Computer stores are usually tied up with Microsoft in their sales/discount.
It boils up to risks presented to stores such as if they sell Linux they may
lose their "discount/promo" from Microsoft.   Will the demand for other
platforms counter this risk? I don't know.  It will take a big technology
company to push something just like what Google did with nexus one to push
Android and create the buzz.

On Aug 18, 2010 9:31 AM, "Faldegast" <email address hidden> wrote:
>
>> I think the idea about Cannonical selling hardware with Ubuntu tailored
to it is
>> not such a bad idea. There seems to be a gap in the market at local
level.
>> Dell and others sell machines with Ubuntu pre-installed and there are a
lot of
>> Dell machines being sold in computer shops locally but sadly none of the
Ubuntu
>> Dells are on display and the sales staff are clueless. Perhaps getting a
>> smaller distributor /OEM might make a difference? Perhaps getting a local
shop
>> to have a specialty section or something might help?
> That's my point. An OEM program will be able to sway a lot of the small
local stores into the fold. It will perhaps even make it possible for us
Linux nerd to start stores that sell Linux computers. Sing upp OEM:s perhaps
city by city. Then start advertising Ubuntu-based computers together with
localized information on where to buy them. There should be multiple levels
of distributors that takes care of the larger issues. Perhaps continental
distributors that coordinates everything on a continent, then smaller
district down to city/town. That's a bit feudal, but a quite proven system.
>
>> The original suggestion from Torpedolos seemed based on a few widespread
>> mis-conceptions. Apple is growing but Ubuntu is almost certainly growing
faster
>> but is starting from a smaller market share. Apple are highly visible and
spend
>> a fortune on PR and advertising. Ubuntu just gets on mostly by
word-of-mouth.
> Currently neiter seam to be growing, the curves are quite flattened. If
Ubuntu is growing its at the cost of other distributions which is not really
win. We wanna get users to leave the Windows platform. What Linux
distribution they run is not as important. When Linux has 91% usage share we
can start thinking about that.
>
>> I doubt Apple costs less to develop as a lot of Ubuntu is developed for
free,
>> certainly a lot of the bug-squad work for free. Do we really know if
Apple's OS
>> is lighter and faster than Ubuntu? I have found installing Ubuntu on
different
>> machines makes Ubuntu look and feel quite different, especially on
machines that
>> have bluetooth devices or wireless or both. Sure there are usually 1 or 2

>> things that need to be tweaked but usually on almost all hardware it
seems to
>> set-up just fine. Out of 4 recent machines 2 didn't need any tweaking to
get
>> hardware working although i swapped the window buttons back to the
Windows side
>> rather than the Mac side. 1 machine needed to have "cheese" installed but
then
>> intgrated the web-cam into all appropriate apps without any further agro.
Just
>> my own home-machine happens to be awkward with 10.04 for some reason but
was/is
>> fine with 9.04. Oh and i never have been good at setting up network
printers on
>> any OS.
> Supporting hardware IS expensive. Personally i think we should have a
certification program and work with hardware producers that are friendly to
Linux. Hardware that has Windows-only drivers and does not have full
documentation for our kernel developers can go *censored*. Why should we
even look at their products. The only exception is when we have no choice.
However for stuff like network cards and sound cards we do have a choice. We
also have a choice for motherboards. Do they want to put the Ubuntu or Linux
trademark on their boxes or not? There are millions of Linux users. If we
start to buy only certified hardware with a friendly logotype on their box,
then they will care.
>
>>
>> Still there is clearly a big gap there in local stores.
> That's what we need to fix. That's why a supported and commercial OEM
version is so important. Combine a hardware certification program like the
one Microsoft have, a partner (reseller) program like the one Microsoft have
AND phone support, like Ubuntu have as an extra service. Put all that in one
box and sell it with computers an Ubuntu will EAT market shares. Also take a
look at Mandriva's commercial Linux distribution, and how it comes packed
with graphics drivers, codecs and DVD support. The only areas that OSS
currently does not cover. Canonical also sell this as an extra service, but
users want it out of the box.
>
> --
> Microsoft has a majority market share
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Club Distro: Confirmed
> Status in Computer Science Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in EasyPeasy Overview: Invalid
> Status in Ichthux - Linux for Christians: Invalid
> Status in JAK LINUX: Invalid
> Status in The Linux OS Project: In Progress
> Status in The OpenOffice.org Suite: In Progress
> Status in Tabuntu: Invalid
> Status in A simple player to online TV streaming: Invalid
> Status in Tv-Player: New
> Status in Ubuntu: In Progress
> Status in “ubuntu-express” package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in The Jaunty Jackalope: Invalid
> Status in “ubuntu-express” source package in Jaunty: Invalid
> Status in Baltix GNU/Linux: Invalid
> Status in “linux” package in Debian: In Progress
> Status in Fluxbuntu: The Lightweight, Productive, Agile OS: Confirmed
> Status in openSUSE: In Progress
> Status in Tilix Linux: New
>
> Bug description:
> Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace.
> This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.
>
> Non-free software is holding back innovation in the IT industry,
restricting access to IT to a small part of the world's population and
limiting the ability of software developers to reach their full potential,
globally. This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
>
> Steps to repeat:
>
> 1. Visit a local PC store.
>
> What happens:
> 2. Observe that a majority of PCs for sale have non-free software
pre-installed.
> 3. Observe very few PCs with Ubuntu and free software pre-installed.
>
> What should happen:
> 1. A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software like
Ubuntu.
> 2. Ubuntu should be marketed in a way such that its amazing features and
benefits would be apparent and known by all.
> 3. The system shall become more and more user friendly as time passes.
>
>
>
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