Re: barriers to adopting Linux by newbies (was Xandros ... ) --

["Bryan J. Smith" <b.j.smith@ieee.org>]

On Mon, 2004-03-08 at 12:29, Robert Citek wrote:
> Good point.  Difficulty with installation and not having phone support 
> could both be significant barriers to adoption by newbies.

$109 Red Hat Linux Professional Workstation (RHEL 3-based):  
  http://www.redhat.com/software/workstation/  

Available at _any_ local CompUSA or similar retailer.

*INCLUDES*  
  30 days of phone and web installation support during standard
  business hours 

Yes, *PHONE*

> MS solves this in two ways:
> - Windows pre-installed on new hardware (WalMart and others offer 
> pre-installed linux)

Because Microsoft prevents any other OS (not just Linux, but BeOS was
one not too long ago that _also_ has an "under the table" _true_ story)
from being installed on tier-1 OEMs as standard (_only_ as a
non-standard, additional charge, option).

> - phone connection directly to MS

For $35 per support call!

I have stumped them every time, and been credited every time in the
past.  Microsoft support is worthless.

Now if you buy a _whole_system_, yeah, that's different.  But that's
the same deal if you buy a pre-installed Linux system -- you get
phone support too.

> What other barriers exist for adopting linux?

Economies of scale.  That's about it.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith, E.I. -- Engineer, Technologist, School Teacher
b.j.smith@ieee.org



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