Re: [PLUG] hardware - a deal I couldn't refuse

[Art Alexion <art.alexion@verizon.net>]

On Tuesday 04 December 2007 13:09:08 Matthew Rosewarne wrote:
> On Tuesday 04 December 2007, Art Alexion wrote:
> > So why is it surprising that someone who wants to *sell* desktop Linux
> > would want to spend time and money to develop bling?
> >
> > Remember, this isn't being sold to server administrators.
>
> While I run Linux exclusively, and have set up others (who are NOT
> strongly-technical users) to do the same, I find the idea of trying to sell
> desktop Linux to the "consumer"/small-business market fairly pointless at
> the moment.  The only people who really are that interested in desktop
> Linux appear to be individual hobbyists, larger businesses, and
> governments.  The hobbyists aren't going to buy anything, so the system
> administrators of those larger organisations are indeed the primary target
> audience.  As far as I'm aware, very few large organisations care at all
> about 3D desktop effects, and would much rather have other areas improved,
> such as authentication or configuration.

<furrowed brow reply>
Right ... and wrong.

Selling desktop Linux is a mis-characterization.  Perhaps the correct paradigm 
is selling support for Linux desktops.  Working in a medium sized business, I 
can tell you that — here at least — nothing intended for production is going 
to be implemented, regardless of what I think of community support, unless we 
can hold some company accountable for support.

Second point, though the administrators select and install the stuff, we only 
get cooperation from users and management if there is a certain degree of 
comfort (MS Office) or bling (e.g. compiz).

So, if I want to push desktop Linux onto the floor, I want stability, 
compatibility and configurability, but I still need to get cooperation from 
the users and management.  You're not selling it to me, you are giving me 
some flash so I can sell it to my users.

at least that's how it works here...

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