Re: Everex TC2502 Green gPC Review

[Chuck King <chuck@chuck-king.com>]

Ref Koree's comments.  I remember a comment from a Mac/PC flame war 
several years back.  The Mac guy said, "You guys just don't get it.  I 
want to do things WITH my computer, not TO my computer."

Chuck King

Tim Hart wrote:
> Even beyond marketing, Microsoft has positioned itself to control all of
> your data.  Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Sharepoint, Outlook/Exchange.  Explain
> to even a moderately computer literate person how to open a MS Word 2007
> document on a linux box.
> 
> I work in an all MS shop, yet I run gutsy on my workstation.Here is a few
> statements I've received recently:
> "You mean it can't open a Word doc?"  .docx
> "You can't use our Sharepoint Intranet?"  sans activex
> "You can't navigate DFS shares?"
> "You can't use SourceSafe from Linux?"
> 
> Microsoft focuses on controlling data which will dictate what software is
> used company-wide, which influences what software one might use at home or
> at school, etc.  The availability of MS Action Pack licensing is also a
> major boost for the MS popularity, I think.
> 
> There is movement towards being a real Windows/Mac replacement for the
> casual PC user, but why should they make the switch?  Windows was preloaded
> when they purchased the machine, they already know how to use it, their kids
> know how to use it, the apps they steal from work and are familiar with work
> on it.  The games they buy at best buy run just fine, if not, they can
> probably find some semblance of support in a forum, etc.  The more
> flexibility and customization options you add, the less support structure
> that exists for your specific permutation of features.
> 
> In any case, the commercial projects to bring Linux to average consumers has
> always been motivated by cost savings, which will actually have a negative
> effect on the perceived value of Linux.
> 
> tim
> 
> On Nov 26, 2007 12:25 PM, Koree A. Smith <koreesmith@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> I agree that would be very cool.  However, I don't see it happening
>> any time soon.  Please read the rest of my email keeping in mind that
>> the ease of use I speak of is targeted to the majority of the market,
>> the non-computer geek.
>>
>> To see why Linux PCs do not sell very well to the general public, look
>> at the products that *are* selling.  You have Windows Vista-based PCs,
>> and, of course, the Apple products.  While we all know that a
>> computing device running Linux is plenty capable of doing everything
>> the above products do, there's one thing that most Linux-based PCs
>> have missed that MS and Apple do very well.  That's marketing.  Apple
>> has convinced two generations, in just a few years, that using their
>> systems makes you "cool", and MS has just marketed like crazy and
>> spread their seed over the last 20 years in such a way that it'll be
>> hard to take their market share.
>>
>> Apple and MS don't have the lion's share of the market necessarily
>> because they are better, they have it because they have good marketing
>> people, and one thing that, in my opinion, is lacking in the Linux
>> desktop market:  focus.
>>
>> We've seen focus come together in a big way for Red Hat in the server
>> market, but in the Desktop market, there hasn't been one company or
>> group that has really risen to the top.  There have been several
>> distributions, including Red Hat's WS product, that have attempted
>> this in the last few years.  But honestly, as far as the non-computer
>> geek world, people don't want to decide if gnome or KDE or, something
>> else, is the right way to go, or whether they should use SuSe, Debian,
>> CentOS, or Ubuntu.  They want to buy a computer, and turn it on, and
>> then do things with it.  While I can do exactly that with most
>> Linux-based solutions, my 50-year old mother can't, and most people
>> can't, or more importantly, don't want to screw around with all of the
>> setup. (the older I get, the less I like to screw with PCs - it starts
>> to remind me too much of work)
>>
>> Sadly, (or not, depending on how you look at it) Apple's dumbing-down
>> of the OS is what's making them grow.  I recently bought my wife a
>> macbook, and I'll say, I was pretty impressed that she had it up and
>> going and editing video within the first day.  This is what people
>> want.  They want a system that they don't have to screw around with
>> for hours or days just to do what they want to do.  Unfortunately,
>> most Linux systems require just that.  Don't get me wrong, they work
>> great once you get them where you want them, but nothing just comes
>> out of the box ready to go, and getting them to the point where you
>> can use them is not easy.  For a Linux system to be mass-marketable,
>> it'll need to be easy to use, and my grandmother should never need to
>> edit /etc/fstab in vi.
>>
>> I think this ease of use issue is exactly why people are putting their
>> own window manager on systems.  They're attempting to make the system
>> easier to use.  They're failing, usually, but they're trying.
>>
>> So, if you want to make big waves in the PC market with Linux, put a
>> front-end on Linux that makes it operate as easily as OS X :D  Then, I
>> could see a mass market happening for Linux...given that the proper
>> marketing machine is in place.  I'll be the first person to buy a
>> copy, too.  Apple has done just that with whatever BSD variant they
>> used (can't remember which one right off the top of my head), so why
>> shouldn't that be possible with Linux?
>>
>> This is just my 2 cents, I reserve the right to be wrong.
>>
>> Koree
>>
>> --
>> Koree A. Smith, RHCE
>> --
>> koreesmith@gmail.com
>> koree@ameth.org
>>
>> On Nov 26, 2007 9:06 AM, NZG <metalninjadragon@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Nice to see Linux in the stores, even if it is clearly a "value added"
>> turd.
>>> I could hammer a better system together with wood, nails, and parts for
>> the
>>> local goodwill computer recycling center (a kewl place)
>>>
>>> Start selling Linux Laptops and high end systems, then they'd really be
>> kewl.
>>> But would they be able to beat prices on no-tax internet sales?
>> Debateable.
>>> I don't get why everybody has to put their own window manager in there
>> though.
>>> My 9 year old daughter figured out KDE solo about 2 years ago.
>>>
>>> my 2 cents,
>>> NZG
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sunday 25 November 2007 8:29:58 pm Tim McDonough wrote:
>>>> I ran across a review of the Everex TC2502 Green gPC that Wal-Mart has
>>>> been selling with Linux loaded. I don't plan on getting one, it was
>>>> just interesting reading about the $200 "green" PC.
>>>>
>>>> <http://www.lightandmatter.com/article/gos_review.html>
>>>>
>>>> Tim
>>>>
>>>> -
>>>> To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
>>>> "unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.
>>>
>>>
>>> -
>>> To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
>>> "unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.
>>>
>>>
>> -
>> To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
>> "unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.
>>
> 

-
To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
"unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.