Re: [PLUG] OT OEM software

["Mike Leone" <turgon@mike-leone.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "MECHDraft" <mechdraft@mechempire.com>
To: <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 4:06 PM
Subject: Re: [PLUG] OT OEM software


> The following message was sent by "Mike Leone" <turgon@mike-leone.com> on
Fri, 30 Nov 2001 16:01:46 -0500.
>
> > > > Same reason why the majority of people who own a car don't bother to
> > learn
> > > > how to do their own oil change or tune-ups.
> > >
> > > I thought you were going to wonder why people don't build their own
cars.
> > > :)
> > >
> > > I'm a biker, and learning linux helped me to get interested in fixing
my
> > > own bike. I think it's a good culture to be exposed to.
> >
> > Still, you (and me and other people like us) are a minority (and by a
> > significant amount) compared to people who don't know; don't WANNA know;
> > don't have the TIME to know; and figure that - for them - it's
definitely
> > worth the money/time/etc to not have to do it (whatever IT is). Bikes,
> > computers, cars, plumbing, etc.
> >
>
> I still dont understand why u think "we" are a minority,

Because there are more who don't think like we do than there are those who
do think like we do. If there weren't, we'd have hundreds of people at
meetings, and Dell and Gateway would go bankrupt, since no one would buy
their pre-built systems.

>besides the fact that they THINK its worth the money/time/etc to not have
to do it...they are ignorant to the truth thats NOT.  First I
>gaaruntee you I could change my oil cheaper/faster and with less
inconvienence than taking it somewhere...and I its much cheaper and
>sometimes faster to build your own computer.

All of which is immaterial. Just because you and I can do it faster and
cheaper by ourselves in no way invalidates my point that "non-computer"
people think otherwise. If they didn't, there would be no retail market for
PCs at retail stores like Best Buy, nor even for custom-assembled stuff like
Dell, Gateway, etc. There would only be computer parts sellers, and all
systems would be hand-assembled, as mine and yours are.

> Back to the origional story, I would bet that that guy is regretting he
ever took his parents to best buy, It woulda be cheaper for them,
>easier on him, for him to just build the computer for his parents...it
takes all of 30 minutes to put a computer together (Excluding installing
>a OS, and these days you can start that and take a nap if you want) and
unless they live next door to best buy it prolly took them that
>much time to drive there, much less find the computer they wanted, flag
down a sales man, then get haggled, and basicly forced into
>things that they dont really WANT or NEED.

It would take a non-knowledgable user MUCH more than 30 minutes, even to
just assemble the hardware. You're too used to dealing with computer
literate, hardware-literate people.

This doesn't count the time spent BEFOREHAND learning what is a good
motherboard and why, why VIA southbridge chipsets have been known to cause
data corruptions bugs when doing large data transfers, and so should be
avoided, etc.

Same reason you see so many WinModems sold - people don't know that these
things have no processors of their own and so must use your CPU cycles;
don't CARE (because "it just works" with their Windows computer), and it's
cheaper than a decent external modem.

Yes, there's a SIZEABLE number of types like you and I who DO know, and
those who would qualify as "power users", etc. More every day, it seems.
That's still a much smaller number than the folks who buy prebuilt.








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