Transitioning someone to Linux on an individual basis is one thing, but what happens when OEMs start installing Linux out of the box? No longer do you have one person helping another person transition to a new operating system, but rather thousands of people transitioning to Linux without individual help.

A recent CNet review of the HP Mini 1000 Mi (customized Ubuntu) concluded this:

“HP has added a Linux-based OS to its popular Mini 1000 Netbook’s Mi edition, dressed up with a glossy, sexy front-end, but many users will still want the flexibility and familiarity of Windows.”

Ignoring the flexibility part (when we start talking about Windows being more flexible than Linux, something is messed up), it is true that many users will still opt for the familiar option – and I don’t blame them. How can that be changed, though? The only real option would be to include Windows and Linux side by side (obviously not on today’s netbooks, but on regular notebooks and desktops). That sounds like a great idea, but why would an OEM bother with this? The main advantage of Linux to an OEM is the price tag: free.This is not the only advantage, though.

The OEM doesn’t care what OS their customers use in the short term, but in the longer term, OEMs should be trying to get their customers to switch away from Windows to any open-source or custom operating system.

The problem is that the Dell’s and HP’s of the world are dumb hardware makers. Hardware gets cheaper, margins get smaller, customer support gets worse, customers get mad, customers leave, prices have to drop, margins get smaller, and so on. It’s a downward spiral that they have to break to survive.

Pretty soon Apple may well be killing Dell, since they control both the hardware and the software, thus giving them greater ability to innovate, add value that keeps the margins higher, and, ultimately, survive.

OEMs do, in fact, have a vested interest in transitioning to software that they can control. Whether to make a proprietary OS from scratch or start from an open-source operating system is a choice they will have to make,  but I think I can predict the outcome.

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