Linux still largely invisible in the marketplace

[Rick Tomaschuk]

Chic is definitely where its at in retail. Nothing like a good fad to
get a retail fire going. I think video and multimedia are still a
weakness in Linux distros. Media player will rip a CD without any effort
into an mp3. Look at South Korea's recent ruling and past antitrust
rulings concerning Media Player. The future will include more video
rather than text. If the lack of great video isn't addressed Linux could
be at a great disadvantage over Windows. Some think connectivity is
everything. I could care less if my fridge can talk to my car. I wish my
cell phone would work properly without an external antenna when I leave
the city.
RickT

On Thu, 2005-12-08 at 16:45 -0500, Jamon Camisso wrote:
> I can't remember where exactly I heard it (some linux radio podcast of 
> some sort back in the summer) but the idea of coolness definitely enters 
> as one reason that Linux is having a hard time catching on. For a lot of 
> people (specifically friends, family, professors) who have upgraded to 
> Windows XP, their first response was how cool it seemed comared to 
> 98/2000. Mac users -- same thing. But apart from being cool within a 
> rather closed (or small, whichever you prefer) community i.e. Slackware 
> cooler than X distro etc., Linux is not regarded as something cool to 
> use or do with your computer.
> 
> For people who purchase a computer with Windows XP preinstalled, what 
> is/has been done to make Linux cool enough to get them to take notice? 
> It seems that this area needs some attention! There has got to be a 
> reason to make people take notice, and sadly, apart from the great 
> features that we take for granted, I can't imagine many users actually 
> caring all that much.
> 
> I felt the need to chime in on this, but that's about all -- mostly just 
> rambling musings.
> 
> Jamon
> 
> Rick Tomaschuk wrote:
> > Linux is still behind Windows on the desktop. The general public
> > perception of computer novices IMHO is still that Windows is the only
> > game in town. When I say novices I mean non graphics, non computer
> > literate anything. Look at CNN which could be using Macromedia,
> > Quicktime, MPG, chooses to use Microsoft. Why? I don't know. Lou Dobbs
> > on Moneyline is always shaking his head in favor of the underdog. Some
> > perception actually exists that Microsoft is the underdog in the US over
> > big business as we used to know it (IBM).
> > RickT
> > 
> > On Thu, 2005-12-08 at 15:37 -0500, Fraser Campbell wrote:
> > 
> >>Rick Tomaschuk wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>I travel a lot through the US and Canada and am frustrated that after
> >>>the last 10 years of working to promote Linux (it) is still largely
> >>>invisible in the market place especially when compared to the Apple 
> >>>and their pirated lookalike copy called Windows produced by the convicted 
> >>>monopolist Microsoft.
> >>
> >>I assume you mean the desktop?
> >>
> >>On the other, hand Linux has a lot of traction in the server market. 
> >> From small businesses to the biggest I believe there are *lots* of 
> >>Linux users out there.
> >>
> >>Let's take over all the servers, the desktops won't be far behind ;-)
> >>--
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