How Open Source is Faring in Retail

SilentBob4 writes to tell us MadPenguin is running the first of two articles taking a look at the 'world of retail as Tux is experiencing it'. From the article: "Of the stores we visited, only Linspire Linux was sold pre-installed on computers in-store. Those FOSS boxes were often among the store's best volume sellers, primarily because they were the cheapest, according to store staff. The staff believed, based on conversations with frequent customers, that most customers were buying the boxes to install Windows on them. But that is not surprising to us, because, as we discuss in section two, brick-and-mortar "computer" stores are still part of the Microsoft distribution chain. The fact that there were some open source products at all in these stores is actually surprising, as Microsoft guards its distribution chain jealously, and punishes those business partners who stray into carrying FOSS products."

Surprised?

[Jordan Catalano]

"The staff believed, based on conversations with frequent customers, that most customers were buying the boxes to install Windows on them. But that is not surprising to us, because, as we discuss in section two, brick-and-mortar "computer" stores are still part of the Microsoft distribution chain."

And if they sold systems with no OS, they'd sell like hotcakes. Take your pick: pirates or people sick of buying an XP license each time they want to upgrade to a new machine without the trouble of buying it part-by-part?

Re:Ridiculous argument

[Ash Vince]

Why on earth would anyone buy a PC with linux preinstalled only to install windows on it? Most PC's with Linux preinstalled are alot more expensive than those bundled with Windows XP Home.

I know microsoft got into trouble a few year ago for charging PC distributers for a copy of Windows (Or DOS maybe, oh shit I feel old) even when they requested a different OS preinstalled. Several years later they were fined and told to stop but they appear to have just found a more subtle way of achieving the same result - you want to use something other than Windows, you have to pay more for the previledge.

Re:MS punishing for FOSS?

[christian.einfeldt]

Hi Slash Veteran, You are right. Linux is not doing well in retail right now. That is the point of my article. There is growth, but it is slow. Please read the article more closely. The point of the article is that big box retail is a sustaining channel for Microsoft. Linux and FOSS are growing in what Harvard Biz Prof Clayton Christensen calls "disruptive channels."

For example, when Sony first came out with transistor radios, which were disruptive of RCA's big desktop radios, none of RCA's channel partners would carry Sony's transistor radio "toys for teenagers", which were considered by RCA's best customers, adults who wanted high sound quality, to be crap. Instead, Macy's picked up the transistors, and Sony grew its distribution chain from there. RCA is now a shadow of its former self, because it couldn't figure out how to get transistors into its "best products". Microsoft can't figure out how to monetize the production of open source code, and THAT is the key nature of the challenge that Microsoft is facing. THAT is the point of my story. The distribution channels are changing. This story just documents one key little step in the the change, as Microsoft's distribution channels slowly take on the disruptive products from open source challengers.

Re:Exactly

[Remedy_man]

What makes us assume that we are pirating the software? Is it not possible (mind you I didn't say probable) that they are actually upgrading their system? Where does the customer agreement state that they can't use it on a new computer as long as it is not on any other computer? Maybe they are actually removing it from the old system, or maybe their hard drive failed completely and they are taking this opportunity to upgrade their system. Does this qualify as piracy?

Check MicroCenter

[Anonymous Coward]

They have been running diskless Linux terminals on the POS stations for years. But they would let anyone know it because they are afraid of MS.

Re:wow...

[sud_crow]

Actually, it isn't that amazing, for the sellers is just reducing costs, and so improving sales, as we all know that cheap sells more.

Anyway, It doesnt really help around, no one will keep the Linux OS, unless they find someone who has it too (so they can share something, at least get some questions answered), they will wipe it out and install a pirate Windows as soon as the kids neighbor brings he's last game, or dad comes with his compay soft. Thats the ugly truth on pre-installed soft, at least here.

Here in Argentina almost all of the electrodomestics and supermarkets chains that commercialise PCs have Linux pre-installed, there is even a local Linux company selling Linux Distributions to these chains (the distribution has much the ways as Linspire, they DO NOT SHARE what they build, they only (ab)use GPL'ed software and build around propietary configuration apps, and give support for the distribution to the final user), this company even implemented a License KEY, just like Windows, so you dont copy the ISO... Which is quite depressing.

Most of the employees tell them to get a technician, format the drive and install a pirate windows, even some of them go do the work as an extra influx of money.

I just think that this kind of things give Linux a bad reputation, they make people believe that its trash and that 'nothing works', so you have to go to windows, which of course they dont pay, because if they actually had to put 1 buck for it, there we would see some massive migrations to Linux.

Re:Remember 1998?

[kubevubin]

I work at CompUSA, and we have Linspire, SUSE, and Xandros right next to Microsoft's paid displays. I'd go so far as to say that their numbers aren't terribly unbalanced, either. Considering the fact that Microsoft pays for approximately 75% of the space in that aisle, I find it rather interesting that no version of Windows XP represented in that aisle outnumbers each Linux product by more than a 2:1 ratio.

As for the lack of experience, yes, I'll certainly agree with that. However, I, personally, tried for approximately two months straight to like Linux, and I just couldn't find my groove. I've tried Debian, DSL, Gentoo (not first, naturally), Knoppix, Kubuntu, Linspire, Puppy, Slackware, SUSE, Ubuntu, Vector, and Xandros. Of those, I found Ubuntu to be the one that I came closest to liking, but there were numerous usability issues that I, an intermediate-advanced Windows user just couldn't get over.

Although installing and uninstalling software is quite simple, I feel that managing device drivers requires more effort than can be expected of the typical consumer. I hate the command line in Windows, and I don't like the terminal in Linux. Why should installing video drivers with proper OpenGL support be such a chore?

Getting back to software management, however, why should I have to deal with uninstalling a bunch of software that I don't want? Gentoo is just too much for a Linux newbie such as myself to deal with, so I'd prefer a distro that is pretty barebones in terms of its software offerings, yet doesn't require such a laborous setup process.

With Windows, at least uninstalling software is kept to a minimum in my case. I uninstall only Outlook Express and Windows Messenger (using XPlite), then I begin adding my software. I realize that uninstalling software in Linux isn't difficult, but it's a step that I shouldn't have to take. And seeing as how I hate the default software selection in most Linux distros, I don't see this as being a problem that's solved anytime soon. And if it isn't the software selection itself that I hate, it's the window manager.

I won't get into the other usability issues, as there are already a ton of comments for this article, and this with either get lost in the shuffle entirely or be modded down for trolling (which I'm certainly not intending to do). Or both. Instead, I'll conclude with this:

The article makes a great point at one point, in that the adoption of Linux amongst the mainstream relies solely on the attitude of sales people. Unfortunately, whenever somebody such as myself takes the time to legitimately try to ditch Windows in search of an alternative, the learning experience typically scares him/her back to using Windows. I've discussed Linux with numerous customers, and I give them my honest opinion. Unfortunately, as of right now, my opinion of Linux is rather negative. I realize that there's plenty of potential, however, and - as a result - I continuously keep an eye on the progress made within the Linux community.

Yes, court proven punishment.

[twitter]

You might also point out that a company that publically threatens a distributor as large as Dell would think nothing of crushing a smaller "partner." Thanks to the anti-trust trial, such intimidation is http://www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,s=1884&a=24242 ,00.asp [archive.org]">public knowledge. Thanks also to the internet archive for keeping coppies.

See here [slashdot.org] for original story of the "delicate dance" vendors are expected to perform.