grep Reddog FOSSBiz

LXer Feature: 15-Aug-2006 Don Parris talks with Nathan Aherne of Reddog Technology about selling computers with Ubuntu's GNU/Linux system pre-installed in Australia. Anyone interested in selling computers with GNU/Linux pre-installed should pay attention here, as Nathan makes at least one or two important points.

Meet Reddog Technology

Reddog Technology is a small shop located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Ubuntu is the default OS choice for at least some of their offerings. Aside from selling computers with Ubuntu pre-installed, they offer boxes with Windows, albeit at a somewhat higher price. They also offer free technical support for their Ubuntu users. Reddog Technology even runs a computer donation program. Anyway, if you live in Australia, you'll definitely want to take notice of this shop.

Conversation With Nathan Aherne

What is your primary sales territory?

We sell mainly in Queensland Australia but are trying to branch out into other Australian states and possibly New Zealand. We will widen our sales area by both utilising the web and using more innovative marketing techniques.

How many employees do you currently have?

We have two full time employees and one manager. We will be looking for more employees soon.

How many GNU/Linux boxes have you sold in the last 6 months?

Interview response goes here

What does it take to make a profit selling GNU/Linux boxes?

Our break-even point is 30 systems per week. We need to achieve that level of sales to pay all expenses.

Which Ubuntu-based product is your most popular?

Our base system (without a monitor) is our most popular product. It is only $499, a perfect price point for home use. This is the price point where we find most demand for Ubuntu.

Do you use FOSS daily?

We do not use FOSS on our main machines because we are able to run more programs using our windows systems. We utilize live distributions (especially DSL) constantly and we also have test machines that run many different flavours of Linux and BSD depending on what we are testing. These machines are used for product testing as well as research and product design.

Do you offer GNU/Linux training as well as support? What are your support hours?

We do not offer formal training as yet because home users are reluctant to pay for it. We offer free support to customers via the phone from 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday. Our phone support is popular because it is personal and achieves outcomes quickly.

Do you offer on-site support for businesses in your local area?

We offer on-site support but only promote it to existing customers.

Do you offer servers with GNU/Linux pre-installed?

Our new product range will offer Linux servers. We are still testing them to make sure they are of the quality we demand.

Do you offer Windows-to-GNU/Linux migration consulting?

We offer this service but only promote it to existing customers.

What percent of your business consists of support and training?

All our support and training is free. We do this because it's the only way people will buy our machines with confidence.

Who are your customers (businesses, individuals, non-profit orgs)?

For Linux based machines our primary customers are individuals. For Windows based machines our primary customers are businesses.

What kind of fluctuation do you see, in terms of business growth? Are your sales picking up? Are you seeing more interest in GNU/Linux?

Our sales are increasing month on month. We receive a lot of sales through recommendations from existing customers.

What is the most common challenge you face in selling boxes with GNU/Linux pre-installed?

From our point of view:
Just because an operating system is free doesn’t mean that we save money supplying it. Support for our Ubuntu systems is very expensive because users are not as familiar with it as they are with Windows. However, if we did not offer free support, people would not buy our Ubuntu systems. We would then become just another Windows computer retailer.

From a customers point of view
Most of our customers have no idea what Linux is. Most of our customers have purchased our systems with Ubuntu on them because they have faith in our reputation for high quality customer service and trust assurances that it will perform all the functions they need.

There are lots of stereotypical descriptions of users who just can't use GNU/Linux. Do you see any particular stereotype being destroyed?

Customers frequently have no idea how to configure a PC. Most want the system to "just work" out of the box (we believe this is a reasonable expectation). This expectation is the biggest hurdle for Linux to overcome. In the long term we plan to offer remote access support to customers, reducing the time spent offering phone support.

References

• Reddog Technology