Re:Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
by scholia on Friday August 02, 2013 @12:34PM
(#6147988)
But it does impact companies that might otherwise try pre-installing Linux. Whichever distro they pick, they lose 100% of the Windows market plus the 97%* of the Linux market who bitch about not getting their fave version.
* Made up number but I remember Acer shipping netbooks with Linpus Lite...
Re:Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
by drcube on Friday August 02, 2013 @01:19PM
(#6148266)
Not at all. I bought a System 76 laptop that came pre-installed with Ubuntu. But I don't like Ubuntu.
However, I knew that Linux ran on it out of the box, and that meant I could run Slackware without worrying about missing drivers, etc. Also, it was a great way to support a company that supports free software.
To me, a company that sells pre-installed Linux on decent hardware has my admiration and support, regardless of the distro.
Re:Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
by phaemon on Friday August 02, 2013 @07:14PM
(#6150250)
No, it does not impact companies that might pre-install Linux, unless they perform their market research by picking random anecdotes from web forums.
They lose exactly 0% of Windows market by offering another option in Operating System (in fact, I tend to avoid hardware that only does Windows as it tends to be crap, so it might actually be a gain).
If you remember people bitching about Linpus Lite because it wasn't people's favourite distro, you remember wrong.
No it isn't. The number of people who don't use Linux on their desktop, simply because someone else commented on a forum that they preferred one distribution over another, is utterly negligible. In fact, the theory is just ludicrous!