MESSAGE
| DATE | 2008-07-06 |
| FROM | From: "Ronny Abraham"
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Maybe its because lindows just sucked
|
The point of a system like Lindows is to make a "it just works"
environment. Ubuntu is NOT for this crowd, neither are most Linux
distros. In that sense Lindows doesn't suck at all. It does
precisely the job it is meant to do.
Now I will not use Lindows, because frankly I don't need it. But I'm
not their target clientele. What they want is the guys who runs
Microsoft Office and the occasional custom business app. I could have
told them "nice try, but you aren't getting that market". Why? Not
because they don't do a good job, but because you are simply not going
to convince someone to give up something that "Just Works" and take a
chance on a technology that "does a good enough job". Why screw
around with something that might work when you have something that
does (sort of)?
Maybe SUSE does that job. I wouldn't know. But tell me, if you start
up SUSE will you have an environment that looks exactly like Windows
XP and works exactly like XP as far interface and preferences go?
Because that is a major reason why someone won't switch over. Your
average office drone has no interest whatsoever in mucking about with
a system. He's terrified of it and with good reason - he doesn't own
the computer it's running on.
I think that Linux has a lot of potential on peripheral devices. I
also think that one day, maybe, Linux might even capture a significant
portion of the desktop app. But that depends on whether technologies
like Flash can translate to the desktop and further show serious power
in the form of apps (something Java was supposed to do, but failed at
miserably). Show me that, and I'll show you a potential Linux desktop
market.
-ron
On Sat, Jul 5, 2008 at 12:38 AM, Ruben Safir wrote:
> InformationWeek
>
> Linspire Chairman Frustrated By Futility Of Desktop Linux, Rebuts Carmony
>
> Michael Robertson says Microsoft's imposing lead in the desktop market
> means Linux should look to next-gen devices for growth.
>
> By Charles Babcock, InformationWeek July 3, 2008 URL:
> http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208802569
>
> Michael Robertson, chairman of Linspire, said the assets of his company
> were sold to Xandros after "years of frustration in trying to achieve
> the goal of desktop Linux."
>
> Robertson couldn't disclose the terms of the deal with Xandros, a rival
> Linux distributor, but said Linspire's Click'N'Run download technology
> would fit in well with Xandros' own bid to establish Linux on end-user
> machines. To date, its biggest success has been on the Asus Eee PC, a
> small notebook with long battery life and a low price tag from Taiwanese
> laptop maker Asustek Computer. It comes with either Xandros Linux or
> Windows XP.
>
> "Trying to compete with Microsoft on the desktop has been a futile
> effort. What the last 20 years has shown is that the Microsoft ecosystem
> goes far beyond Windows" into thousands of drivers for PC devices and
> applications to run on end-user machines. For Linux to match that may
> be impossible, he said.
>
> But next-generation devices, including the Asus Eee PC, smartphones,
> and other mobile devices may yet prove a lucrative end-user market for
> Linux. "Linux has to look at new markets," he said.
>
> Robertson also addressed former Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony's call for a
> stockholders meeting after the sale to consider distribution of Linspire
> assets. Many Linspire employees bought stock in the company through
> stock options, Robertson said. Carmony claims there are still 100 such
> stockholders in existence. Robertson said Linspire assets resulting
> from the sale will be divided among stockholders, as with any other
> company sale.
>
> But he also warned that Linspire's preferred stockholders were at the
> head of the line, having provided the money that financed the startup
> of Linspire. Carmony and other purchasers are not holders of preferred
> Linspire stock, he said. He had no comment on why Carmony left the
> company July 31, 2007, other than to note he had "resigned abruptly."
>
> Carmony has called for a stockholders meeting, but Robertson said Delaware
> law, under which Linspire was chartered, only requires a majority of the
> stockholders to approve the sale, not a public meeting on the sale or a
> higher-than-majority vote in favor of selling. No stockholders meeting
> is in the works, he said.
>
> Linspire once went by the name Lindows and has existed as a company for
> six to seven years. Its 10-person engineering staff is still located
> in Linspire's former San Diego offices and will remain there as part of
> Xandros, said Robertson.
>
>
> -- http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff http://www.nylxs.com -
> Leadership Development in Free Software
>
> So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like
> Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world -
> RI Safir 1998
>
> http://fairuse.nylxs.com DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS -
> RI Safir 2002
>
> "Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
>
> "The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers
> to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in
> our own society."
>
> "> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be
> damned.< You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and
> technology have been attached at the hip since the 1st dynasty in
> Ancient Egypt. I guess you missed that one."
>
> (c) Copyright for the Digital Millennium
>
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