[sclug] Using open source to make money on generic PCs (article)

[John Stumbles]

alan c wrote:
> http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS6998877341.html
> 
> Is there anyone local in Berks who uses such an approach?
> Alternatively, would it be considered at some level, if a few 
> -volunteers- appreared to assist with some of the chores including 
> simple support work - mostly as a labour of love?
> 
> It begs a few questions of course, but one can dream?


Maybe package up a system of hardware: a quiet box with decent size HDD, 
DVD rewriter, TV tuner, remote control, choice of decent screens; 
software: all the apps to make it a PVR plus CD/DVD ripping, editing, 
recording & playing, as well as standard distro stuff (fileserving, 
office, games, browsing, mail, photo handling + manipulation etc). Sell 
it as a top-flight PVR/TV plus networked fileserver for your home 
network (stream AV off the box to your laptop anywhere in the house via 
wireless, run Linux apps on the box from your Windoze laptop via VNC, 
even do it securely from afar). It would need a SWMBO-friendly interface 
(maybe remote-control based) to work as a PVR/TV and do some of the AV 
stuff (play audio files, upload and display digicam pix) so that 
non-techie users can use it with no more learning curve than the TV, 
video and stereo systems whose functions it's performing. Granted this 
might be a bit clunky at first but a small system integrator might be 
able to feed back from their customers to improve it, and the 
word-of-mouth factor of a system whose vendors are prepared to listen to 
the customer and improve it from their feedback has got to be worth 
something.

Seems to me this is the area M$ are targeting with their Media Center(?) 
stuff and where the market is set to spread laterally from the typical 
home PC, and where - as with mobiles etc - users aren't fixated on the 
OS, but are more interested in the functionality. Room for the 
garage-based entrepreneur, maybe?

-- 
John Stumbles