B Gruff wrote:
On Tuesday 30 January 2007 21:03 flatfish+++ wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:41:21 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
EastLinux: Review and Screenshots
>>
Is there a Westlinux? A NorthLinux? SouthLinux?
Have we hit 1000 different versions of Linux yet?
I don't think that's what you meant, is it? I think that you meant to
ask if there are over 1,000 DISTROS of Linux yet, didn't you?
It's quite possible. The /production/ of a distro is quite a big job
- compared with (say) making a few postings to cola, but it's quite
a /small/ task compared with producing an OS. For example, you often
praise (with good cause, I hear) a distro called PClinuxOS. That is
produced by a very small team - not quite by one man, but a very
small team.
Indeed, The University of Boston has its own distro (BU Linux), as
does the City of Munich (LiMux), as I've no doubt you are aware.
Quite apart from distros intended for what we might call General
World-wide Release, there seems now to be an increasing number to
cater for quite specific needs. You don't see much of this sort of
thing in the proprietary software area, do you?
The number of distros tells me there is "competition". This will keep
the cost of Linux down. RedHat costs more, but people are willing to
pay more because of the value added software additions and customer
support provided. Others are quite good at cost plus, i.e., the cost of
and to burn the CD/DVD media. There are many flavors of distros to
cater to a certain market or need.
Windows XP has been produced long enough (over 5 years) that Microsoft
has retrieved their development costs. However, the distro still sells
at premium cost. A stop to a local store had a $198 US price tag for XP
Home Edition (boxed version for PC without Windows). Price is a little
higher with them as they are not a major reseller. Other major sellers
like http://www.tigerdirect.com sell same XP version (Item #: M17-5631)
for $197. $1 between both tell me that profit margins are very low for
resellers. (Please note, OEM version CD only version is considerably
cheaper at about 1/2 to 2/3 the cost. But it requires co-resident
purchase of a qualifying hardware component for validity. It is also
motherboard locked, cannot be transferred.)
Seeing that Linux is gaining daily against proprietary competition, who
knows? We may see Vista (and Apple) costs drop. If that happens, will
indicate that Linux is truly making an impact on the market. All then
benefit. Something will have to give as I see Linux gaining momentum.
Linux deployment sampler (incomplete):
20,000 Singapore Ministry of Defence
3,500,000 India
80,000 Extremadura, Spain
80,000 Générale des Impôts, France
62,000 Ministry of Equipment, France
1,154 Parliament, France
4,000 Federal Public Justice Service, Belgium
600 Central Bank, Turkey
300 Scientific and Technological Research Council, Turkey
1,000 Ministry of Water Resources, Turkey
300 Istanbul City Health Directorate, Turkey
12,000 Lower Saxony Tax Authority, Germany
150 Ministry of Finance, Macedonia
10,000 Department of Justice, Finland
1,500 Metropolitan Court, Budapest, Hungary
58,000 Berlin, Germany
400 Largo City Offices, Florida
14,000 Post Office, Brazil
32,000 Government, Brazil
2,205 North West Province Schools, South Africa
15,000 Ministry of Education, Portugal
20,000 Indianna Department of Education, US
--
Cheers, Rafael
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