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you are right - consumer will get the brand-name probably and take
home Vista and it won't work well. then they tell their friends and
the friends ask about alternatives. they hear about mac, go to the
apple store and are either turn-on by the crazy hipness and cool
stuff, can afford it and buy - or they are turned off by it and go get
a PC. there is no Linux store where they can go see Linux in action,
play with it, and have someone show them the cool features.
IT departments are avoiding Vista because of the cost, complexity, and
business continuity risks of upgrading. They are waiting until every
vendor for every application they have says they support Vista and the
hardware makers do the same. Only then will Vista get into businesses
in a serious way. The opportunity for Linux (or Apple) lies in the
time between when XP is no longer available and when their apps can
run on Vista. This is the critical time. If MS kills XP too soon, the
window will be large enough that businesses could seriously consider
Linux, even as a transitional step while waiting for Vista
compatibility, only because they have the need for new PCs (ie - new
hires, dead PCs, etc). If MS allows desktop Linux to get a foot in the
door they may be sorry as businesses may realize that Linux is pretty
good.
On Jan 19, 2008, at 1:37 PM, Art Alexion wrote:
> On Saturday 19 January 2008 12:08:44 W. Chris Shank wrote:
>> I know first hand that forcing Vista on the consumer is driving
>> adoption of Apple at home. Of my little circle, I'd say 1 in 20 go
>> for
>> a new Apple computer instead of a new Vista PC - it would probably be
>> higher if Apple was more affordable.
>
> While I believe your anecdote, I am skeptical that it is
> representative. My
> experience with friends who ask is that they buy (1) whatever is on
> the brand
> name PC that they get from Dell, Best Buy, etc., and (2) the hype.
>
> It is the so-called "power users" and businesses with IT departments
> that are
> avoiding Vista.
>
> On the other hand, Vista is indeed a potential gift from MS to Linux
> and
> Apple. It's not just the hardware and stability issues, but also
> the changed
> interface. For years, Gnome and KDE have tried to mimic the Windows
> 95-XP
> interface while at the same time adding innovative but unobtrusive
> enhancements. (If you disagree, look how much less windows-like window
> managers like AfterStep and WindowMaker are.) From what I've seen
> of Vista,
> Gnome feels more XP-like, and this is an opportunity in a change
> resistant
> workforce. Certainly OpenOffice feels more like Office 95-2003 than
> Office
> 2007, and when an Office 2000 user is sent a docx file that 2000
> won't open,
> I open it in Open Office and convert it for them. Then I offer to
> install
> Open Office and associate it with docx files.
>
> ___________________________________________________________________________
> Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
> Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
> General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
--
W. Chris Shank
ACE Technology Group, LLC
www.MyRemoteITDept.com
(610) 640-4223
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
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