Wrong issues
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| cubrewer Mar 09, 2006 8:51 AM EDT |
I saw Dell's comments but I disagree with your characterization of the magnitude of the problem of having different distro's as a tech support issue. You'll notice that Dell did not say that tech support costs resulted in dropping Linux in 2001. The obstacle to using Dell as a vehicle for Linux World Domination problem is that Dell will do whatever makes money for Dell and there is only so much they will do for a 1,5% slice of the market. Dell was crystal clear about this at the end of his comments. I think we can assume other hardware manufacturers have similar perspectives. Ultimately, Dell is unlikely to lead any rebellions. But Dell is souring on the hardware business as prices fall and margins shrink. People at Dell are vigilant for money-making/money-saving solutions... Linux may yet appear on a mass-marketed Dell computer designed for very entry-level computing (where consumers won't care what OS/distro they are running). I have (years ago) seen posts putatively from former Dell Linux support personnel who have cited costs as an issue for Dell dropping Linux in 2001. But I think the root issue is two-fold. First, in Linux you actually can fix things... so it's a lot more complex than "Reboot... Ok, reinstall" which is frequently the Windows solution. And economies of scale make it's harder to have a staff of support people for a tiny market. Besides, I think the intra-distro variation (KDE vs. Gnome? Firefox vs. Konqueror?) is at least as big as the inter-distro (yast vs. yum vs. rpm vs. apt) variation. The problem of troubleshooting a complex system is rarely made easier by substituting a simpler system that does not have the problem. I could see using some kind of rescue disc to repair a deleted system file or if I mess up my X config... but those can be handled today using the command line (or a rescue disc) without resorting to a new distro. If providing tech support is the obstacle to Linux world domination, why not create a network of Linux techies and try to market their services to vendors? You could call the business LinuxCare or Linuxgruven. |
| phil Mar 09, 2006 12:43 PM EDT |
Dell actually did starting making their own brand of SysV UNIX back in the early 1990's. It was a flop. I took a job in 1993 and took over administering a research lab for a financial services company where one machine was running it. It was mostly unusable. The hardware was recycled for other purposes. |
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