What I don't understand about Red Hat's desktop 'strategy'
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Steven_Rosenber Jul 31, 2009 10:45 PM EDT |
If the reason Red Hat doesn't want to compete on the desktop is because it says nobody wants to pay for a desktop OS, I don't understand its reasoning. That's because NOBODY wants to pay for any desktop OS, including Windows and Mac OS. It's not just Linux. And that's why both Windows and Mac OS X are generally preloaded. Customers don't want to buy a hunk of hardware and then pay extra for the OS that makes it run. They want to pay one price for everything — and they like to think they're getting the OS for free. Talking about the "Microsoft tax" doesn't help when the actual amount of that "tax" is hidden. So ... how exactly does Microsoft make money? By selling customers something for which: a) They don't know how much they paid for it b) They mistakenly think they got for free With the concept of a Linux distribution being so different from the Windows/OS X model in that with Linux, tens of thousands of software packages -- including just about everything the business and home user will ever need -- are included in a secure repository, that's the kind of value that doesn't exist in the proprietary-OS world. I don't really see Ubuntu pushing this "feature" to those who've never used Linux. Whether it's Ubuntu, Red Hat or "other," somebody should do a deal like Ubuntu's with Dell, actually CHARGE the hardware vendor for use of the distro (and support it), and then educate the non-fanboy customer as to what they're getting when they choose a Linux distribution as opposed to a application-poor Windows OS that will cost them thousands to similarly equip (unless they are comfortable with stealing everything). I don't mean to slam the Ubuntu-Dell relationship, but I don't think Dell is all that serious about it. I'm not in the for-profit Linux business, so I don't begin to have the "expertise" that Red Hat possesses, but if they just pumped out an LTS of Fedora or Red Hat for the desktop and sold it to hardware vendors, maybe they'd get somewhere AND make a little scratch besides. |
| jdixon Aug 01, 2009 7:18 AM EDT |
> I don't mean to slam the Ubuntu-Dell relationship, but I don't think Dell is all that serious about it. Since for the last few weeks Dell has not carried a single Ubuntu desktop system, I'd say you're correct. |
| Steven_Rosenber Aug 01, 2009 7:45 PM EDT |
Dell AND Ubuntu shouldn't be selling to fanboys but to the other 99.99999 percent of the world. |
| tracyanne Aug 01, 2009 8:05 PM EDT |
What Steven said. Fanboys will do their own install regardless. |
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