BAD Move, HP

Story: HP to launch Linux notebooks in SATotal Replies: 6
Author Content
Abe

Feb 09, 2006
7:00 AM EDT
why Linspire? SA is Ubuntu's home. Besides, Ubuntu is far superior, more Free/free and overall better. Or am I missing something? Very bad move HP.
tadelste

Feb 09, 2006
7:24 AM EDT
Abe: You called it. Do you think they want to fail on purpose?

This has to be one of the stupidest decisions anyone could make. At least give people the opportunity to choose.

Abe

Feb 09, 2006
8:23 AM EDT
Quoting:Do you think they want to fail on purpose?


Quite possible. HP had Suse Linux pre-installed on their nx6000 series while ago. They made a good marketing effort. They even had a 5 minute video clip presentation on ZDNet for a while and to my understanding the product was very successful. All the sudden, and without any warning or replacement, they pulled it out of the market. That stunt was very similar to those that Dell pulled on couple occasions. It must be those same sneaking fingers of we know who.
tadelste

Feb 09, 2006
8:39 AM EDT
Factions exist in these firms. IBM has them. HP must have thembecause of the Compaq people retained. Compaq put VA Linux out of the hardware business. As soon as they did, Compaq de-emphasized Linux.

Busy little bees those collaborators.
bstadil

Feb 09, 2006
8:39 AM EDT
Abe,

HP probably wants the Multimedia stuff to be included which is a good move. Obviously they could have included this themselves and paid whatever license fee would be needed, but going the Linspire route makes this easier.

Think about it. HP is not addressing the segment of users that can install all the extras if they use Ubuntu. That market already takes care of itself. Those people knows how to rid their machine of XP or Linsprire and install Ubuntu. Having a Linux version avoids the MS tax and secures that Linux drivers is available for all the features of the notebooks.

They are addressing the segment that don't want to fiddle with this. I my view Linspire is a fine choice for HP although I wouldn't personally use it.

tadelste

Feb 09, 2006
8:41 AM EDT
Bjorn,

All the multi-media stuff is now available to any Linux distro via Cyberlink. Cyberlink has more multi-media capabilities than Linspire does at the moment. The cost to an HP is miniscule.

I don't get it.
Abe

Feb 09, 2006
11:13 AM EDT
Bjorn,

I see your point but to a certain extent. In my opinion, Linspire would be the last on my list. Like Tom mentioned, there are other much better alternatives. Or, like you said, they could have done it themselves. At one time, HP had their own Linux server distribution, so there is no lack of expertise. Or they could have worked with Ubuntu to get a special arrangement similar to what they made with Linspire. Better yet, they could have gone with Mepis, or Suse. I might be wrong since I do not know the whole story, but all in all, they have made a very bad choice. If they want to compete and survive, they better not make such bad decisions.

Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]

Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!