Re: [school-discuss] Knoppix vs. Freeduc vs. ???

[ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com>]

On Sun, 2003-06-08 at 02:11, Massimiliano Mirra wrote:
> ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com> writes:
> 
> > We are not as big as Dell ;-) But we build PCs and I have been thinking
> > of advertising pre-installed Linux. The difficulty is that advertising
> > is expensive and for a small company like us I'm not sure its going to
> > be cost-effective and a mistake in this line could put us out of
> > business. 
> 
> How about offering the usual machine with an already partitioned hard
> disk, and giving out a Knoppix CD with it?

We don't generally sell a usual machine to individuals, we sell in
batches of 10, 20, 100 etc to education built to their spec. I wouldn't
want to get into the "glossy ad in PCW" mail order business for windows
machines, but we have had the occasional person find us indirectly and
ask for a Linux pre-installed system. It seems that its quite difficult
to find PC builders who will pre-install GNU/Linux. We will do it, the
trick is in getting contact with those who want it without bankrupting
ourselves with unfocused advertising.

>  Or dual boot machines with
> Linux as the system which boots by default?  Even without advertising,
> Linux would end up being booted more often than Windows, both because
> it's default and because it features hundreds more programs than a
> bare Windows installation.  And it might help you build the experience
> about customers' response that you will need in an ad campaign.

This would be an option if we were selling by these methods but we have
no real experience of conventional advertising.

> > Maybe we should start offering low cost PCs to parents through the
> > schools.  Anyone any thoughts on this?
> 
> Definitely a good idea.  When something is (or appears like) a
> requirement from an external entity, most people seem to shut down any
> judgement capability about whether it's good or it's bad, since it's
> required anyway.  So they might as well be offered something good for
> change!

Yes, the main snag I foresee is support. If things went wrong, they
would blame Linux whereas if they go wrong with Windows they just accept
it as the way things are. Still, I think perhaps very low cost refurbed
machines with free software might be a possibility with options to
upgrade to a new one and recycle the old ones again. Effectively
generate a market like for cars - now the hardware is so powerful
refresh cycles could become long enough to make this work.Its just
making a start that is the difficult bit.

> Whatever your choice, I wish you the best luck.
-- 
ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com>