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Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> __/ [ Mark Kent ] on Tuesday 30 May 2006 20:16 \__
>
>> begin oe_protect.scr
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>> Get ready for the Vista/SUSE smackdown!
>>>
>>> On the one hand:
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>| As unbelievable as it might seem, OpenSUSE actually seems to support
>>>| more hardware than Vista does at this stage in its development. Linux
>>>| having more hardware support than Windows -- who says we don't live in
>>>| a time of miracles?!
>>> `----
>>>
>>> And on the other hand:
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>| Those who have looked in on the champ have not been impressed. An
>>>| experienced MS-NBC reviewer, for example, said "Installing Vista Beta
>>>| 2 was one of the worst operating system experiences that I've ever
>>>| encountered."
>>>|
>>>| [...]
>>>|
>>>| Those who have looked in on the champ have not been impressed. An
>>>| experienced MS-NBC reviewer, for example, said "Installing Vista Beta 2
>>>| was one of the worst operating system experiences that I've ever
>>>| encountered."
>>>|
>>
>> And yet people still claim that Windows is easy to install...
>
> ...Those who never tried installing Linux or chose unfit/old distribution. Of
> course, most just get a box with Windows pre-installed. So, to them, Windows
> installation has _never required raising a finger_.
>
> Others are less fortunate. When you come to think of it, maybe Vista's
> hardware requierments will become a big win, to both vendors and Microsoft.
> People will have to buy new machines, with Vista pre-installed. Upgrades
> will be a pain and a Linux CD will deem more suitable. If the latter is the
> options to be followed, the Vista hardware gamble will cost a great deal to
> both OEM's and Microsoft. People will not need to upgrade for another 5
> years.
>
It's down to margin on sold goods again. Retailers are not going
to object to selling extra boxes, as they make a margin on each box.
Manufacturers will not complain about making a new generation of graphics
cards, hard drives, processors, ram, motherboards, sound cards and io
cards, as they all make a margin on those.
To get linux selling in numbers in this environment, it needs to offer
a similar margin to the retailer to a windows machine, and a similar
margin to the manufacturer of the box to a windows machine. As margin is
typically calculated as a ratio, the adoption of linux in this environment
is directly impacted by /how/ wholesale and retail prices are arrived at,
ie., the ratio (%age of cost). The retailer can certainly make up margin
by selling service instead of software, for example, and the manufacturer
can make up their margin by selling /more/ boxes.
I think we'll need to see some new machine form factor to really crack
this space. A mini-Linux machine or something, maybe?
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
Heisenberg might have been here.
|
|
