🚀 go-pugleaf

On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:28:13 -0600
DevilsPGD <spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:

> In message <20080703014617.1ee01c76@realh.co.uk> Tony Houghton
> <h@realh.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> >On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:04:58 -0600
> >DevilsPGD <spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:
> >
> >> I would pay the costs of throwing in some random garbage OS.
> >
> >No, it's estimated you'd pay about 10p, which is negligible compared
> >to the motherboard. 
> 
> 10p might cover the cost of the CD.  Now add the costs for building
> the CD, and supporting the software (including hiring and training
> support staff, and their associated office needs)

They could just bundle an existing Live CD. But if they want to add some
branding and their Windows drivers etc it would only take about a day's
work. Why would they have to hire support staff? Do they even pretend to
support the existing bundled crap? If they do, is it in reality any more
than a premium rate phone number routed to a random Asian call centre
they have nothing to do with other than splitting the profits from the
calls?

> Now compare that cost against the benefit?  Who would buy a
> motherboard that happens to include an operating system targeted at
> users who are capable of grabbing it for free on their own anyway?
> 
> My grandmother sure won't care, she can't use Linux anyway.  A few
> geeks might care, but I don't know of a geek that can't manage to get
> Linux running on their own if they care to make it a priority.
> 
> >The cost of a garbage OS is anything from £10 to £200+
> >depending on whether you're trying to buy it or get a refund after
> >having it foisted on you.
> 
> I don't buy hardware that bundles an OS I don't want.

But a lot of people do. They may not be capable of building their own
PC, or so they think, but many mainstream magazines are telling them
to avoid Vista, which is what they'll be forced to have if they buy an
off-the-shelf PC.

> >I prefer to download the driver using a system that is net-capable
> >and either copy it onto the Windows drive/partition if it's Linux on
> >the same PC, or use a USB key if it isn't.
> 
> Good theory, but manufacturers need to be able to sell hardware that
> works without an existing system to get it working.

Bundling Linux is a way of achieving that.

> Personally, I can't say I'm even willing to do tech work without an
> internet connection available anymore except in exceptional
> circumstances.
> 
> I really like how my EVDO card works, when you first insert it, if no
> driver connects to the EVDO portion of the card it switched to CD mode
> (emulating a CDROM) with drivers onboard.  Once you install the
> drivers, the CD disappears and you don't see it again unless you
> disable/uninstall the EVDO card.
> 
> I'd love to see motherboards offer similar, and adding 64MB of flash
> would probably be cheaper then distributing CDs due to the fact that
> the flash can be updated trivially whereas CDs cannot be updated once
> they're pressed.

I've seen a similar idea backfire. My mother's digital camera came with
a driver which my father dutifully installed for her. The driver was to
use it in webcam mode, and with it installed the camera failed to appear
as a storage device to get the photos off!

> >> Well actually maybe I wouldn't, since it would cut into my billable
> >> hours for newb PC builders.   But ya know.
> >
> >Funny how so many people that rubbish Linux make a living by charging
> >for wasted time.
> 
> Nobody around here actually uses Linux for anything other then
> servers, there simply isn't a market.  Even my Linux geek friends at
> best manage a couple Linux servers in otherwise nearly homogeneous
> Windows shops.
> 
> In all my consulting and local IT contacts, I've yet to hear of any
> company actually using anything other then Windows on the desktops.

That isn't really because Linux is "garbage", it's all to do with
Microsoft's monopoly and the availability of certain software. My sister
and her husband aren't geeks, but they dual boot now, using Windows only
for games and Ubuntu Linux for web, email and basic OpenOffice work.
They find it's quite usable, whereas no matter how hard we tried with
various anti-malware programs (admittedly only free ones, but stuff with
a good reputation like AVG, Avast, Adaware and SpyBot) their Windows
installation would always end up getting severely 0wned.

> Don't get me wrong, I would really love to see some real competition
> out there.  A dozen years since I started hearing "Linux is ready for
> the desktop" and how long with OSX out there, and the combination of
> the two is still fighting over 10% of the desktop marketplace.

I thought the figure was supposed to be more like 1%. Maybe Vista caused
the extra 9% ;-). Also, you can't get accurate usage figures for Linux
because hardly anyone buys it, they download it.

-- 
TH * http://www.realh.co.uk