[KLUG Advocacy] Seagate and Lindows.com

[Robert G. Brown]

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 22:19:14 -0500, Adam Tauno Williams <adam@morrison-ind.com> wrote:

>>>>This announcement is probably aimed 
>>>>at resellers and users who aren't afraid to install thier own disk drive
>>>>and tnker a bit, still a minority of users in general (I think the general
>>>>popu-lation thinks of computers they way they do of toasters), but it is
>>>>another step in the right direction.
>>>With regard to the general population, the toaster analogy is
>>>quite good (IMO).  Lindows has been trying to get that market 
>>>to see the value of Linux for quite some time.  Those low cost
>>>pre-loaded systems sold through Wal-Mart were the first step
>>>toward getting Linux delivered to the masses 
>>That's right, Lindows is doing the same thing that Microsoft did in the
>>early 80's, pushing the install up the supply chain so it's invisible
>>to the user. Lindows is first in this market in the sense that you don't
>>have to look for the "Linux page" or the "Linux option" on some website, 
>>or interrogate a customer service rep while HUNTING for pre-installed Linux.
>
>It is a nice developement;  it just bugs me that it is Lindows.  Lindows is
>sort of a bait-n-switch Linux - sure here is free Open Source Linux.  Want 
>to install packages so you can actually use it for something, etc... - join 
>our subscription service.

The other term that's not in any of these postings is "perfect" or "ideal"
in terms of a marketing or distribution model. Very often the perfect is
the enemy of the good.

>From what I understand about Lindows, there are things that do not sit 
perfectly well with me, either. I'm not giving a product endorsement, merely
pointing out that the model they're using has been effective in the past.

>>Please note carefully that terms like "software quality" "long-term
>>stability" and "reliability" have not been mentioned in this thread. The 
>>history of this industry shows that, for marketing efforts, they are not as 
>>important as getting to market first, and getting it installed before it is 
>>delivered to the end user.

>Yep,  but is getting an OS preinstalled on a hard-drive the same as getting a
>pre-installed PC?
Of course it's not. i beleive if gives the system builder a lot more 
flexibility in the product that's delivered to the end-user.

>Or is this deal only available for system-builders?
I think of it as an alternate delivery chaneel, probably not for the
unskilled end-user.

>> It would be interesting to see if the "typical purchaser" of these systems
>> feels that they have received good value.
>I'm more curious how many system-builders choose to purchase these drives for
>this reason.
I'm curious about that as well. This clearly makes delivering a Linux system
(perhaps one we might not like a lot, for engineering reason) easier and less
costly for resellers.
					C'est la vie, C'est la guerre
						---> RGB <---