[Colchester] Install party and the Linux market

Mon Feb 18 23:10:33 GMT 2008

Thanks I did not think about the type of person and your right. The
people who will be attending the party are going to me more open minded.

I know thing for sure, I am never going to own a computer with Windows
on it, the history of Window (e.g DOS being a rip off of CP-M) and the
way dominates the market is highly unethical.

Not only that I think Linux is nicer to use more so Ubuntu.  It great
how the source code is open to everyone and they (who ever the parent
company of the distribution) still are able to make money despite the
high competition.

I still would support the Enterprise versions of Linux because not only
does it support fairer competition they are also generally cheaper to
purchase and run then the Windows counterparts.

I personally prefer Star Office to MS Office but even Open Office is a
fantastic alternative with very few limitations compared to MS Office.

I have to disagree with the statement that Windows is better for games
and lot of people try and tell me this but the web-site Linux Games
Publishing as a huge amounts of fantastic games for Linux.  Most don't
have the same kind of hype as say for example, Finale Fantasy but they
are probably just as good.  Not only that a lot of top titles are moving
towards Linux like the "X" series of games "X2" looks very good.

The link for Linux Games Publishing is: 

http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/index.php?

I think it is important to remember that even Apple computer are an
alternative to Windows and even know it might be to a lessor degree
Apple users are going to face they some kind of compatibility issues as
Linux users.

People have asked me before where is the market for Linux?  From what I
have read a market is being created in the following areas:

* Government Authorities around the world 

For example the French Government have moved there computers to Linux (I
think they use Mandriva) 

A few Council Authorities in Britain have moved towards Linux

* Police Authorities - I know this can come under Government Authorities
but there are a few forces that have moved toward Linux more noticeably
SUSE Enterprise.  For example Kent Police moved to SUSE Enterprise about
2 years ago.

*Hollywood!  Hollywood as discovered Linux and the application, Blender
(and others) as been used in a number of movies....

*Canonical have reported that Ubuntu is used in small businesses however
they have not realised figures on how many small business have paid for
support 

* Africa - Linux is widely used in Africa but I don't think this is
generally a market but it is highly used because of it generally free
nature. Ubuntu tends to OS of choice in Africa.

The above is just my view and understanding of the Linux market today.

I would love to attend the install party if that is okay?

Thanks

Toby

On Mon, 2008-02-18 at 12:15 +0000, colchester-request at mailman.lug.org.uk
wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Re: Colchester Digest, Vol 46, Issue 11 (Wayland Sothcott)
>    2. Re: Re: Colchester Digest, Vol 46, Issue 11 (Joao Verissimo)
> 
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:43:28 +0000
> From: Wayland Sothcott <wayland at sothcott.co.uk>
> Subject: [Colchester] Re: Colchester Digest, Vol 46, Issue 11
> To: colchester at mailman.lug.org.uk
> Message-ID: <47B86430.3040807 at sothcott.co.uk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> colchester-request at mailman.lug.org.uk wrote:
> > Send Colchester mailing list submissions to
> > 	colchester at mailman.lug.org.uk
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> > 	https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/colchester
> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> > 	colchester-request at mailman.lug.org.uk
> >
> > You can reach the person managing the list at
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> >
> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> > than "Re: Contents of Colchester digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> >    1. Re: Colchester Digest, Vol 46, Issue 10 (Toby Whaymand)
> >    2. Re: Install party: a little progress (Tom Robbins)
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:24:18 +0000
> > From: Toby Whaymand <toby.whaymand at ntlworld.com>
> > Subject: [Colchester] Re: Colchester Digest, Vol 46, Issue 10
> > To: colchester at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > Message-ID: <1203164658.5763.7.camel at toby-desktop>
> > Content-Type: text/plain
> >
> > Hi,
> > I think the install party is a great but there are two issues I would
> > like to discuss from my own personal experience.  I have had people give
> > me hardware before and asked me if they could try it on my computer and
> > of course some brands just don't work and when they are there watching
> > you trying to install this bit of hardware that deep down you know that
> > it just is not going to happen you get the "Linux is rubbish" line.
> > They (Windows users) just don't seem to understand that you need
> > supported hardware on Linux.
> >
> > The other thing which I have already said is when they (again being
> > Windows users) give you software that is not supported by Wine or
> > CrossOver and so does not work.
> >
> > I really think that it is important to talk about how we can over come
> > these problems?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Toby
> >  
> > On Sat, 2008-02-16 at 01:16 +0000, colchester-request at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > wrote:
> >   
> Toby,
> 
> I think you have a very valid concern over Linux compatibility compared 
> to Windows. Clearly hardware will always work with Windows since that's 
> the OS it was built for. The more posh brands of peripherals  usually 
> work as do common chip sets of unheard of brands.
> 
> I also think that the people coming to the install party are probably 
> more keen for Linux to work than your average person who uses a PC but 
> has never even heard of Windows. Seriously people don't know the 
> difference between MS Windows and MS Office. The times I have got into 
> trouble for suppling a PC with Windows installed but no Office!!!
> 
> These days people value having plenty of pre-installed software like 
> OpenOffice, Thunderbird and Firefox. There are probably a few more we 
> should add to this list.I find you can soften up Windows users by 
> getting them onto those three before they leave Windows.
> 
> The actual fact of installing say Mepis or Ubuntu is that it's actually 
> easier than installing Windows. With Windows it's usually out of date 
> and you have to spend all night updating and rebooting and getting past 
> Windows Genuine Advantage. If it was not already installed on PCs and 
> you had to install the OS yourself then Linux would be the post popular.
> 
> I would recommend running a Live CD or DVD, but you usually need at 
> least 512 RAM to do this convincingly. Installing to the hard drive 
> you're OK with 256.
> 
> I think Linux is not exactly a replacement for Windows but an 
> alternative that has the following advantages.
> 
> 1. You can run it as a Live CD without disturbing your Windows install
> 2. It does not seem to be affected by viruses so safe web surfing
> 3. It runs a bunch of programs that also run on Windows
> 4. It has some cool programs that Windows does not have
> 5. It makes the best server you can build
> 6. You can legally do all the above without paying for software
> 7. If you really really must run Windows programs under Linux that is 
> often possible.
> 
> You must accept that Windows is better for some things. Fancy all in one 
> printers, high end graphics cards and gaming are better under Windows 
> since that's what this stuff is written for. However most of the things 
> that people actually use computers for Linux does it better.
> 
> Here are some of the reasons I use Windows for business. MS Access 
> database is very good especially with a Linux MySQL server backend. 
> Skype works better on Windows. I am sure there are some other reasons 
> but they are getting fewer and less important.
> 
> I am hoping someone can help me set up USB printers on CUPS and this is 
> confusing me totally.
> 
> Regards,
> Wayland.
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:11:53 +0000
> From: "Joao Verissimo" <jl.verissimo at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Colchester] Re: Colchester Digest, Vol 46, Issue 11
> To: "Colchester Linux User Group Mailing List"
> 	<colchester at mailman.lug.org.uk>
> Message-ID:
> 	<a47f110a0802170911g7253769cwc37f87d79d9edfc7 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> >
> > Skype works better on Windows.
> 
> 
> I have been using the 2.0 beta (2.0.0.27) with no problems whatsoever.
> Call quality is very good and it has video support (although it is missing
> the very useful brightness control).
> I've just seen that a new beta is out, but haven't tried that yet.
> 
> I am hoping someone can help me set up USB printers on CUPS and this is
> > confusing me totally.
> 
> 
> What issues are you running into?
> 
> Regards,
> Joo
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