Attendees of the Desktop Linux Summit have spent the past two days reveling in the growing number of games, PCs, software applications, and peripherals that are now compatible with the underdog operating system. Designed to spread the word about Linux on the desktop and to teach the almost 550 attendees about the open-source operating system, the show also served as a platform for new product announcements, including several from the show’s host, Lindows.com. Read the report at PCWorld.
LindowsOS Steals the Show at First Desktop Linux Summit
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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…about the technical merits of Lindows (never used the stuff, so I can’t address that). Michael Robertson is finally doing what needs to be done if Linux is ever going to be a viable option on the desktop. Namely, taking responsibility for it by insuring compatible hardware is available for his distribution, applications are available and easy to install, forming partnerships with vendors and resellers, and mostly, ensuring Joe Public understands he has an option.
Yes, Robertson may be a shameless self promoter, and his ethics may be pushing the envelope. All the same, he’s getting the kinds of things done that need to be done to create a successful commercial product. And as he pointed out himself, it’s impossible not to create an uproar in the Linux community. This is a crowd that’s terminally sensitive in the first place, especially when somebody has the gall to try to create a viable for-profit corporation based on free software without going through the contortions of kissing their ring.
Deal with it. This is how a successful product is created.
More power to him!
Considering that Lindows.com removed keynote speaker Bruce Perens, and that due to loss of vendor neutrality when DesktopLinux.com dropped out: http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS4417146902.html“ http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS4417146902.html, which was followed almost immediately by Lycoris dropping out: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00008.html“
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00008.html</…
I would say that Lindows.com did steal the show.
Sure they did, the title is dead on.
But what you didn’t do, is read how to create links on this forum.
In these boards after the laptop announcement, someone called Kreek claiming to be a lindows insider claimed that the $500 lindows webpad would be out as soon as they had perfected the screen drivers
Now Robertson says No Webpads.
hmm.
Is Robertson is definately trying to copy Apple’s style. Go to their website, you aren’t being honest if you can say that it isn’t influenced by Apple’s website. But this just proves my point that Lindows indeed is copying Apple’s marketing style.
Apple normally (well, they used to) release new hardware (and sometimes software) during MacWorlds. And Lindows.com is trying to do that right now. For example, their Lindows Mobile PC.
But then this would definately fall flat on their face;
1) Apple is a niche player. Its products are marketed as exclusive products. And priced that way too. Argue all you want that Apples aren’t the BMWs of PCs, but they are indeed marketed that way. And people that can’t differenciate a printer from a scanner, this indeed works.
Lindows on the other hand literary markets themselves as cheap altenatives to Windows. They seem to be targeted the low end, the extremely cheap computers. There is nothing exclusive about these. Macs on the other hand is marketed with the aura of exclusiveness. Like when they came out with the SuperDrive, PCs already have DVD-R drives (only major players don’t have it by default on any of their PCs) but it is marketed that “we have it, you can’t with our competitors”.
2) Apple have a very very strong brand name. They even have a better brand name as Dell. With Dell, people normally picture affordable, good support, etc. With Apple, people normally picture exclusiveness and aesthetics and style. The latter is better if you are going for the high margin market, the prior is better if you are going for the low end market.
Now Lindows have practically no recognizable brand name. People can’t recognize Lindows’ “L” logo (unless you are a geek), unlike Apple’s bitten apple. Having a copycat brandname (reminds me of cheap China goods) makes the matter worse – it is extremely hard to make Lindows’ a brand name as good as Apple for this reason and the first reason (target market).
3) MacWorld have been going on for a long time before Jobs’ actually used the event to release products. It has long been a event where Mac companies and users come together – like CeBIT, only for Mac. Now, its’ keynote becomes the platform for Jobs (not for long, so I hear). MacWorld itself isn’t organized by Apple.
DLS on the other hand is a event made by Lindows. It is starting off as a platform for Robertson. It is not a meeting point for Linux fans and users and Linux major companies. It is a platform for Lindows. And the reason Robertson gave for removing its neutrality is because they want the event to be focused on consumers… NEWSFLASH Robertson: You have no idea which method to get to the desktop is right. Red Hat could be right. Lycoris could be right. Xandros could be right. Heck, maybe by a long shot, Mandrake could be right.
Consumers on the other hand have absolutely NO interest in going to a event hyping a overhyped small company. And they certainly won’t come for the first DLS. Robertson should instead have made DLS neutral for the time being. Besides, naming it Desktop Lindows Sumbit or Lindows Submit or Lindows World wouldn’t hurt…. didn’t lindows once said they aren’t targeting Linux users but rather people that never heard of Linux…
Meanwhile, doing that rename would score some PR points.. and you wouldn’t get hurt. Most, if not all, of the companies in this event already know it is a Lindows event, and same with the people who come (most of them, anyway)
I would say that Lindows.com did steal the show.
Considering they’re the ones that paid for nearly the entire thing, I’d say that they *bought* the show.
I was at the summit. Robertson was misquoted on the tablet PC, as it was talked about and still on its way but drivers for the touch screen are still being finished.
It was a great show. It was by no means the “Lindows Show,” and many companies shined. I think th reason they said “stole the show,” was just that they had so many cool things to announce…Virus protection, web filtering, ultralight laptop, alpha of their 4.0 version, and so on.
Their “Mobile PC” REALLY stole the show. You have to hold one of them to fully appreciate them. They are light as a feather. It felt like adding a magazine to your briefcase rather than a brick. And there were fast, powerful devices. Michael Robertson gave his entire presentation using his, and it was plenty quick.
I can also say, now that I’ve seen and ment Mr. Robertson personally, he’s far from a “shameless self promoter,” but rather just someone who is VERY excited about seeing Linux succeed on the desktop. He seems to be oblivious to any politics about Linux, he just wants to see Linux move forward. I personally like that. Yes, Lindows.com are great marketers, but I like that, and Linux could use that.
Mark
I have been looking at purchasing LindowsOS digital download for $49, I have not done it yet because I am unsure about buying any linux due to support for my new computer’s video and audio. The video drivers are only available in RPM form so i don’t even know if I can install it on Lindows and the sound I have no clue why that doesnt work on my current linux install(RH 8)… it always says that the sound device doesn’t exist or something on those lines.
Lindows won’t be pushing any PDAs or tablet PCs, but will stay in the desktop area because that’s where the money is, says Robertson
Pretty hard to misquote that sort of statement. Is it made up by the writer?
Yes, Lindows.com are great marketers, but I like that, and Linux could use that.
Promoters? Maybe. Marketers? Hardly. What is their target market in the first place? (I don’t want “desktop”, you would need to be more specific).
Would’nt it be nice to run SciTech SNAP on these machines? The result would be true graphics HW compatibilty on par with or better than what is currently available from MS.
What is their target market in the first place?
People who don’t already own a computer, or (more so) for people who are looking to purchase an extra computer for their home. Something like a kitchen computer, or a computer for homework, that kind of thing. Their point is to get Lindows on low cost hardware, and get it almost appliance-like.
In response to Aaron – Message 12.
I think you;re probably right.. Lindows looks at the Computer market in the way Apple does, people want a “solution” not a “product”
This is pretty much how it was in the 80s, I think.. lots of competing IT solutions, all incompatible. ( CP/M, MS-DOS, OS/2, Atari, Amiga ).
I’m not sure it’ll work though – we may all be b*tches and Microsoft’s the daddy, but I can’t help feel that people will buy anything when entering the market but will later demand compatibility with mainstream applications. Less in the case of Microsoft Office, which has always for home users been a bit too expensive.. but in the case of…
Webcams with proprietary drivers
Digicams with free image editing software ( Photoshop LE )
The free PC games that come with kids toys and cereal packets
Messenger services ( Download MSN Messenger Today! )
We all know that Linux can cope with most of those with native applications of similar quality. WINE comes on apace and may eventually suport nearly everything.
But the people these PCs are aimed at are not the people who can do that… I’d imagine many won’t even try Click’N’Run. They want one-click installs from CDs and they will be disappointed.
Ironically, the SUSE office desktop also demonstrated at the summit has CodeWeavers Crossover and is probably more capable of th above…… 😐
I would probably agree with your points here cdbee. People want to do things the same way they’ve always done it, and if they’re willing to pay for the Microsoft Tax then power to them. But if someone decides they want to run an alternative operating system then I think that’s just really great, and things like this give them just that option. All it means is that Lindows.com needs to be good at getting their name out and explaining how their product works, and the consumers need to be educated and watch what they buy as well. If Mrs. Perfect-world decides she wants little perfect-billy to be able to get on the evil-grotesque internet without getting c0rrup73d by pr0n, then the built-in web filtering may appeal to her, or maybe she just wants to pay less money for a PC that does homework as well as any other windows box (price of the office suite included in the price of ease application access) Great. I don’t really care what OS and/or distro breaks down Microsofts monopoly enough to allow for some competition, but I just hope it happens soon.
Should’ve included this in my other post, but I was also going to say that Linux has support for more devices than some people realize, it’s just getting them to work that’s the trouble. If distros will start getting all the pieces of the puzzle organized so that it works when you plug it in (as Lindows is trying to do, and they’re improving quite a bit lemme tell ya, their latest beta is improved in all areas from their last release) then it’s better for everyone.
work that meme, mark cos you know probably better than most it has a lot of work cut out for itself..
lindows did steal the show. literally. they never paid the people who did work for the show and lied on the specs. worse their prez called all apple users elitist.
https://forum.lindows.com/forum/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=MemAnnou…
I’m very confused about the tablet PC remark in the article, too. In 2002, Michael Robertson dedicated an entire “Michaels Minute” column to it on Lindows.com:
http://www.lindows.com/lindows_michaelsminutes_archives.php?id=37
At the end of the article you can sign up for the tablet mailing list to be the “…first to find out about the LindowsOS Tablet PC expected out early next year.”
Early next year meant 2003. So I hope somebody from Lindows will be able to clarify the statement made in the PCWorld article because I’m anxious to get a new web pad and am willing to wait to see what Lindows brings out.
Interestingly, the picture of the tablet is actually the same as the one on StepUp Computings home page, which was listed as being oen of Desktop Linux Summit exhibitors. I know for a fact (see link bellow) that they’re already selling their tablets, but they’re running WinXP and the price is not close to $500. Someone who bought one also wasn’t very pleased with the quality of the product.
http://www.stepupcomputing.com
Disgruntled customer:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=insubject:stepup+insubject:comput…
unfortunately the link you supplied takes me to the lindows site but it is “access denied”, so I could not read the contents.
Weird, the link works fine for me. You can get to it by going to the main Lindows site, News, Michael’s Minutes and then scroll down for the “tablet” column.
Or try this:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?M2C131193
Hope that works. 🙂
..frankly thats the sort of thing I had concerns about re the Laptop… if its made down to a price it can hardly be expected to stand comparison to the serious products on the market
..Viewing this in Opera 7.01 and it looks so much better than in Opera 6.xx
People who don’t already own a computer, or (more so) for people who are looking to purchase an extra computer for their home.
The average selling price of a PC is $800, BTW.
Now, if this is their target market, well, you have just proven my point. Lindows.com is targeting the super-cheap market – there is nothing “exclusive” about it. Apple is targeting the exclusive market – the high margin market. copying Apple’s marketing tactic is a ilconcieved idea.
Meanwhile, as for my original question, your answer is wrong. Various times had Lindows.com said their target market is the corporate market. In that case, much of their products including their main cashcow doesn’t target this market. Most people, IMHO, buying off from the Net (from particularly unknown sites, and more known sites but not known for selling PCs) are geeks. They probably won’t be using Lindows, or if they do, they are in a minority.
Something like a kitchen computer
I think some Korean companies have a better solution.. A IA, a cheap IA. Besides, imagine that $200 PC in the kitchen – what happen if you accidently spill some batter on the keyboard, drop your coffee mug on the PC…
Besides, the market Lindows is targeting isn’t secure. I can easily enter than market, bring out a product just as good or even better and charge the same. And if I start having large distribution lines, I can still maintain my pricing competitiveness and use Windows. And if I expand my distribution lines even more, I can enter the retail market (something Microtel can’t do).
They have little competitive egde.
Meanwhile your post still doesn’t answer my question on what marketing skills Lindows.com have. Their name itself is a marketing blunder.
While I respect your opinion, and nothing anyone says will change it, I just have to wonder if you are holding a grudge against Lindows?
I know a lot of the Linux folk who hold their flavor of Linux close to their hearts are probably in an uproar of sorts. It seems to me that they want Linux to be an exclusive club. A club where only “geeks” are allowed so their precious hard-to-understand *nix doesn’t get sullied by GUI interfaces and attempts to make setups and installations easier for the rest of the world who doesn’t know “apt get” or “urpmi” is.
In order for Linux, any flavor, to get the proper support it needs to be adopted by more people than just the computer savvy crowd. It also needs to be standardized as each version is just *slightly* different enough to cause issues with hardware or software compatibility. Lindows took the bull by the horns and are going with it. Yes you do have to pay for access to their Click n Run, but then again if you add up all the stuff we probably pay for now each year for software our PCs it’ probably in the same ballpark. Lindows will bring recognition. They just need time.
I say go Lindows! If anyone can bring Linux to the masses, they have the moxy to do it.