On Fri, 16 May 2008 16:00:18 -0700, George Graves wrote:

> I believe that Linux would have a larger "market share" IF computer
> manufacturers stopped pre-installing Windows on their machines. If faced with
> a choice of buying Windows retail, and getting Linux for free (or practically
> free - that $10 CD price, you know) a lot more people would go for it. If
> that occurred, Linux user-ship would soon reach the critical mass to interest
> major developers in porting their apps to the platform. That's not going to
> happen, however and I think that Linux will always remain regulated to the
> "enthusiast" segment.

If things were starting from scratch right now I would agree with you
however let's suppose that the user could go to Circuit City and buy bare
machines with no OS.

The first question would be " can I run all my Windows programs like
Quicken, iTunes (including the iStore) with the Linux machine?"

Can I use the programs my children bring home from school on it?

And so forth.

IOW the same questions people ask today.

That coupled with the consumer looking around the store at all the Windows
shrink wrap would knock Linux out of the box.

Then there is the profit motive of the store.
Why sell a Linux machine when a Windows machine will bring in more money
via all the extra programs that have to be purchased?

I don't think it will work.




--
Moshe Goldfarb
Collector of soaps from around the globe.
Please visit The Hall of Linux Idiots:
http://linuxidiots.blogspot.com/