[kwlug-disc] Google dumps Windows OS

[unsolicited]

Chris Frey wrote, On 06/01/2010 6:15 PM:
> On Tue, Jun 01, 2010 at 05:40:38PM -0400, unsolicited wrote:
>> Good luck with that.
>>
>> "Mr. Retailer - I hear that Linux is better than Windows, I'd like to 
>> buy one. What will it cost me?"
>>
>> Either, the jaw will drop and the salesbeast will walk away, or 2 
>> hours of conversation later the customer will walk away in disgust at 
>> the complexity and give up. "Why can't you just give me the Linux box 
>> I've asked to buy? Just forget it."
>>
>> It matters. At least to the point where walking in and saying "Give me 
>> one of those." is a palatable buying experience.
> 
> 
> I disagree, but perhaps I'm too optimistic about consumer brain power.

People buy Windows don't they? And probably do this even, this day, 
after the Google announcement of dropping Windows as "it's not safe." 
(paraphrased).

> To me, your example above, is like saying "I want to buy a car" and
> then getting discouraged that there is choice.

Nah, too simplistic. Let alone, joe consumer can't just pick up a 
Consumer's Reports and walk into CanadaComputer and pick out their 
best buy. Granted - the other factor here is that the size of the 
outlay increases careful shopping. A car you take a fair degree of 
thinking upon, and probably, in the end, what matters most is how Mom 
likes the seating, not what's under the hood. Versus, what granola bar 
variety you'll pick up at the grocery store tonight. You can go in and 
say I want a Tercel, and move in a productive direction - less so 
going in and saying I want a Linux box.

What I meant was, and to your point, is that it should be a simple as 
going in and buying a Microsoft PC or a Mac. Recognizing that neither 
choice is as simple as buying a chocolate bar, laptop or desktop, 
screen size, hard drive, etc., etc., but notice - the discussion as to 
which software has largely already been answered. Not so when you go 
in to buy a Linux PC.

> Linux is not a brand name the same way as "iPod Touch" or "iPad" is.
> And it's not supposed to be.  It is fine to want to buy a "Toyota"
> and then later realize that you have to choose between "Prius",
> "Camry", "Lexus", "Tercel", etc.

So then, stop saying Linux. Instead, say Google has switched to 
Ubuntu, or Kubuntu, or whatever. Not, to Linux. But, of course, they 
can't. For all sorts of reasons, the complexity of which is my point. 
What's a Linux? I wish the marketing speak could speak in a manner 
that enables Joe Public to move forward on it.

> It is unfair to expect simplicity in a new area while overlooking the
> complexity you're already accustomed to.

I don't agree - but that's mostly because where I'm coming from, and 
where you took me to be coming from, is apples and oranges.

It is not unfair to expect Linux to be as easy to buy as Windows or 
Mac, with the same level of complexity that that entails, a complexity 
to which anyone who has a computer now is already accustomed to.

> And if a store only sells Ubuntu desktops, and the customer asks for Linux,
> sell it to them! :-)  It's a sales problem, not a Linux problem.

Nah, it's a marketing and branding problem.

They won't go into the store in the first place - they don't sell 
Linux, they sell Ubuntu. Which, for all Joe User knows, isn't the same 
thing, so why would they go in in the first place?

In the end, it all goes back to "Why aren't more people buying Linux 
already?" Well, because ...

All I'm saying, or said, is, I wish we had already solved this still 
ongoing problem such that when an article says "... is switching to 
Linux", a body could walk into a store and pick one up as easily as 
going in to get an iPad or a Mac. We're just not there yet, and we're 
still at a point wherein nobody knows how to effectively get us there.

Switching to 'Linux' is better than nothing. Switching to <xyz>, for 
the same effort, would be far more useful.

<sigh>