[ale] Linux for sale

[Lex Spoon]

>  Even If it IS for sale....no one buys it like they buy M$
> "software".  I was in Micro Center in Marietta, they sell Redhat
> 4.2, Slack 3.3, InfoMagic's latest "version" (6.0 is it?), and
> Debian.  They also sell Applixware 4.3 for Redhat.  Funny thing is
> the shelves are always stocked with it because no one buys it
> because its not widely accepted, (then again, "widely accepted"
> would be Windoze 95 presently) and the fact that the average
> computer user would have no clue how to operate Linux. (partially
> because the average computer user is using an MS-related operating
> system by default, and that they dont know that there are other
> options.)  So I dont think stores sticking it will have much affect
> unless more computers start having Linux preinstalled.  Then again,
> this is just my thoughts.


On the contrary, I think it makes a serious difference.  If Linux is
to take over the world, yes, there needs to be an easier option to
have it preinstalled.  

But that's in the distant future.  The biggest problem right now is
that no one (percentage-wise) has heard of it.  If it's on the store
shelves in pretty boxes, the the drones who are running the computer
industry (ie, the ones who think of software like books), will have a
framework to put Linux in.  They can think about just going to the
store and buying Linux, just like all the other packages.

But, in disagreement with a lot of people, I don't care about people
knowing about Linux in particular, even though I'm a huge Linux user
myself.  What I care about is people being concious that there ARE
other operating systems, and that people can have the choice over
which to use, if the industry only decides to give them that choice.

Can you imagine a world where hardware comes with example source code?
Where applications are written to portable, well-specified API's?  Heck,
where applications come with full source code??

To me, this is the grail.  A world dominated by one brand of Linux is
still half as bad as a world dominated by MS Windows XYZ-of-the-day.
But a world where all software is open to the tickerings of
wireheads....  Ahhhhh :)



lex