The pitch for luxury meets the american consumer mentality
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| dthacker Nov 12, 2006 9:17 AM EDT |
There's clearly an opportunity here for Linux suppliers. Seizing it, however, is going to require a whole new marketing mindset. They should forget touting Linux as a cheaper alternative to Windows. Instead, pitch Linux as a luxury product whose stability, versatility, and virus-resistant technology deserve a premium price. "Look Honey!, it's our new PC! I didn't just settle for grubby old Windows or that elitist Mac stuff, I bought this luxurious new Linux PC!" "Really? Luxurious? Tell me this, Mr. Techno Genius, can little Amy watch her Hannah Montana DVDs on this?" "Well.....no, I'll have to install some sort of semi-legal proprietary codecs for that to work." "Can Eddie play Call to Doom: Insanity Assault on this?" "Well...maybe, it depends on how well the volunteers on WINE are doing on supporting the latest games." "He'll be thrilled to hear that, I'm sure. Can I download Desperate CSIs: Lost in Indianapolis from ITunes on this?" "Yes!....but I'll have to get WINE installed first, and then configure the video drivers, and then make sure the onboard sound card is supported on this motherboard. and " "And then what?! I'll tell you what, dear. This is now *your* new luxury PC. You can cancel the order for the HDTV in your den, and go back to store and get us something that works, something with Windows. And don't forget the anti-virus software this time." (fade to black) |
| Libervis Nov 12, 2006 10:30 AM EDT |
Like Windows supports doing everything out of the box. People so often forget that in Windows you have to install drivers for a good deal of your hardware yourself, whereas this just works on GNU/Linux. Even if you want to play certain types of movies you have to download and install codecs yourself. This said, in alot of ways the GNU/Linux out of the box experience can be even better than with Windows. As for games and popular proprietary applications, not even Apple, the ultimate luxury experience computer appliance company, supports everything that Windows does and yet it gets away pretty nicely. It's all about the right pitch. With the right marketing people will be excited about a Linux PC anyway, even if they understand that they may be supposedly giving some things up for this enhanced experience, just as a new Mac user knows he gave up some of the Windows specific things. We can make these users happy anyway, make them say "well, I know I can't play these games on this Linux PC, but you know what, it was worth it. Just look at this." And then there is the fact that the gaming on GNU/Linux is continiously expanding. When was the last time you looked into it? Last time I did there was quite a few good quality free games I could find on the net where all you need to get them working is download a .deb (or autopackage), run it and you're done - go playing. As for video cards, if you are selling a luxury Linux PC then you should make sure it comes with a graphics card supported by a free driver which would then be pre-installed and pre-configured on this PC. 3D acceleration would work right after you turn the thing on. And yes there are such cards. As I hear, the free FSF sponsored R200 drivers work well with certain older (not too old though) ATI cards, and R300 drivers are on the way for the newer ones. It is quite possible and it will be done. GNU/Linux PCs, built from scratch to fit GNU/Linux and preconfigured to work out of the box (much like Macs do) will be here soon enough and there is a reason why I am so confident at that. ;) It is, IMHO, the holy grail for GNU/Linux. You essentially get the Apple user experience without the proprietary drawback. Freedom included in the package. No compromise made, and yet, it just works! And it will work! Thanks |
| dthacker Nov 12, 2006 1:05 PM EDT |
Like Windows supports doing everything out of the box. People so often forget that in Windows you have to install drivers for a good deal of your hardware yourself, whereas this just works on GNU/Linux. Even if you want to play certain types of movies you have to download and install codecs yourself. 99% of the movies I rent or purchase would not require extra installations on Windows. This said, in alot of ways the GNU/Linux out of the box experience can be even better than with Windows. I agree, people can get pretty fired up at the installfests I've helped with, when they see all the software they've just gotten access to for free. It's all about the right pitch. With the right marketing people will be excited about a Linux PC anyway, even if they understand that they may be supposedly giving some things up for this enhanced experience, just as a new Mac user knows he gave up some of the Windows specific things. We can make these users happy anyway, make them say "well, I know I can't play these games on this Linux PC, but you know what, it was worth it. Just look at this." Yes and no. My boss has had a Mac notebook for over two years. One of the things that made him most excited was Entourage, which meant he was no longer a second class citizen on the corporate network. I never heard him say "Gosh, this MAC user interface makes up for all the pain I have trying to use MS-Exchange." And then there is the fact that the gaming on GNU/Linux is continiously expanding. When was the last time you looked into it? Last time I did there was quite a few good quality free games I could find on the net where all you need to get them working is download a .deb (or autopackage), run it and you're done - go playing. As for video cards, if you are selling a luxury Linux PC then you should make sure it comes with a graphics card supported by a free driver which would then be pre-installed and pre-configured on this PC. 3D acceleration would work right after you turn the thing on. And yes there are such cards. As I hear, the free FSF sponsored R200 drivers work well with certain older (not too old though) ATI cards, and R300 drivers are on the way for the newer ones. I am a bit out of touch on the gaming side of things. But I know my gaming friends and co-workers will not go near Linux *or* Mac because of this. The news about the free FSF drivers is *really* encouraging. I hope the Linux gamers will support the development of these drivers. Dave |
| rijelkentaurus Nov 12, 2006 2:14 PM EDT |
>99% of the movies I rent or purchase would not require extra installations on Windows. No, unless you specifically rent/purchase movies with no encryption. The PC that folks purchase at BB or CC can play DVDs because it has the codecs licensed and a commercial DVD player program installed. A barebones install of Windows will NOT play encrypted DVDs. I'm not certain, but I don't think it will play MP3s, either...but I could be wrong about that one. Either way, this is not really fair. However, your point is still valid that most folks will play DVDs on their Windows box without having to think about it. Mandriva 2007 will do the same thing. http://www.mandriva.com/en/linux/2007 I don't know what to make of Mandriva, but I know it blows the hell out of Windows. The same page that link leads to has information about Cedega, which is also included. The Discovery Edition is 44 EURO. Not a bad deal. Then there's System76: http://www.system76.com Their stuff looks good, and I've seen good reviews. It's surely not bottom-rung Dell crap. The prices are good, and if you compare them to a Mac they're really good. Better like Ubuntu, however (I do). I like the idea that we've got better drivers on the way for ATI cards. I don't do a lot of 3D stuff, but sometimes I like to play a game or two. LOVE Barrage. 8) Not 3D, but hey, who cares? |
| dcparris Nov 12, 2006 2:52 PM EDT |
I can't wait until tomorrow morning! |
| Libervis Nov 12, 2006 3:03 PM EDT |
Well there it goes. System 76 is one company which comes at least close to the "holy grail" I described above. Their Koala Mini looks awesome as a GNU/Linux powered alternative to something like Mac Mini: http://system76.com/product_info.php/cPath/2/products_id/169 However, I hope someone goes even further in branding. "Koala Mini" doesn't sound like much to me. Imagine if someone created their computers to not only have GNU/Linux (like Ubuntu) pre-installed and only basically preconfigured (although I don't know exactly to which level does System 76 pre-configures), but to have it tested and configured to simply just work out of the box and then call it with a common simple and short name that people can identify these PCs with. You call a Mac a "Mac". You call Windows PCs as just "PC". So what do we call GNU/Linux PCs? LinPC maybe? There's a potential brand name. ;) But the bottom line is to get to the common user with an attractive, well rounded marketing backed by a great quality integrated GNU/Linux powered desktop product. |
| jezuch Nov 12, 2006 4:06 PM EDT |
PC like Penguin Computer maybe? ;) |
| Sander_Marechal Nov 12, 2006 4:08 PM EDT |
How about a TuxBox :-) |
| rijelkentaurus Nov 12, 2006 5:27 PM EDT |
Those System76 boxes are built to work with Ubuntu out of the box. It's a tweaked Ubuntu, not the one you download from Ubuntu.com, and it ships with the customized DVD in case you need to reinstall. Things like wireless work great, WPA/WPA2 and everything. I think the once place they are lacking is in laptop power management...but that's just Linux, and it's the fault of the hardware manufacturers. I like TuxBox..."Hey, dude, you're gettin' a Tux!" |
| Libervis Nov 13, 2006 2:50 AM EDT |
Hehe TuxBox sounds cool, though it reminds very much of so many other boxes as we like to call certain window managers (fluxbox, blackbox, openbox etc.) ;) About PC standing for Penguin Computer, maybe we could play with it and make it PenC, although the pronounciation of that comes pretty close to "pencil"... maybe that's positive though as it implies a simple *tool* for the job. :) |
| jimf Nov 13, 2006 3:59 AM EDT |
As for video cards, if you are selling a luxury Linux PC then you should make sure it comes with a graphics card supported by a free driver which would then be pre-installed and pre-configured on this PC. 3D acceleration would work right after you turn the thing on. And yes there are such cards. As I hear, the free FSF sponsored R200 drivers work well with certain older (not too old though) ATI cards, and R300 drivers are on the way for the newer ones. Ok, let's talk specifically to that point. The ATI 8500 is the last to run with the R200 drivers. I know because I have one and use that driver. It's an excellent and dependable card and has excellent 2D performance, video and such run fine under R200, just don't try to do anything in mesa GL, or 3D. That's also a shame, cause the ATI proprietary drivers boost the performance of the card about 10X in 3D. If I played games, and, if it weren't such a pita to compile the drivers so they actually 'worked' (wind must be from the south, and all stars must be in the correct position), I might even run those drivers regardless of their proprietary status. The point here is that all of the open drivers need to support decent 3D before you can say we have 'any' parity with Windows on this issue. The other issue with those cards is that it's impossible to find one (do a search on ebay, with luck you may find 'one'). So, how in the heck is any supplier supposed to obtain a supply of these, or any other older cards, for their use? Again, open drivers (for any card) have to support 3D to have a ballgame... I really would like to see a Linux box marketed with entirely open drivers and apps, but until we 'at least' resolve the video driver issues, we're excluding a lot of potential users. You can't just tell them 'you can't do that!'... Right now, the breakthrough can only be attained if and when OEM's release their source. Intel has already done this, even though their chipset is definitely not a gamers first choice. Let's hope that other OEM's follow suit. |
| Libervis Nov 13, 2006 4:12 AM EDT |
Well, I admit I don't own any ATI nor Nvidia video card yet so I can't speak out of first hand experience. However a friend from our site is playing Nexuiz (a popular 3D game) without problems using ATI Radeon 9100. I've also been searching around various forums what people say about ATI Radeon 9250 (a newer card still available in most stores here) and it seems to work with free drivers as well. The Radeon 9xxx is R200 card and R200 drivers are stable. You just have to make sure that the direct rendering is enabled and it should work. Heck, I currently have only Savage and I can play some less demanding 3D games with it (direct rendering enabled of course). An ATI 92xx should be just fine for even more demanding 3D games and programs. In fact, I am planning to get an ATI 9250 soon. :) |
| jimf Nov 13, 2006 4:39 AM EDT |
> However a friend from our site is playing Nexuiz That's peachy, but have him give you a reading from glxgears. Better yet, can he use all of the GLX screensavers? I think you'll be much less impressed. In 3D apps, the difference between the open and proprietary driver has to be seen to be believed.... |
| dcparris Nov 13, 2006 7:26 AM EDT |
You guys want Linux support out of the box on your hardware? Just click the new "Products" link at the top of the site. Yeah, System76 is in there, too. ;-) |
| Libervis Nov 13, 2006 8:00 AM EDT |
Sure. Great stuff! :) |
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