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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.

Re:Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux by scholia on Saturday August 03, 2013 @10:31AM (#6152165)
Actually, it does, and I know this from talking to their senior managers.

Otherwise (1) you're being illogical and (2) my memory is accurate.