[ubuntu-uk] Dell Linux Survey (until 23rd March)

[Dave Ewart]

On Thursday, 15.03.2007 at 10:32 +0000, Alistair Crust wrote:

> On Thu, 2007-03-15 at 10:17 +0000, Dave Ewart wrote:
> <snip>
> > One of the points made is that, under a Windows pre-install, various
> > companies pay to have other software included (trial versions of Norton
> > AV and so on) that have a net effect of subsidising the cost of the PC.
> > One claim is that this is enough to counter-act the cost of the Windows
> > OEM licence and, as a result, a Linux PC (or a "no OS at all" PC) will
> > as a result be more expensive than a Windows PC.
> > 
> > So, in hardware cost terms, it may still really be cheaper for customers
> > who ultimately want Linux to just buy the Windows PC and then wipe off
> > Windows, together with all the other trial software that includes.
> </snip>
> 
> You have to ask "why" do these software companies want to do this.
> 
> If machines were shipped with linux as an option their prospective
> target audience would dwindle. How long would it be before these
> companies got wise an started releasing their software for linux too.
> Just to claw back their target audience.
> 
> This has the benefit of 1) forcing software vendors to look at support
> linux and 2) bringing down the cost of hardware just as it does with
> pre-installed windows.
> 
> Did I hear someone say "chicken or the egg?" which came first?

Hmmm.  Right now, though, even if I was buying a 'Linux desktop', I
would be extremely likely to re-install the OS; partly paranoid, partly
just to get it the way I like it.  Any third-party apps would be lost
via this route.

Linux desktops/laptops are still, generally, for Linux enthusiasts and,
although the number of "normal users" (!) using a Linux desktop/laptop
may be increasing, they are still the minority.

Server-side, things are a little different.  I would like formal Debian
support for servers, for example, but I probably wouldn't want the OS
pre-installed there either...

Dave.
-- 
Dave Ewart - davee at sungate.co.uk - jabber: davee at jabber.org - freenode: davee
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