Re: [OS:N:] RE: Open Source in Schools and thensome

[Evan Leibovitch <evan telly org>]

On Wed, 4 Sep 2002, Patrick Cable II wrote:

> Then companies like red hat sell linux, but from what i've seen, its
> hidden away in a side corner of your local CompUSA, or some outfit
> like that. If redhat put some money into advertising their product (I
> havn't seen an ad for red hat linux on TV...) then maybe more people
> would try to install linux, and play with it.

The talent for making the box of Linux and talent for selling it are
totally different. No Linux companies -- Red Hat included -- have the mass
merchandizing skills necessary to really move things at a retail level.

Two of Linux's best retail successes have been:

Corel Linux; Corel knew how to market on store shelves, and they knew how
to attract attention. Does anyone else recall how they included a toy
penguin in each box? They also had a good point-of-sale merchandizing
(signs, etc) and Linux was part of a broader and already-successful
catalog. At one time, Corel Linux was actually the major sponsor of an
Olympic event (bobsledding). Unfortunately Corel lost the will to stay in
the Linux field and now such effort is gone. But Corel did much, during
its brief flirtation with Linux, to give it prominence at retail. Don't be
surprised if you still see some boxes of Corel Linux available for sale.

Mandrake: Now, the *company* MandrakeSoft is no better at retail than or
anyone else. But they did have the sense to partner with Macmillan
Software (part of the publishing company) after Red Hat ended a similar
partnership a few years ago. Macmillan has a very powerful and effective
retail marketing system that has put Mandrake on more shelves, and selling
more at retail, than all the other distros together. While MandrakeSoft
doesn't make much off each box sold, this partnership has done wonders for
the company's installed base and support partners, bring the company from
practically nowhere to a position amongst the elite distros. While
Mandrake doesn't have the corporate and enterprise presence of companies
such as Red Hat, it's just as likely that you'll see Mandrake on the
shelves of your local Best Buy or Borders as anything else...

While the Corel story is over, the Mandrake one isn't. Macmillan sales
reps routinely go into stores to make sure their products (including
*their* linux) get enough visibility.

Still, the ultimate goal is not to sell a box that people have to
pre-install. We need more hardware OEMs to pre-install Linux so it doesn't
*need* a post-purchase installation. How many people would buy Windows if
they had to install it from scratch *and* pay separately for it?

- Evan