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Posted on 11/11/2005 10:18:44 PM PST by N3WBI3
Computers running the Linux OS are continuing to advance into the consumer retail market, with the announcement this week that Micro Center will sell desktops and laptops running Linspire Inc.'s Linux OS.
"This is very big for Linux," Linspire Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kevin Carmony said in an interview. "People want the value and the security. It is a viable alternative. For half the people out there, Linux would work for them."
Micro Center, which is owned by Micro Electronics Inc. of Hilliard, Ohio, began considering selling hardware systems with Linux preinstalled after competitor Fry's Electronics offered Linux computer systems, Carmony said. A poll conducted by Micro Center showed that more than 75 percent of its customers are interested in Linux as an OS option, he said.
While other retailers sell computers with San Diego-based Linspire's software, Micro Center is the only vendor that is devoting space in each of its 19 stores to Linux and has staff members trained by Linspire, according to Carmony.
Micro Center is selling two Linspire desktops, according to its Web site. The PowerSpec 1405 retails for US$250 and features a Sempron processor from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., 128 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive and a CD-ROM drive. The PowerSpec 1415 costs $300 and comes with a Sempron processor, 256 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive and a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive. Neither system includes a monitor.
Laptops running Linspire were not listed on Micro Center's Web site, and a company representative did not respond to requests for further information.
While Linspire's CEO does not anticipate the consumer PC market switching from Windows hegemony to Linux domination, this distribution agreement expands Linux's presence in the consumer channel.
"Not only does the technology need to be great, but it needs to be in the channel," Carmony said. "This puts it in the channel. People need to be able to touch it, feel it, experience it. This is very important for Linux."
Carmony believes that a typical prospective Linspire user is someone looking to purchase a second or third PC or searching for a machine to use for basic e-mail, word processing and Internet surfing functions.
Dan Kusnetzky, IDC's vice president of system software research, said that while this retail agreement is not indicative of a larger trend in the channel, Linux works for consumers with less demanding computing needs.
"Suppliers offering Linux are looking to satisfy users with needs dedicated to certain purposes like Internet access or personal productivity -- low-end use," he said.
Linux currently has a 2.5 percent share of the operating system market, based on shipments, according to IDC's research. While IDC predicts that figure will to rise to 9 percent by 2008, the Windows operating system will still dominate the market.
Carmony, however, is optimistic that additional retailers will sell Linux machines.
"Fry's put pressure on Micro Center, Micro Center launched this, and this will put pressure on the Best Buys. The market will embrace this," he said.
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They ought to bundle it with Open Office and the full Mozilla Suite. That would meet the needs of a large percentage of users. It would just leave out hard core gamers and folks with highly specialized needs.
If however, they fail to sell, it will put to rest the fantasy that Linux will outsell MS in a side-by-side comparison for the average PC user.
J,
Best guess: try the user name 'root' with no password. What is the name of the distribution CD that you purchased?
OTOH, being $250 out of pocket for a Linspire box that might turn out to be a turkey wouldn't be so bad.
Would seem to be an online news and online distributer.
However there is a specific distribution:
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| PCLinuxOS is one of the world’s up and coming providers of a Linux Desktop Solution. With a small but dedicated development team, PClinuxOS delivers Desktop Ready Software that harnesses the power of the Open Source Community. PCLinuxOS Preview .91 is an English only self-booting live cd that runs entirely from a bootable CD without installing anything on your computer. Data on the CD is uncompressed on the fly allowing up to 2 GB of programs on one CD including a complete Xserver, KDE 3.4.1 Desktop, Open Office 1.1.4, Thunderbird 1.0.2, Firefox 1.0.4, p2p filesharing and much more, all preconfigured and ready to use! In addition to the livecd mode, you can also install PCLinuxOS to your hard drive using our easy to use livecd installer, assuming you like PCLinuxOS and it runs well on your computer. PCLinuxOS is currently under heavy development and should be considered beta software. PCLinuxOS should work on most modern hardware and comes with advanced hardware detection. PCLinuxOS runs best on computers with at least 256 megabytes of memory. PCLinuxOS is released under the GPL license. ************************************* And from their FAQ: ********************************************
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Assuming what you have is PCLinuxOS then password for root is
root and for guest is guest...remember Linux is case sensitive so it could be Root and Guest.
This might be the opening screen....interesting:
"first they ignore you
then they ridicule you
then they fight you
then you win"
or something like that
That is good marketing.
Right now the ONLY reason for windows domination is familiarity and some website developers who still think in terms of MS scripts. All it will take is for some small segment of the mkt to go open source and both of those will vanish.
This will be good for MS and for the open source community. MS will not "die." It will be good for all of us.
This is a big deal.
Right now I'm on a Microcenter box that I bought in 96 or 97. The cooling fan on the processor is a little noisy, but other than that it is working fine. I've added a little memory and an additional hard drive. Obviously, your boxes were bought more recently, so your experience may be more indicative of how things are now.
And it leaves out those needing seamless user interface and perfect document compatibility with a Microsoft dominated work environment.
Clarification: The 2 XP systems that gave me headaches are both laptops bought at Microcenter (HP & Toshiba).
The 3rd XP system is a lower-end Microcenter desktop (AMD Athlon 2800+, 2.13 GHz, 512 MB RAM), and it's been very good.
Good point - I have company laptop, and at home a windows box and a linux box side by side. I prefer linux but need the windows box for Quicken and also it's just easier when it comes to downloading digital pix from my camera.
Except that isn't going to be present when the next generation of Microsoft Office comes out. So you can either buy and expensive new computer to run the expensive new Microsoft operating system so you can run the expensive new Microsoft Office for compatability with the portion of folks who have done likewise, or you can keep what you have now for partial compatibility, or you can upgrade to a cheap new computer with an open source operating system and open source productivity software with about the same level of compatibility.
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