Re: OT:Message to all computer vendors
On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 17:26:49 -0500, alex wrote:
[snip]
> we tell which ones? My guess is that there just hasn't been any incentive
> for manufacturers to 'bother' with even trying them on Linux. Could it
> be that
> they don't have any Linux knowledgeable people working for them?.
> If manufacturers were targeted with mass mailing, I'll bet you'll see
> "Wanted,
> Linux geeks' in their hiring notices.
>
>
> Who knows, perhaps if the machines available today were tested, there
> might
> be many that are fully compatible with Linux. There's no incentive to
> do this.
>
If I were a PC manufacturer, I would answer Linux queries, "I have no
reason to believe that any of my PCs are not compatible with at least one
current release of Linux, but I can't guarantee that. I'll ship it to you
with Windows XP/2003/whatever installed, and what you do with it after you
get it is up to you. We don't currently provide Linux drivers, and we
don't provide Linux technical support."
Why would I do this? Because more than 99% of my home PC market, and just
about 100% of my corporate business (and that's where the big bucks are)
is Windows. I am pressured on price anyway, because I am manufacturing a
commodity, and I'm not about to significantly increase my technical
support and call center costs in order (those costs considered) to make a
loss on selling a relatively miniscule number of Linux PCs.
If, and it's still a big if, demand increases substantially for Linux
desktop PCs, then I will be inclined to reconsider, as I am already doing
with my medium-size corporate server business.
And that is, unfortunately, the way it is in a free market economy.
In any case, it's not hard to determine beforehand whether a PC will run
Linux. Or to build your own with Linux in mind.
--
....................paul
"Do the little things" ("Gwnewch y pethau bychain")
St. David (Dewi Sant) of Wales, last sermon, Sunday 27th February 589
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