[Wolves] wishes

Wed Nov 5 11:10:56 GMT 2003

Chris

there seems to be some precedence for companies that advertise Linux boxes having loads of problems with hardware manufacturers because M$ puts the pressure on in some form
m$ is some great hulking giant, linux may just be the stone in Davids slingshot

the biggest problem with selling linux boxes is how you cope with technical support. without either training for customers or lots of support staff (too expensive) or a hardline "you mess it up, you're on your own" policy (which wouldn't help sales) you would quickly end up with a lot of pee'd off customers with "i don't understand Linux, windows didn't do this" type complaints and the business would grind to a halt
it would have to be co-ordinated with cheap/free courses on how to cope with linux, or someone would have to write a newbies guide to linux on the desktop with diagrams and pictures and arrows and 8x10 colour glossies and implements of destruction

quite a task

on the other hand
there is the sneaky smugness to be had from not being mainstream and from using a "probably too complex for joe average OS" and the temptation to think "grrrr, make it harder, keep the riffraff out"

but i do think that properly configured boxes with  Mandrake 9.1 on would sell well once ppl realised how it shapes up compared to winxx

nux

On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 10:29:11 -0000
"Chris Owen" <Chris.Owen at wmro.org> wrote:

> Agreed.  Dual booting, as set up using one of the major distributions is
> pretty much idiot proof providing your hardware is compatible -even I
> have done it (and then found I had non-compatible hardware...).  I
> bought a pre-installed box because I needed a new machine, and I wanted
> to make sure that the machine I bought was entirely compatible (in terms
> of hardware) with running Linux.  There are only a few firms offering
> pre-installed Linux or dual-boot boxes, and the big firms that do it,
> such as Evesham, seem to be very coy about advertising that they do.
> When I was looking for a machine I actually contacted Evesham and asked
> them which of their machines would support Linux, and they replied by
> e-mail that none were.  Cue review of Linux equipped Evesham machine in
> the next month's LXF.  So even their sales team don't know what the hell
> they are doing.  There is a niche in the market as described - I hope
> someone can make it pay, since if Novell's acquisition of both Ximian
> and SuSE produces what it ought to, Linux is going to be far more
> mainstream than hitherto, with a greater demand for pre-installed boxes.
> 
> Chris
> -----Original Message-----
> From: david [mailto:nux at blueyonder.co.uk] 
> Sent: 05 November 2003 10:09
> To: Wolverhampton Linux User Group
> Subject: Re: [Wolves] wishes
> 
> Manchester?
> 
> 
> my point precisely
> 
> i am using linux on a dual boot machine
> i did it myself
> it's laughably easy if you start with an empty harddrive and use
> redhat/slackware/mandrake
> perhaps that's just me
> 
> (i love the way that mandrake takes less time to set up more software
> from 3 cd's than xp does from 1 - i suppose Linux knocks 20 minutes off
> the install time by not rebooting every 10 minutes all through the setup
> routine)
> 
> nux
> 
> 
> On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 09:06:29 -0000
> "Chris Owen" <Chris.Owen at wmro.org> wrote:
> 
> > Don't know about repairs and parts, but I could do worse than
> recommend
> > that anyone who wants a pre-installed Linux box contacts Digital
> > Networks in Manchester (www.dnuk.com) who built my home machine.  They
> > will even dual-boot for you if you wish...
> > 
> > Chris 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: david [mailto:nux at blueyonder.co.uk] 
> > Sent: 04 November 2003 19:11
> > To: Wolverhampton Linux User Group
> > Subject: [Wolves] wishes
> > 
> > I want to open a computer shop in birmingham
> > and sell spare parts and reconditioned pc's as well as new stuff
> > and pre-installed linux boxes
> > and no windows cd's/machines in sight
> > and it will be called the Penguin Cafe
> > though there will be no orchestra
> > and no coffee (for sale)
> > 
> > just plenty of smiles and help
> > and a live connection to linuxquestions
> > 
> > anyone seen an old tatty oil lamp around?
> > 
> > aladdinux
> > 
> > (this is response to another friend being patronised and ripped off
> > by what i thought was a decent, local computer shop - a small shop,
> not
> > a big chain shop)
> > 
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