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Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

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Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#11

Post by yardie »

What Linux probably needs is to take a page from Apple and set up a brick and mortar store where people can come in, try Linux, buy a PC, and get some advice.

Does anyone remember how Macs were sold before the Apple store? You had the mom and pop stores that had the expertise but not the volume to make an impact. You had the online stores that had the volume but if you weren't looking, specifically, for a Mac you wouldn't know there was an alternative. And then you had the B&M stores like Sears, CompUSA, etc. They had Macs, tucked away between the radar detectors and vacuum cleaners. Even if you knew you wanted a Mac the sales staff would try to pass you on a Windows PC. With "friends" like these who needed enemies.

Jobs knew he needed to switch things up so worked on retail store concept. Put it in a place with a lot of foot traffic (mall, downtown store, etc.) and make it easy. Want to check email, facebook, etc? Everyone knows you do it at the Apple store, Starbucks wifi costs money. Now you've got everyone in your store using your OS. They might not buy it right away but you've planted the bug in their ear.

For retailers it's just business. No one demands a Linux laptop and the few that due aren't a large enough market to keep them in stock and on the sales floor. If desktop Linux wants to have an impact it's going to need a lot more than a website with ISOs.

Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#12

Post by doktrin »

If there really was a strong market demand (and supply!) for preinstalled Linux laptops, why hasn't any reseller stepped up to fill this gaping void?

If the conclusions drawn by this paper are true, this is a massive business opportunity. They practically go so far as to imply that close to 10% of the laptop market is up for grabs if only the pesky retail oligopoly would stop sabotaging their own financial interests.

Does anyone believe this to be the case? I'll be frank : if I did, I would be investing in a new venture instead of writing this.

Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#13

Post by ebiester »

doktrin wrote: post #12

If there really was a strong market demand (and supply!) for preinstalled Linux laptops, why hasn't any reseller stepped up to fill this gaping void? If the conclusions drawn by this paper are true, this is a massive business opportunity. They practically go so far as to imply that close to 10% of the laptop market is up for grabs if only the pesky retail oligopoly would stop sabotaging their own financial interests.…

https://www.system76.com/

Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#14

Post by lumberjack »

Three years ago I was going through High School and as you can expect, every single piece of software in the labs was Microsoft branded. Now, I'm with a lot of the same people at University and despite what some people insist, nobody has a problem using GNU/Linux. It is the only option in the labs, but still many people got the hang of it within two to three days.

Although mine is just an anecdote it still follows, that both our educational systems and our corporate environments play a big part (I'd even say a much bigger part) in keeping the OS market share as it is.

Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#15

Post by cookiecaper »

yardie wrote: post #11

What Linux probably needs is to take a page from Apple and set up a brick and mortar store where people can come in, try Linux, buy a PC, and get some advice. Does anyone remember how Macs were sold before the Apple store? You had the mom and pop stores that had the expertise but not the volume to make an impact. You had the online stores that had the volume but if you weren't looking, specifically, for a Mac you wou…

I agree. Desktop Linux must have a patron that operates much like Apple if anyone intends for it to get penetration. Canonical is the best candidate but it's not in Shuttleworth's playbook as far as I know, which imo is a real shame.

If you want to push an alternate OS, you can't bundle it like a normal PC and sell it alongside Windows machines. You need to do what Apple did, and make it its own thing: a "Mac" instead of a "PC". Someone needs to box up Ubuntu into 3-6 SKUs, slap some cohesive, trendy branding on it, and get it into sales channels as a "penguin" or whatever and NOT a "PC".

Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#16

Post by cookiecaper »

werpon wrote: post #8
patricklynch wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention how relatively easy Macs and iThings are to use. This is subjective, but I think Apple's better than anyone at making computers that "non computer people" can figure out.

I don't think OS X nor iOS are much easier to use than their free counterparts, it's just that new users have at least two incentives to learn them, and so they do, without thinking too much about it. First, they have a positive reinforcement: Mac is "hip", so you'll look cool by using their products (the fact that everybody and their mother owns one or ten doesn't seem to diminish this perception), and also a negati…

>"(the fact that everybody and their mother owns one or ten doesn't seem to diminish this perception)"

Not thus far, but once there is a viable "underground" replacement suddenly the Apple will become passe and everyone will be on to the Pear. Apple is nearing that tipping point, at least in some markets. Once trends get big enough, they stagnate until something comes along and replaces them; Apple is approaching stagnation. The market is ready for real disruption if someone can put the pieces together correctly.

Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#17

Post by cookiecaper »

ebiester wrote: post #13
doktrin wrote: post #12

If there really was a strong market demand (and supply!) for preinstalled Linux laptops, why hasn't any reseller stepped up to fill this gaping void? If the conclusions drawn by this paper are true, this is a massive business opportunity. They practically go so far as to imply that close to 10% of the laptop market is up for grabs if only the pesky retail oligopoly would stop sabotaging their own financial interests.…

https://www.system76.com/

I bought my laptop from System76 and my experience with them has been sub-par. I don't know that I'd recommend them over just buying a widespread commodity model; if it's been out long enough for another kernel release to hit, everything usually works fine.

Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#18

Post by marcusf »

doktrin wrote: post #12

If there really was a strong market demand (and supply!) for preinstalled Linux laptops, why hasn't any reseller stepped up to fill this gaping void? If the conclusions drawn by this paper are true, this is a massive business opportunity. They practically go so far as to imply that close to 10% of the laptop market is up for grabs if only the pesky retail oligopoly would stop sabotaging their own financial interests.…

I doubt their reasons but not necessarily their conclusions. Breaking in to the laptop market seems fiendishly hard, at least due to economies of scale. Sure, 10% might be willing to buy a Linux laptop, but at what markup? When do you just say sod it and buy a Windows laptop to re-install. And from what I gather, Windows is so highly subsidized for OEM vendors that the cost is really negligible.

Further, it seems like the 10% savvy enough to want Linux won't be a perfect subset of the people buying laptops from brick and mortar retailers any way. Breaking in to the market would require a lot of other stuff, not necessarily retail (e.g. an efficient supply chain, direct sales to corporate, quality laptop builds, ...).

Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#19

Post by DavidAbrams »

doktrin wrote: post #12

If there really was a strong market demand (and supply!) for preinstalled Linux laptops, why hasn't any reseller stepped up to fill this gaping void? If the conclusions drawn by this paper are true, this is a massive business opportunity. They practically go so far as to imply that close to 10% of the laptop market is up for grabs if only the pesky retail oligopoly would stop sabotaging their own financial interests.…

This report says essentially nothing concrete.

Re: Study explains how retailers stop Linux from entering the market

#20

Post by revorad »

doktrin wrote: post #12

If there really was a strong market demand (and supply!) for preinstalled Linux laptops, why hasn't any reseller stepped up to fill this gaping void? If the conclusions drawn by this paper are true, this is a massive business opportunity. They practically go so far as to imply that close to 10% of the laptop market is up for grabs if only the pesky retail oligopoly would stop sabotaging their own financial interests.…

I don't know how big the opportunity is, but from the interest in my Linux laptop store so far [1], it appears a lot of people do want these machines. Dell's entry into the market is a surprising and welcome change too.

It feels a bit weird to be entering into the laptop market just as the world is moving to tablets. Linux on the desktop is perhaps the most tragic case of too little too late.

But, as a hacker I want to try and push the world in a direction I like and not just accept the status quo.

[1] If you're interested in buying a machine, please sign up here - http://giniji.com. We're currently trying to cut a deal with Lenovo, so things are moving a bit slowly, but we should have it sorted soon.

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