[Bug 1] Re: Microsoft has a majority market share

[ptoye]

Thanks for your positive feedback Allen. As only a casual user (and not
that yet until I can get the problems sorted) I felt a bit diffident
about speaking up with so many experts about.

But there are many types of user, and is Linux (whichever flavour) right
for all of them? If all you want to do is connect to the Internet with
your built-in Ethernet card, surf the web, use email, maybe use bits of
the Open Office suite, it's fine, robust (as long as your Ethernet card
is supported). But how do you find that out? The shop won't tell you
because it doesn't know (unless Linux was included with the system).

There's the elderly piano teacher mentioned in bug 154459 who needs a
total lack of hassle. There's the reasonably computer-savvy type (like
myself) who knows the sort of thing that can be done, but needs some
pointers as to how to do it.There's the professional computer support
guy who knows a lot about the subject, but wants to minimise the hassle
he gets from the OS - he gets more than enough from the users (in my
last job I asked why I couldn't have a Linux box rather than an NT
Server and was told that supporting one version of Unix - Solaris - was
enough for the support team and that Sun boxes were too expensive).  And
the super-geek who's willing to spend hours dredging through forums to
find the solution and doesn't mind reinstalling twice a week when it all
falls over.

And while Linux has the reputation of catering only for the last of
these in all but the simplest of cases, there just won't be the sales to
make it worth while the shops installing it. I can't speak for other
countries, but at the retail level in the UK we have consumer protection
laws, and selling kit the doesn't work out of the box will result in
expensive refunds, and the shops will be left with a load of "just-used"
kit which they can't easily sell. OK, Linux may be cheaper, but
nothing's cheap if it doesn't work!

> How many of us "shop" for Linux friendly computer equipment ? 
Well, I would if I knew what was Linux-friendly. But (in my case) looking at the list of supported WLAN cards on the Ubuntu forum, there doesn't seem to be one which will work without downloading extra software. So which one should I buy if it may not even work?

Another point which I didn't mention is the sheer number of distros
about, all fighting each other for market share. All too reminiscent of
the 1980s, with dozens of Unixes squabbling, and Microsoft laughing all
the way to the bank. The only reason I chose Ubuntu was that it's easy
to get hold of at minimal cost; as I'm just trying to see if I can get
my USB sound card to record I don't want to spend money on kit that may
not work.

-- 
Microsoft has a majority market share
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1
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