[Sussex] Taking the battle to the big boys

[Geoff Teale]

Tony Dart wrote:
----------------
> Depends on the bundle - PC World sold a cheap PC with Linux 
> (Patriot) a few
> months ago with a very cut-down distro that seemed to have 
> RedHat 6 beneath
> it. Pretty useless for the office (the network did not work, 
> and the roar of
> the CD has to be heard to be believed), SVGA only so no good 
> for games (and
> not even a PCI slot for upgrading) and the surround sound 
> advertised was not
> implemented. Also very little memory, so not easy to upgrade the OS.


Hmm, I hadn't seen this.  This does sound like a typically PC-Worldish
approach - an out of date distro on underpowered kit.  Bear in mind that
they are not a "cheap" vendor, or maybe the phrase "they don't offer value
for money" is appropriate.

> But then again, perhaps Walmart have got it right.

Well the kit is still low-spec.  They are Via based machines running very
modern, very userfriendly distros (Lycoris Desktop LX and Lindows
respectively).  They don't have game-quality graphics cards (but do have the
necessary ports for a retro-fit).

> Still, bit optomistic to think people will rush to the stores 
> as they did in
> the eighties. Those of us who can remember those days will 
> remember that
> computers were new and games were all the rage. What can 
> Linux offer apart
> from price? A comparison with Amstrad would perhaps be more apposite.

Perhaps so.  One of the things that strikes me about the current home
computer market is that there isn't an option for the hobbiest.  In the
low-price, big market bracket you have games machines (X-Box, PS2, Gamecube)
and then there is a leap to the Windows PC based market.  There is still a
void in the market that used to be filled by Amigas and Atari STs.  It seems
to me that PC prices are falling low enough to fill that void from above,
and the capabilities of the games machines are expanding to fill that void
from below (interestingly in the PS2 this is achieved by making LINUX
available).

I figure there must still be kids out there who want to program computers
and make them do cool things other than play games.  THere also kids who
more and more need computers in order to do their school work.  In both case
there are a large number of families who really can't afford to buy there
kid a proper computer - why?  Well because even with the cost of hardware
hitting rock bottom, to get a PC with Windows XP and Office XP you're talk
>=£500 just for the software (add £200 for the cheapest bitty-box you can
buy and a 15" CRT).  Mac's are coming down in price right now (which is nice
to see) but even so, you're still talking around £700 for a system with the
same level of software.  But with a pre-built LINUX box you can do the job
for just over £200.  Now here's the thang of it all, if you need to sit down
and use an E-mail client, surf the web and write the odd essay that LINUX
box (running Lindows or Desktop LX) is going to be no harder to use than
Windows XP (and based on the conversations I've been having other the
weekend with my wifes colleagues, it may actually be easier to use).  Now I
am prepared to admit that if it came to it, the Mac is still the easiest
machine to use and maintain for the average home user - but a £500 price gap
is way to big for anyone to ignore.

The best bit of all is that for those kids who really are interested in
computers (and I'm sure that was the case for anyone on this list under 40),
LINUX represents the only serious opportunity for those kids to do the kind
of simple systems and programming tasks we used to take for granted on
Amiga's, ST's and 8-bit bitty-boxen.  

> Now a killer app, based say on ADSL, with built-in hardware 
> *might* just
> tempt the masses ...

This is fair idea.  Bundle the machine when you sign-on for ADSL access (or
visa versa) sounds good to me.

-- 
geoff.teale at claybrook.co.uk
geoff at tealeg.uklinux.net
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