also found Kate, my favorite editor for programming. Plus OpenOffice, a media player for music and video, a bunch of icons for starting Firefox in several different modes, which means 99% of what I need for work and play was already there. Let me see a windows netbook that comes with all that pre-installed.
The only complaint I have about the eeePC is that the keyboard should be just a little bit bigger, other than that it's an excellent machine. But, of course, one can always have a thinner, lighter netbook, with longer lasting batteries. That would be my choice of directions for evolution.
The Microsoft solution represents license fees for the office suits
Coming to a clothing store near you: Tuxedo 2009, with more bling; where does your inner Gentleman want to go today?
But with Microsoft's stance on DRM, does this mean that when I bring home a girl and we're both hot and bothered by each other, helped by our champagne buzz, I have to pay extortion money to the IFPI* before we can get naked?
(*International Federation of the Pornographic Industry)
If Linux netbooks aren't ready to go out of the box, the vendors are doing a poor job.
And this is exactly what we saw.
Acer said they got lots of Linux returns, but ASUS says the opposite
I want someone from Lenovo to tell me honestly that they believe that a Lenovo computer I buy from them will be ready for me to use in the way most people expect to use their computers when it comes out of the box. I want them to tell me that it will be secure, that it will be free of garbage-ware, and that it will have the most commonly used programs pre-installed. They can't do that. When Dell sells me a computer preloaded with Ubuntu, they can.
It really isn't the fault of Linux, rather the expectations of customers changed the nature of the netbook from the start. The netbook could have been a small appliance to surf the web, do email and such. Instead, the netbook just became a small PC, with all the expectations of a PC. The general layman knows that he/she isn't going to install Office on a Palm or iphone. Those are whole different machines, after all. But the netbook simply became a small laptop PC. From a Linux standpoint, THAT became the problem. Nothing wrong with Linux, just the expectations of the customer changed to expect Windows.
My ma, my kids grandma runs Ubuntu- no problems whatsoever. She loves it. As far as the bigger screens nonsense Lenovo is spouting- sounds like he doesn't like the low margin netbook market and wants it to go away. My 7" ASUS was fine but the screen IS too small for regular use. The form factor though is perfect. My new 10" ASUS is about perfect esp with about 11hr (extended battery) run-time. If the screen were bigger I wouldn't get it, it would be too tough to carry around and bring on planes. If a notebook/netbook isn't EXTREMELY portable with a long run time I'll just stick to a much cheaper, more reliable and usable desktop.
From the article: "You can just take it (Windows 7) out of the box, and its ready to go."
I'm getting really sick of these stupid people saying how their manufacturer configured, tweaked and driver loaded version of Windows 7 works with their laptop 'out-of-the-box'.
Surely, I'm not the only one who finds this stupid. OF COURSE your manufacturer configured OS is going to work out of the box!!!!!!!!111one1
From the article: "Linux, even if you've got a great distribution and you can argue which one is better or not, still requires a lot more hands-on than somebody who is using Windows."
Error, should be: "Linux, even if you've got a great distribution and you can argue which one is better or not, still requires a lot more hands-on than somebody who is used to only using Windows."
I'm going to sit down - my hands are shaking with.......wage.
Yeah, thats right, I got so indignant I typed this reply standing up and pounding on my keyboard.
Yep. And they are doing a piss poor job.
I was in a shop the other day and had a good look at whatever the latest Linux EeePC thing is. I use Linux exclusively for my personal computing and I found the desktop really confusing. And it looks so bland - as if they have spent several years and multiple design cycles iteratively increasing it's blandness until it makes a plain brown paper bag look absolutely fascinating in comparison. "Hey, that browser icon looks a little interesting, I'd better file a bug report."
What do Windows users do with one of these? They stuff around, find they can't figure out how to use it (I could barely figure it out) and take it back. What do Linux users do? Most put Ubuntu on it rather than the crap it comes with.
I wonder how long it will be before a manufacturer to realise that if they stop sabotaging Linux user interfaces and start using distros that everyone is using, e.g. Ubuntu for the EeePC, then they will actually have a market. I reckon they are deliberately screwing with the user experience to make windows look more favourable, and I think they are being stupid in doing that.
I don't therefore I'm not.
You can argue all you want that Linux is the preferable OS of choice for netbooks, but making claims like "the reality is that the netbook running FOSS will become the default" anything doesn't help much, when, for the moment, these claims are blatantly false:
People aren't buying as many Linux-based netbooks. And the ones that do get bought get returned in higher volumes. That is a fact, with data to back it up. So rather than denying the reality of the situation (Microsoft is laughing at your post all the way to the bank, by the way), why not be helpful and contribute some suggestions on how to reverse this decline?
Dislike the Electoral College? Lobby your state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
The version for netbooks only runs three programs at a time. So the price point difference will be even higher if you account for a version of Windows 7 that actually works right. Early reports are that Windows 7 isn't that much faster than Vista on low end hardware. The only win I see here is in Steve Ballmer's mind.
And, isn't oddly ironic, that just when MSFT is losing market share and needs a win, suddenly there are articles future tripping on Windows 7. What a coincidence! Trying to make Windows 7 look inevitable just weeks before Android netbooks roll out on to the market. Wow, is that bizarre, or what? Almost like it was...planned.
Not sure how much of an advantage touch is on 9 in screen. A 17 in screen on a netbook makes it a laptop and wipes out all the advantages of a netbook. What's it say about MSFT when they're in such a desperate race to the bottom?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
This guy has been blogigng his anti-Linux views since at least 2007. Most amusing from the blog is that a Lenovo VP comments on his blog that he is full of sh*t.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
How long will it take for someone to combine a netbook with a digital ink screen (ala e-book readers)?
there is no god but truth, and reality is its prophet
Man, you linux people are as disillusioned as the Apple fanatics. Fix the damn UI problems and Linux one day might enjoy double digit occupacy on PCs.
They just don't seem to get the point of netbooks.
Bigger screens, bigger disks, faster processors, more memory, Windows7.
That's not a netbook anymore (small, light and mobile) but an ordinary laptop without an optical drive.
Also some manufactureres such as Canon refuse to publish the specs for their printers, provide drivers for other systems or put restrictive terms on the information. Hence making it almost impossible to write effective drivers for 'unauthorised' systems.
And there is no technical reason for the above restrictions. In fact it was trouble with obtaining printer information without having to sign an NDA that contributed to the formulation of the GPL.
Yeah I was reading that thinking, "Isn't a netbook with a bigger screen a laptop? So the future of netbooks is laptops? Huh?"
Since getting a new laptop from $work (a Lenovo, no less), I've been in the opposite situation. I have few problems printing to a winprinter-like device (hp2600n which HP says "don't use with Linux), and those problems are all ghostscript problems. But my laptop, running XP, I've given up trying to get it to work. I lost the CD that came with the printer, and trying to figure out which stupid driver to download from HP is a lost cause. So the only machines that can print here are Linux.
Yeah, that sounds like the "SUV" thinking that got the US car industry in trouble- "The future of cars= Larger, lalala, I'm not listening".
:).
Totally ignoring the netbook market.
A lot of people want something that they can use like a laptop (do work, use gmail, facebook, MSN etc), but it MUST fit their _handbag_.
The laptop market is not going away anytime soon, neither is the netbook one.
FWIW, I'd rather have a wearable computer that is actually practical (very usable) and won't result in the special forces shooting me in the back of my head. But I guess there are only a few like me
Windows is a huge hassle out of the box. It takes ages to set up and get your programs installed and if something goes wrong it takes ages to diagnose and fix - else the solution is a re-install.
What you say is 100% correct. Out of the box, Windows itself does absolutely nothing and everything requires you to go find and install third party applications yourself. The thing can't even send email for crissake. And Microsoft will be among the first to suggest a bloody "format and reinstall" solution at the first hint of trouble, because actually figuring out what's wrong and fixing it is too hard, and in many cases, impossible.
However, none of this matters to the average Joe, since much of the software he wants will be pre-installed by the OEM, and to him that's "Windows". As long as it does what he wants when he powers it on, he's fine with it, and he has been conditioned to think "find, download, and run random untrusted installers from the web" is a normal thing. When Windows inevitably comes grinding to a halt in a few months, Joe is also fine with reinstalling -- because he's been conditioned to believe that's just how computers are.
And so it really comes down to the Devil you know versus the Devil you don't, in Joe's eyes. He knows that Windows is a pain and a half to use, but at least he thinks he knows what to expect. Linux may be far superior, and have an easy learning curve these days, but Joe doesn't want to find out because he's not sure what it'll do or how to handle any problems that arise. He doesn't really know how to handle Windows problems either, but he has the illusion that he does, because he's so used to it.
I think the other big portion of "Joe's" problem is that he has a misguided notion of what he "needs" on a computer. For the past decade Joe has been using MS Word to write documents, and to him that's simply how it's done. He thinks he needs Word, and when he finds out you can't run Word in Linux, he believes Linux is a waste of time. I say this is misguided because what Joe really needs is to be able to write documents -- and it doesn't matter if he's doing that in Word or Openoffice Writer. He'd be okay with either once he started, but again, it's the Devil he knows versus the Devil he doesn't.
mirrorshades radio -- darkwave, industrial, futurepop, ebm.
Wow. That's either impressive or insane :-)
I can't even stand to carry around my 15" laptop on a daily basis. It's not so much the weight as the annoying "bulk" of it. It's awkward thick and wide. The power brick is big and needed far too often. The laptop is too big to fit on most lecture hall desks, and it's not at all unobtrusive... whenever I have it I'm instantly "that jerk with the giant laptop."
So 17"... way too big :-p
My bicyles
Let me see, more expensive, big, fast, windows... Sounds like a... laptop?
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
Of course the dominant market of netbooks will always be education, from primary school to university, hundreds of millions of units with hundreds of millions of licences, either they give it away for free and loose (FOSS advocates still win, we believe in bridging the digital divide) or give that market away to FOSS software and still lose (FOSS advocates prefer that as it gives people equal access to the software globally).
Of course they can attempt to follow the corrupt path and get governments to continue to throw away billions of dollars on licence fees but the general public is really starting to take a dim view on that flagrant waste of tax revenue, especially for the rest of the world outside of Redmond, WA, USA.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
"Hello, I'm having a problem with my Linux computer. The SuperSpoodle application says it won't work because it has the wrong version of something called ffmpeg"
"I see. Ok, I'll talk you through updating that package. Do you usually use yum, yast, apt-get, or portage?"
"What are those?"
"They are package updaters. Ok, do you use Debian, Ubuntu, Suse, Gentoo, Fedora, or Linspire?"
"What are those?"
"Ok, maybe it would be easier if you just brought up a terminal window and I'll tell you letter by letter what to type"
"Ok, how do I bring up a terminal window?"
"Well, if there's not an icon on your desktop, then it depends. Does your Linux computer use Gnome, KDE, XFCE, or Enlightenment?"
"Um, what are those?"
"Those are different windowing environments you might have. Depending on which you have, the menus and interface could be very different."
(pregnant pause).
"I see ... would it be possible to install Windows on this machine?"
"Bring it in and we can do it overnight."
"Thanks."
Kohut: Notebooks aren't going to go away, because again, one of the things that is helping us as an industry is that Intel is trying very hard to limit what netbooks can do.
Hmmm... intentionally crippling their low-end stuff, eh? That explains why we've got no 64-bit or VT on the mobile Atom processors, I guess, among other things...
This sounds like a loophole big enough for VIA to drive through with the Nano.
I hope they succeed. And I hope AMD wakes up and makes netbook processors. You wouldn't even know it from their terrible marketing and sales, but the Turion 64 X2 is quite a nice dual-core mobile processor from AMD. And dirt cheap too.
Bottom line, more competition is good and right now, desperately needed for netbook CPUs. We need a serious Nano vs. Atom vs. AMD slugfest. Bring it.
My bicyles
Nah, not just the car industry, but consumerism in general.
Everything needs to be bigger, better, shinier then the last one round.
Problem is that for the corps, the quickest way to do that is to slap a new layer of "chrome" on the old product and let the marketing department run riot. Nothing really new comes out of a approach like that, and things have been running on hot air and promises for 2-3 generations now...
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
No, he hasn't. Go into any Walmart and ask them to show you the 5 most popular printers. 5 will get you 10 that 4 out of 5 if not all 5 will be Lexmarks. To install any printer in Windows on a Netbooks all anyone has to do is Google "name of printer xp driver" and boom they have got it. Total time? Maybe 5 minutes if you have a slow connection.
Now try that with Linux. if you have a business network printer (and what are the odds a home user will have one of those?) then you are good to go. if not you are liable to spend hours praying to the CLI Gods that this next command will get the damned thing to work. Unless you are one of the millions of home users with Lexmark all in ones, then all the prayers in the world ain't gonna help you.
Now why in the hell can't some Linux developer develop an "Ndiswrapper" for printers? Why? hell the "Winprinter" is just calling the Windows GDI for everything, it ain't like there is any actual hardware in the damned things. It certainly has to be easier than defeating the "Winwireless" and "Winmodem" with their 400 different chips and funky software. Hell Lexmark and the other low end printer makers are so cheap i bet they ain't changed the guts in them things for years. But until the day comes that I can set up a Linux box in my shop and know that any printer they pick up in Walmart works I just can't carry them. It is just too much of a support PITA. After all, having a big list of stuff you CAN'T use doesn't really sell a machine, you know?
I'm betting that is why the Netbook manufacturers are keeping the majority of their sales firmly in the Windows camp. Because it is a hell of a lot easier for a support tech to say "Google /name of printer/ XP driver" than it is to say "open up bash and type these dozen commands" or "Sorry but you are NEVER going to be able to print, much less scan of fax with that. Sorry". I'm not trying to flame here, this is just what I have run into attempting to sell Linux machines. In the end the amount of hours wasted on support made it cheaper to simply add in the "Windows Tax" into the price than it was to sell Linux. And nearly every damned time it was printer or all in one problems that killed the sale.
Solve that like you did the "Winmodem" and Winwireless" and you have a real shot at gaining marketshare. But if my customer takes it home and picks up a printer at Wally World and can't print? Than "free as in freedom and beer" becomes a hell of a lot more expensive to support than just paying the $89 for XP Home. Hell I had less support headaches just giving them Win98 CALs than selling them with brand new Ubuntu installs. At least I can get those damned cheapo printers to work in Win98.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Linux has printer drivers for most printers built in. Adding a printer is simpler than in Windows, where it searches for drivers, asks for CDs, and then often still doesn't work. Printing itself just works. Incidentally, Ubuntu and other Linux distributions use the same print spooling software that Macintosh uses.
The same is true for a lot of other hardware. Hardware and driver support in Linux alone is a reason why it is such a great choice. Standards-conforming hardware (printers, modems, 3G, cell phones, drives, etc.) just plug in and work.
My parents have had big problems with both Windows and OS X; despite the advertising claims, those systems are not easy to use and don't "just work". Since I switched them to Ubuntu, everything just works, and they can even safely use new software and hardware when they want to. They aren't going back.
He wants to have faster hardware, more RAM, more CPU power and hopefully more runtime. This is understandable, because otherwise W7 won run on it. And he wants to have bigger screens. And even with more expensive hardware and W7, he wants to be cheaper than other brands.
The is very ambitious. However, he will fail.
1. Netbooks are not about bigger screens (unless he is copying OLPC-2, which would mean through out the keyboard for a second screen) Netbooks are about mobility.
2. 50-100$ price cut for a Linux machine compared to W7 makes almost 25-30% of the overall price for a Netbook. So this is a significant part of the pricing. People will go for 25-30% less. Especially in a not so friendly economic environment.
3. W7 is so different compared to Win XP, so that people have to relearn a lot. So there is no difference to a good Linux distribution. And in addition. People are useing different user interfaces on their different gadgets. So Linux on a Netbook is no difference to Linux on a smartphone. Oh look some of these "Analysts" already claimed that Google Android will be on Netbooks.
So when Linux has no future on Netbooks, then Android has no future too. Or are they really thinking that are two different things.
The most interesting part is, that Lenovo is obviously for searching ways to drop Linux support for their Notbooks. Or that not all parts of the company want to pursue Linux business.
I wouldn't bother correcting him. If you want to run Linux, you have a clear warning not to buy Lenovo. From my family's personal experience, I'm not sure I'd buy Lenovo either if I wanted to run Windows, with the amount of non-functioning vendor-specific software supplied.
Andrew Yeomans
x86 netbook, short battery life and big.
:-)
ARM netbook, long battery life and small.
x86 netbook is Windows, looks like Linux lost on that battle field, not wholey fairly either....
ARM netbook is Linux, far more functional then a WinCE netbook could ever be. What's the point of Windows where you can't run your normal apps?
MS one the x86 battle, but will they win the netbook war? It depends what exactly a netbook is for. If it's to be a mini general purpose PC where people run the apps they know, ARM and Linux loose. If it's to be a travel mini PC for web surfing and the odd jobs (and for Linux people, anything) ARM and Linux are in with a chance. Linux nearly succeed with x86, so maybe longer battery life will swing it.....
Personally, I want x86/Windows monopoly to be broken, I want competition on the OS and chip fronts, but I think they have such critical mass the market alone won't do it. People learn only Windows and don't realize how limiting that is, thus no real competition, and no real competition, means slow and fat.....oh wait that's been happening for years. Windows main competition is old versions of Windows and that sucks. It's just kept good enough that most people don't look desperately for something else. There is at least some competition on the chip front, as long as it's x86....
I would love to see ARM/Linux win, but I'm not feeling hopeful. Still I'll get myself a ARM netbook as a full pocket linux and a powerful media player in one.
And google will forever archive that kkwst2 said "I agree there's obviously a sweet spot, but for me it's more like 12-13 inches rather than 10."
-The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
This comes up every so often and I post these links every time I notice it:
IBM Metapad. It was a modular computing concept device and I've been waiting for it to become real since I first heard about it.
http://www.research.ibm.com/WearableComputing/MetaPad/metapad.html
http://www-03.ibm.com/technology/designconsulting/port_metapad.html
You want a PDA? Netbook? Desktop? It's all three~
--- Do you believe in the day?
What I said was that the issue of printer drivers contributed to the GNU license. Not that it was the sole reason. And regarding the issue of Linux an printing it's worth noting the long history of printer driver problems.
Now regarding Stallman and printer drivers note the following wikepedia entry about Stallman's time at MIT which I have heard from the horses mouth many times:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman
In 1980, Stallman and some other hackers at the AI Lab were refused access to the source code for the software of the first laser printer, the Xerox 9700. Stallman had modified the software on an older printer (the XGP, Xerographic Printer), so it electronically messaged a user when the person's job was printed, and would message all logged-in users when a printer was jammed. Not being able to add this feature to the Dover printer was a major inconvenience, as the printer was on a different floor from most of the users. This one experience convinced Stallman of people's need to be free to modify the software they use.
Thank you! And as for the poster who said "when was the last time you used Linux?" like I was basing this on some 5 year old distro? Is Ubuntu 9.04 new enough for you? Here is a little experiment-go to Walmart (or Walmart.com if you prefer) and look at the under $80 printers. Now look up those printers and see how many of them are a royal PITA to get working in Linux, if you can even get them to work at all. Walgreen's refills Lexmark carts for a whole $10, so the whole "$30 printer that takes $30 carts" doesn't apply anymore.
In the past 2 years I have had maybe 2 customers bring a box through the door that didn't have the Lexmark "driver" running in the taskbar. That is a whole 2 customers out of God knows how many. Just last month my landlady asked me to come by her office and set up her new printer. Guess what it was? The Lexmark all in one printer/scanner/fax sells for about $40 at Walmart right now. There is simply NO WAY I can tell my customers "Oh, BTW, please take your perfectly working printer/scanner/fax and throw it away".
The simple question that needs to be asked is this: Does Linux developers WANT more marketshare? If the answer is yes, then the path is simple. Go to Walmart, which is one of the biggest retailers on the planet. Go to their electronics department and make DAMNED SURE that everything on their shelves, especially all in one printers, work in Linux. because what Linux needs right now is the infrastructure that Windows users enjoy. They can go into any shop like mine and get Windows upgraded, get Windows fixed, or get a new Windows box built. I myself have been moving WinXP boxes as fast as I can put them together. But guys like me don't sell Linux. It isn't because we hate Linux, I personally want their to be competition in the marketplace and for those that just surf and download it would make a great option. But I can't offer it. Why? Because the support will frankly bankrupt me.
I have tried to sell Linux boxes no less than 4 times in the last 4 years and it is ALWAYS the same. They buy the box, go to Walmart, and expect whatever hardware they bought there to work, especially printers. When it doesn't it is brought back to be "fixed" (which is often impossible) and when it can't be fixed they demand their money back because you sold them a "broken" computer. They don't care about freedom or GPL, if it doesn't work it is YOUR problem and right now that is Linux's problem. So complain about the "Windows tax" all you want. But I have found the $89 cost of XP Home is frankly a hell of a lot cheaper than selling Linux boxes at any cost. They just need too damned much support. Fix this and you will have lots of marketshare because guys like me will be happy to place low cost Linux boxes right beside the Windows ones. But until then it is simply cheaper from a support standpoint to be a Windows only shop, as I'm sure the Netbook makers have been finding out the hard way.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.