Ubuntu bug hunters and users in general have discovered a severe bug in the Debian-derived distribution. The bug is rated as 'critical', and is said to prevent Ubuntu from gaining any significant ground in the computing world. This bug can be observed everywhere in the world, at companies, in shops, in people's homes. It's Ubuntu's bug #1.
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Member since:2005-07-22
I went looking for a new laptop some time ago. I found a UK maker who seemd to have just what I wanted.
I went to their store and booted knoppix and it worked like a dream.
The conversation with sales sort of went like this.
Ok, I said I'll have one.
Thank you sir. Do you want XP home or XP pro with that.
Neither. I have my own software I will be installing.
I'm sorry sir we have to sell an operating system.
How about I buy it with no hard drive?
We still have to sell you an OS
Why?
Its the law.
How about I install my own licensed copy of XP? (This was not an OEM license but a full buy in shop license and the key had never been activated)
That is illegal as well i'm afraid
This was before I got wise to the MS strong arm tactics and just left the store a bit bewildered.
Now I wish I had gone back and recoded the conversation again this time with the sales manager and then made it public.
No company should be able to force you to buy software like what happens with OEM version of XP etc.
When this happens, the number of systems sold with no os or with linux will go up considerably.
Member since:2005-07-08
Member since:
2005-07-04
My theory is that the reason why big-name OEMs aren't shipping Linux is because it would be another OS they'd have to support. I suppose they might do it if the demand were high enough, but how many people out there are demanding that Linux be pre-installed on their system?
The answer: Very few
Not much less than the amount of people whom have even heard of Linux, which again, is very few.
Having to port drivers, support the customers (ie. hire Linux support people), etc etc probably raises costs enough to offset any potential gain at having the whole whopping 1 or 2% of the desktop market that uses Linux buy their products. Supporting customers that don't know how to right click is hard enough, imagine supporting the same customer while getting him to issue bash commands.... *shudders*
It's simply cheaper and easier and more cost effective for the OEMs to ship Windows and tell the Linux users that if they want to use Linux, they are on their own. If the OEMs actually saw shipping Linux as increasing their bottom-line, they would have done it already.
And I think Linux is a great OS, and used it for years. I'm simply being realistic here.