“Free open source software is making slow in-roads into the world of big box retail. This article is the first of a series of two Mad Penguin articles which take a detailed look inside the world of retail as Tux is experiencing it. Today, in Section One Mad Penguin goes shopping to see what can be seen in four retail big box stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, complete with short videos inside some of those stores for the purpose of providing a wee bit of context.”
Very interesting article for me. Where I live, not in the USA, Borders carries almost the whole burden with a very good choice of Linux books with disks. No book on Ubuntu, though. I can’t help feeling Ubuntu are missing a trick here, as a cheap 5.99 paperback (not a 30-buck tome) with disk would at least get them into this and other shops. Maybe they already do this, but if so not around here.
The main computer store in town, a big chain store, occasionally carries a couple of manky copies of an old Linux distro. The chain is well-known for underpaid and untrained assistants, and I imagine they are simply under the Microsoft jackboot anyway, hence their tagline “Stamping down on prices”.
As the article suggests, looking at the Wintel monopoly “on the ground” like this makes you realize just how much they suck out, leaving pennies for everyone else. No wonder innovation is a rare thing these days.
Very good article which helps to accomplish a few things. One of which is to educate consumers what Linux is and that it’s not Windows though capable of accomplishing many of the same tasks. While Wine was mentioned briefly in the article to help lower concerns of those migrating from Windows it’s clear using software for Windows which was previously purchased is a concern for some customers. This is why I believe if a consumer is purchasing a retail boxed or preinstalled Linux distribution it should either come with Codeweavers CrossOver Office or have a better implementation of WineTOOLS (free GUI frontend for Wine) provided with the distribution. Having this as part of the distribution would help customers who are unable to find a viable alternative whether commerically ported to Linux or an open source one.
Also the article helped to clarify that Linux is made available by several retailers (Fry’s, Micro Center, Tigerdirect, GamePC, etc), some of which offer preinstalled systems, retail boxed Linux distributions or even found in bookstores (Chapters, Indigo, McNally Robinson, Amazon, etc) with packaged distribution (ie: SUSE Linux 10 Bible).
Another point this article helped with is to educate the actual distribution developers such as Novell (SUSE Linux) on how retailers not only view a particular Linux distribution but also how they sell Linux to customers. If sales employees of such retailers are unable to communicate a product properly to a customer then it’s apparent training is required, possibly with help from the Linux developer.
Edited 2006-03-26 01:46
… it should either … or have a better implementation of WineTOOLS …
Before promoting Winetools, consider this. Some people “think Winetools should be eradicated because it covers up some big problems and does it in a way that makes troubleshooting problems really hard.”
http://www.winehq.com/?issue=308#Winetools..%20part%20II
I don’t know personally because I’ve never used Winetools though I depend on Wine almost daily. It’s appalling that the author only found one salesperson in one store that even knew about Wine.
>I don’t know personally because I’ve never used Winetools though I depend on Wine almost daily.
>It’s appalling that the author only found one salesperson in one store that even knew about Wine.
Where I live we fair consiberably better. My local Fry’s actually has boxed copies of Crossover Office Pro.
I can’t help feeling Ubuntu are missing a trick here, as a cheap 5.99 paperback (not a 30-buck tome) with disk would at least get them into this and other shops. Maybe they already do this, but if so not around here.
I think the Borders/Barnes and Noble channel is a very good way for Linux to sneak in to the wider market, for all the reasons listed.
But …
1) Price point is important, I don’t think a $5.99 is possible given the current cost of paper, but something in the $7-15 range puts it as an impulse buy.
2) The book should come with a serial number and a gurantee of 60 days free technical support from the day you first register the number.
3) The book needs to be well indexed, triple checked to insure accuracy, and chock full of screen shots.
4) The included distribution needs to be “ubuntuized” — one best of breed for any given kind of program (e.g. 1 text editor, one shell, one music program) to keep it as straightforward as possible for the person buying the book.
5) The book should also include a live CD and should prominently mention on the cover that they’ve got this CD in there that will let you get on line and help you rescue the data off your infected Windows Computer. The live CD should come with a detailed, step by step instruction sheet on how to do both.
Excellent ideas, all! I was really thinking of 5.99 ukp which is nearer 9 dollars, but yes keep it in impulse-buy territory, have plenty of screenshots and play up the Live/rescue CD angle as well as a conventional install. Maybe even have some nice, colourful African crafts-type cover art instead of the usual rather dreary stuff on computer tomes. Where I live, these are usually far too expensive and involved for all but the well-heeled supergeek and the more casual stores don’t really stock them, no doubt for this reason. They might well stock a simpler and less expensive item.
Interesting point about Borders not being beholden to Microsoft. For many of us older Linux users a CD in a book was probably our first exposure to linux. I havent looked at many basic linux books recently, but you used to be able to buy a book with distro CD and the book was really nothing more than an installation manual (and often of significant girth).
Most of them used Macs, but not one we interviewed knew that FreeBSD powers the Mac OS X on their computers.
They should stick to talking about linux retail offerings and not make observations on subjects they know nothing about.
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KernelPr…
“Although the BSD portion of Mac OS X is primarily derived from FreeBSD”
BSD Portion…. primarily derived… That hardly makes it “FreeBSD Powered”. There is a misconception in the mac deprived world that OSX is FreeBSD with a pretty GUI on top and any knowledgable person who’s ever spent 5 minutes in a shell on OSX knows thats simply not true.
I have actually been planning on writing an article about this.
The ONLY way that Linux will ever go any further is if it can bypass the traditional distribution channels.
Microsoft and other big publishers have a total and complete stranglehold on the traditional tech sales channels.
My vision is for something like STEAM to distribute Linux games, apps etc. You can buy them online and have them downloaded/delivered direct to your system to use.
It will be impossible to get commercial linux software boxes on store shelves.
If there was some easy was for people to order software like this, and it was super easy for indy software publishers to offer their software through this channel then it might actually cause Linux to take off.
I know that “click-n-run” is SORT of like this… but there are some main differences.
1) This would be for ANY linux distro and not limited to a single distro like CNR is. It would be run by someone OUTSIDE of a specfic distro.
2) It would not be involved in charging for GPL software like CNR does. Eg $5 for GIMP.
3) It would be wide open for any software company to publish their software through for people to order and it would be very reasonable for them to do it without too much up front costs etc.
4) And yes, I would design in some damn good copy protections because nothing could kill a small indy software company than piracy. Its one thing to pirate Microsoft Office, and something else that just a little piracy could wipe out a large portion of sales.
I wish I had a million dollars to make this happen.
Milo_Hoffman: Microsoft and other big publishers have a total and complete stranglehold on the traditional tech sales channels.
I don’t know about all the different stores, but locally we had a store that had a fairly large Linux section for awhile. I don’t know what happened, but they closed it and shipped all the software over to the clearance area, where I picked up a copy of everything they had that I hadn’t already bought.
I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time, but I think the software stayed in the clearance area for a long time. So my guess would be that it simply didn’t sell all the well.
Perhaps most Linux users weren’t aware of the section or maybe the local ones were too busy using free software. Perhaps there just wasn’t enough Linux users in the area to justify it. Oh well.
I was pretty disappointed when that section went away. Just like I was disappointed when the OS/2 software section at another store went away a number of years ago.
Milo_Hoffman: Its one thing to pirate Microsoft Office, and something else that just a little piracy could wipe out a large portion of sales.
Agreed. Most people only talk about the “big companies” and big products when they talk about piracy. They always seem to forget that Microsoft and other large companies DON’T represent the whole. It’s like using Bill Gates to represent how the average person is doing in the US economy.
4) And yes, I would design in some damn good copy protections because nothing could kill a small indy software company than piracy. Its one thing to pirate Microsoft Office, and something else that just a little piracy could wipe out a large portion of sales.
Or, you focus on selling something with a little more value than “protection”.
Milo_Hoffman,
Re: “I would design in some damn good copy protections because nothing could kill a small indy software company than piracy. Its one thing to pirate Microsoft Office, and something else that just a little piracy could wipe out a large portion of sales.”
If you’re referring to the OS then to clarify Linux is open source and as per the GPL isn’t held by the same restrictions Microsoft places on Windows users. The same is true for other OSS such as OpenOffice, Microsoft’s main competition for their Office suite. Anyway, when a customer sees a price tag on SUSE Linux whether in store or from an online retailer that is because they are paying to have the distribution already packaged on DVD/CD, printed User/Admin manuals and included technical support from the developer. You can download SUSE Linux for free from Novell’s website though it will lack printed manuals, technical support (though pay per incident is provided by Novell) and you will be the one burning it to DVD or CD. Also some distributions such as Linspire include licensed codecs not found in the free version.
Edited 2006-03-26 02:41
Dark_Knight: If you’re referring to the OS then to clarify Linux is open source and as per the GPL isn’t held by the same restrictions Microsoft places on Windows users.
He’s not talking about the OS. A couple of quotes from an earlier part of his post:
Milo_Hoffman: My vision is for something like STEAM to distribute Linux games, apps etc.
Milo_Hoffman: It will be impossible to get commercial linux software boxes on store shelves.
Or in other words… He’s talking about applications and games for linux distributions which are not under the GPL or other OSS licenses.
I would design in some damn good copy protections…
He’s talking about applications and games for linux distributions which are not under the GPL or other OSS licenses.
Still, it would be a shame if the F/OSS movement did anything at all to encourage any form of copy protection.
The thing about Borders is that at least at the one near me, their version of Mandrake/Mandriva is always at least a version behind the current one and sometimes two versions behind. Not sure who’s fault that is, but it certainly doesn’t help.
It’s likely old stock. We don’t really do retail distribution of the boxes in the U.S. any more, it wasn’t economic. If they had the books which include 10.1 CDs, then that’s the latest U.S. stores have available to them, there was no book version of 2005 and we didn’t do one for 2006 yet (don’t know if one is planned).
An article down to reality. It makes me see how Linux might have a greater tha 5% market share. It is rapidly becoming a great challenge to Microsoft, and we all know is true if not Bill Gates would not waste millions of dollars in FUD against Linux. Linux is hurting Microsoft but not alone side by side with FreeBSD and Mac OSX. Intel Macs more Linux on the desktop and *BSD on servers. It sure is hurting Microsoft a lot.
Linux is hurting Microsoft but not alone side by side with FreeBSD and Mac OSX. Intel Macs more Linux on the desktop and *BSD on servers. It sure is hurting Microsoft a lot.
Yeah, hurting Microsoft so much that they’re still making money without any problems.
When I go down to the local computer chain, and start seeing Adobe come out with “Photoshop Elements” and MYOB releasing a copy of Cashbook and Payroll for the local small business, THEN I might be convinced that Microsoft is under threat.
Microsoft *KNOWS* this – if it weren’t for the massive number of software titles out there, no one would stand the mediocrity of Windows, but what keeps people using Windows is the applications and availability of them.
Talk to the average user, do they want to use something they know – Photoshop Elements, or something they’ve never heard of, GIMP? do they want to use something that actually works seemlessly with their camera and scanner (Photoshop Elements) or run something that is a gamble as to whether their hardware is supported (GIMP/Linux)?
If LINUX users are anything like us Mac users, you get everything online– Amazon, MacMall….
!!!
Good Article!
I attended some of the conferences at the FOSDEM 2006 in Brussels, four weeks ago. One was given by the guy marketing KDE. I went out with the same impressions than I have after reading this article: Linux and open source may compete with MS in the Business to Business market, because there, there are more professionals and people aware of Open Source, but for the Busines to customer, its another story.
Even in B2B is necessary to look for alternative ways to market the Open Source goods, but for B2C its mandatory…
Articles like this one can help to clarify the ideas of many people involved in Free-Libre-Open Source companies or comunities, about the steps to take for the future.
I have some education and experience in marketing myself, and as I see the things, B2C Linux and Open Source companies will have to evolve and reinvent the marketing process.
In some years the Linux desktops will be more than 10% worldwide, but it will be mainly because of the Free disltributions. Linux companies have to offer more value-added to their products, and compete with a lower margin of benefit still for a relatively long period.
But they have to do it this way. If not, it will be Ms or similar companies who will collect the harvest, in some years, when the Open source market will be more mature…
And yes, Ms its able to market FLOSS products in the future if this makes them earn money.
They will actually.. they will have to create software for Linux and BSD in no more than 8 or 10 years… if they want to keep their chunk of the Software market!
Angel–Fr@gzill@
!!!
!!!
Good Article!
I attended some of the conferences at the FOSDEM 2006 in Brussels, four weeks ago. One was given by the guy marketing KDE. I went out with the same impressions than I have after reading this article: Linux and open source may compete with MS in the Business to Business market, because there, there are more professionals and people aware of Open Source, but for the Busines to customer, its another story.
Even in B2B is necessary to look for alternative ways to market the Open Source goods, but for B2C its mandatory…
Articles like this one can help to clarify the ideas of many people involved in Free-Libre-Open Source companies or comunities, about the steps to take for the future.
I have some education and experience in marketing myself, and as I see the things, B2C Linux and Open Source companies will have to evolve and reinvent the marketing process.
In some years the Linux desktops will be more than 10% worldwide, but it will be mainly because of the Free disltributions. Linux companies have to offer more value-added to their products, and compete with a lower margin of benefit still for a relatively long period.
But they have to do it this way. If not, it will be Ms or similar companies who will collect the harvest, in some years, when the Open source market will be more mature…
And yes, Ms its able to market FLOSS products in the future if this makes them earn money.
They will actually.. they will have to create software for Linux and BSD in no more than 8 or 10 years… if they want to keep their chunk of the Software market!
By the way, this is an empiric case in The USA market! In Europe, I would say that the shop shelves are even less ready for the FLOSS. Don’t know about Japan and other possible markets with some weight…
Angel–Fr@gzill@
!!!
!!! Boody hell… arrrg !!!
I am heavily Bittorrenting and emuling (Linux distros, of course…) at the same time I write this post ans the web browser become a bit unresponsive…
That is why I have posted 2 same posts in a row.. Sorry !!!
Angel–Fr@gzill@
!!!
Think that bad, if it isn’t the internet connecting being flooded, is osnews.com and its crap database server constantly falling over.
!!!
Could be too…
!!!
Instead of creating a third post (!), why didn’t you just edit your second post, shrinking it to zero bytes, then type the word “dupe” and save your work.
Floyd
http://www.just-think-it.com
!!!
“edit your second post, shrinking it to zero bytes, then type the word “dupe” and save your work”
—-
WTF are you talking about???
I guess this is a java script and once the post is send by the browser, is already sent. Nothing else to do…
Only the administrator can erase it from the server…
Nice WebSite guy, but stop smoking to much that kind of substances …
!!!
As someone who’s worked in a business supply and computer store I feel I must point out that when you’re told people are buying Linux computer to install Windows on, take it with a grain of salt. While they may be cheaper without Windows, the additional cost of Windows to install on it would bring the price up so that it’s equal to the price for a comparably equipped Windows system. I don’t deny that some people probably do have that in mind if they already have an old copy of Windows or they plan on pirating it; however, the actual numbers of people doing that are fewer than implied since for 150 to 200 dollars more you can get yourself a comparably equipped computer with more ram and a legal copy of Windows XP Home.
Keep in mind also that most of the computer associates you find in these stores have a hardcore devotion to Microsoft and it’s products and deny both to themselves and to other that the competitors are successfull at all.
The most appropriate anti trust settlement with MS would have been to stop them from selling OEM bundles to system builders but only allowed them to sell retail copies of the OS. That would likely have been a far more appropriate way of getting more OS competition into the market.
So you think the best thing would have been to make everyone pay more for their computer just so your little favorite little OS could possibly stand a chance. Glad you aren’t calling the shots.
of the rest of the US.
High-tech sector, close to Silicon Valley … I would expect some open-source stuff to show up in retail in Bay Area.
When OSS shows up at retail in, say, Jackson, Michigan … that would be something.
Actually, since you mention Jackson, Michigan [hey I live near there] I’d have to tell you Best Buy sometimes selles Suse. They only keep a few boxes around, but they seem to get at least a few boxes of each version in.
The problem I see with OSS in the retail is that boxed distros move off the shelves just too slowly for normal Linux people to be interested. While BB sells Suse, it always seems to be a version behind.. and new versions take MONTHS to show up.
I’ve gotten most of my linux stuff from Barnes and Nobel in Ann Arbor. The bookstores seem to be the channel that makes the most sense because they move a wider variety of interests… Linux is a “bigger” market for them. I seem to spend about half my money on O’Rielly books and half on import Magazines from the UK. Mags like “Linux Format” seem to be the future, but in the US “Maximum Linux” didn’t do so well. The problem with print media is that it still can’t move at the speed of the internet, but does make distrobution easier. Perhaps some distros could work with print media to let them publish Magazine issues before they release to the internet at large… but that would upset all the people at slashdot because OSS wasn’t free enough. A publishing schedule could fund distros, provide printed support, and add some professionalism to the market. Sure it’s not “retail box” but that’s dying anyway.
I like that point, I have to agree with it. I live in Canada and I’ve only seen Linux in two stores in my entire life.
Once was in an office supply store in North Bay, Ontario where a certain store was selling old copies of Mandrake Linux 8.2 (the current version was 9.1 at the time). The other store was a Future Shop in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan which had an old boxed set of SUSE 7.3 which was in bad shape and boxes of SUSE Linux 8.0 or 8.1 long after SUSE was into version 9. Of all the many stores I’be been in in several provinces, those were the only two I saw that were carrying Linux distributions and the versions they had were severely outdated but still sporting the same prices they would be if they were brand new.
Stores in Canada complain that they can’t sell Linux, but what they’re doing would be like selling Windows 98 today at the same price as Windows XP.
No surprises in the article.
But at anyrate, Linux will always suffer in retail market.
Anytime you see linux in a store, its a couple different distro’s and always out of date.
The only way linux would stand a chance is if it was just one distro, and only came out with a new release around ever 2 years. Otherwise its a nightmare to stores and customers. Its low volume item as is, but to carry different flavors of it and to have each version go out of date every few months is a real problem.
Right now Brad there really is only a small handfull of distributions worth keeping in stock in stores. I think the best odds for a store would be to have Mandriva, SUSE, Xandros and maybe Linspire in small numbers just for experimentation. Stores need to try to have the current versions as well, if I’m not mistaken the stores can simply send back the copies they don’t sell and they don’t lose any money on that just like with magazines. It also wouldn’t hurt to put a few Linux books in the same isle as the Linux distributions, especially if the books are appropriate for the distribution(s) being sold.
CompUSA here stocks the shelves with Suse, Xinspire, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD. They used to stock redhat 9 as well.
As someone who’s worked in a business supply and computer store I feel I must point out that when you’re told people are buying Linux computer to install Windows on, take it with a grain of salt. While they may be cheaper without Windows, the additional cost of Windows to install on it would bring the price up so that it’s equal to the price for a comparably equipped Windows system. I don’t deny that some people probably do have that in mind if they already have an old copy of Windows or they plan on pirating it;
The “download app/download crack/apply crack” mentality is rather common on the Windows side – not universal of course, just large enough that it can’t be dismissed as a small number.
Also, most Linux users I know like to *build* their machines to their exact preferences, and I suspect many share that preference. Buying a machine with a “user friendly” distro which they would wipe out anyway to install their favored one does not sound particularly likely. Lots of people buying the cheapest system they can get and installing a pirated Windows on it does.
since Microsoft windows are on 90% of the desktops why would stores carry new linux stuff?
!!!
You are right guy… We all should have the same face, speak the same language, dress the same way worldwide etc!!!
and finally: ” since there are billions of flies eating shit everyday, why shouldn’t everybody eat shit aswell???
Angel–Fr@gzill@
!!!
//You are right guy… We all should have the same face, speak the same language, dress the same way worldwide etc!!! //
Spoken as a true Penguinista, not knowing squat about cash flow, pipeline, P/L, A/R, or any other business concept.
In business, you give the people what they want. Or you die.
If Linux ever reaches 25-30% desktop market *saturation,* then stores will undoubtedly be stocking TONS of OSS stuff.
!!!
Sure… it must be that… only that in my life I have studied Administration, sociology, economics, politics, marketing and business administration…
Maybe you don’t know what people really want, maybe they want Linux, but they do not know about the product yet…
Maybe they don’t know very well what they want and move leaded by waves, fashion… Maybe Linux will be the next wave !
Maybe you forget that “offert” creates “demand” aswell…
Maybe I know more than you about all that…
-You say also: “If Linux ever reaches 25-30% desktop market *saturation,* then stores will undoubtedly be stocking TONS of OSS stuff”
LOL. Nobody needs an MBA to know that.. It is so obvious…
I just answered a dumb comment with a deserved irony… You call it “Penguinista”.. OK, I am for the penguins, thats right…
!!!
Well Angel–Fr@gzill@ didn’t say it very politely, but he or she has an excellent point. Let me try a different tack.
The deli section of the grocery store around the corner sells a sesame noodle salad that only a few people and I buy. Since they have thousands of customers but only a small handful that buy that product, why should they sell it?
thanks for being polite. corporations like compusa, borders,etc, only want to stock on items that sale since windows are on 90% of the desktop there is a better chance that somebody will buy a windows related item such as software,books,etc, first. linux is a good prduct but the sad news is it has a small retail market, etc.
Borders sells many different books. But there probably is not even one book that is bought by 90% of book customers. Every book is aimed at small market. Linux should be no different.
Although the regional differences are a real hoot. At first I was wondering how long it took to ‘shop the Comp USA logo off the big building, put that “Micro Center” logo there then squeeze the Comp USA logo on the tiny corner shop… Seriously, I’ve never seen a Comp USA that wasn’t the size of a small Walmart or a particularly large Staples…
Meanwhile what the {censored} is a “Micro Center”… Again, must be a east-coast west-coast thing as we don’t have those on the east coast… Do they have more stores or is that a one-off? If it’s a one off, why use it as the focus of the article?
The bit about the books on shelves is different from WHAT? Kinda silly to spend so much time on something that’s pretty much been par for the course since 1997.
Was there even a point to this one?
Meanwhile what the {censored} is a “Micro Center”… Again, must be a east-coast west-coast thing as we don’t have those on the east coast… Do they have more stores or is that a one-off? If it’s a one off, why use it as the focus of the article?
ah, no….
http://microcenter.com/at_the_stores/index.html
btw, google is your friend.
I don’t know about you, but if I was after a new PC, a CD/DVD boxed distro or some application software, I’d *surely* look online first because 99 times out of 100, it will be cheaper to buy online than at a bricks’n’mortar store (even with the cost of postage added). The only exception to that might be clearance sales at the offline stores, but even then you’re not guaranteed that they’ll have what you want of course.
The situation’s particularly noticeable here in the UK, where online-only retailers (e.g. dabs.com, Ebuyer, Amazon UK) generally outprice their offline UK competitors by some margin. BTW, it’s nice to see Ebuyer finally offering Linux desktops and laptops to UK users, even if they are deliberately the low-end models (why is it that all retailers in the UK or US seems to think that all Linux users only use/need low-end budget PCs?).
why is it that all retailers in the UK or US seems to think that all Linux users only use/need low-end budget PCs?
‘Cause you probably aren’t going to be running P-shop, Final Cut, Premere, or most Video Games on them.
And if you can afford the Linux licence for Shake, or other super high end movie making software, you’re not using an off the shelf box.
rkirki,
Re: “why is it that all retailers in the UK or US seems to think that all Linux users only use/need low-end budget PCs?”
Not all retailers are the same. For example http://www.gamepc.com/index.asp sells SUSE Linux preinstalled on desktops, workstations, laptops and servers.
You can edit your posts for a short time after making them. It’s where the “Reply” link would be on your own posts.