Re: {advocay] Linspire machine
stan wrote:
> I bought a machine with Linspire preloaded on it today. Nice
> machien, and cheaper than I could build it. A bit short on RAM, and
> the CD is a reader only (no CD writer or DVD). But great value for
> the $299.
>
> Reading through the manual that comes with it, I find no information
> as to how to use the preloaded software, but quite a bit of
> nformation relative to wiping it and installing various flabors of
> M$ OS'es.
>
> Here's my concern. It appears that the promary intent of this is not
> to encourage the new users that might buy this amchine to learn to
> use Linux, but instead a way to sell them a machine W/O the M% tax,
> and encourage them to load a pirated copy of a M$ OS on it.
>
> This really seems like a bad light to cast the Linux comunity in,
> IMHO.
>
> What are otheres prespective on this?
>
Stan,
My experience with Linspire is through another hardware vendor,
Northgate. I have a teenaged friend who works at Staples and who
purchased their Northgate/Linspire machine at $499.00. She did so
after I suggested she get a Linux box -- her "style" of computer
usage had resulted in the repeated infection of her family's Windows
ME machine. She asked for my help in getting it going.
As with your machine, this one came without a single line of Linspire
printed material. Instead, it came with a Windows XP manual.
Another indication that the machine was built for XP, rather than
Linux, was that Northgate omitted the installation of a CD audio
cable.
My friend felt that many would give up on getting their audio working
and would take the "hint" of the enclosed documentation and get XP
for the box.
She may well be right. I can't speak for Northgate's motives in this
regard, but I think that I can fairly say that their implementation
is slipshod and does not reinforce a customer's decision to purchase
a linux machine. Without my help, the machine would have been
returned.
That said, and apart from what I might otherwise think of Linspire and
their approach to linux, my friend has been able to use the machine,
install new software, configure gaim, burn cd's, and get her homework
done without any further assistance from me. Impressive, I think,
given her utter lack of technical interest/sophistication. In the
long run, we'll see how the potentially volatile combination of full
root privileges and her casual approach to security plays out.
--
Michael
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