Where Linux Can Leap Ahead - Part 3
If you missed the first part or the second part, here is a quick summary. Otherwise, just skip this part.
In this series of articles, I will discuss broad groups of computer users, the ties they have to existing platforms, and the potential attractions of Linux to them. In the first part, I covered two types of home users and argued that neither type cares much about the advantages and disadvantages of different operating systems and, therefore, home users are not a promising market for Linux. In part two, I covered large and small businesses and creative professionals. In my opinion, large businesses are too tied to a big system based in Windows to switch to Linux, but creative professionals and small businesses have much less of a tie to any particular operating system and if there were applications that did what they need to Linux, they would switch.
In this part I will cover geeks, travelers, and schools (originally universities, but expanded to schools thanks to commenter Robert Pogson).
Geeks
I had to include them, but there is not really much to say. This is one case where Linux has already won for the most part.
Travelers
Example: Someone who travels on business a lot and needs to do e-mail, get on the web, and edit Microsoft Office files without lugging a big computer around.
For anyone that needs to travel, Linux has gotten much more appealing in the past few months, even though they may not even know what Linux is. With products like the Asus Eee PC on the market, Linux is becoming appealing, in the form of small hardware and low costs, to travelers. Although the Eee is still quite new, it has a lot of promise to help Linux become an everyday term and an everyday tool.
Schools
Example: Schools
Once again, cost and (in many cases) the lack of any major Windows-world investment are the main driving factors here. In most cases schools don’t need their computers to do much more than get on the web and edit Word files, tasks which any operating system can do, but Linux can do for free. In addition there are already distros specifically designed for schools to use.
This is the last part of this series (unless I do a full summary or something) so here is a quick overview of the groups I said might be want to switch to Linux:
- Small Businesses - Very cost-sensitive, small investment in Windows world
- Creative Professionals - Not tied to a platform, just the apps that run on it. If there are better apps on Linux, they may switch.
- Schools - Cost-sensitive, small investment in Windows world, very basic computer use
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:00 am
The arguments looks prima facie convincing. But the potential for penetration of any product into the consumer market can happen especially fast if it is made available in Showrooms and Super Markets where the ‘general public’ get to see it.
As you know, “Marketing is a human activity directed at satisfy the needs and wants of a customer at a particular price at a particular place over a period of time”
A combination of all the above would make the adoption of Linux more in the years to come.
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:10 am
You need to quote some examples…:-)
You can find many, many examples, in many places, on my blog at:
http://cdneducation.blogspot.com/
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:59 am
An interesting and thought provoking series.
Another class of home users, and possibly some small businesses, creative professionals, etc., might be those that depend on a friendly neighbourhood “geek” for their tech support. Geeks like me, who have gone wholeheartedly over to FLOSS, have lost all interest in supporting Windows and don’t want to waste time learning how to fix problems that people have with it. I don’t want to be responsible for maintaining Windows when there is the risk that I might have to buy a new license when it has gone wrong and can’t be re-installed and re-activated. The most I will do is provide a “backup and restore” service using Linux running in another partition or live CD to make a backup copy of the Windows C partition which can then be restored if Windows goes wrong. I will also provide the same for Windows running as a virtual machine on a Linux host. If anyone wants me to give more support than that then I say I can only do so if they use Linux because it is the system that I use and know.
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:28 pm
For me, Linux needs to first attract the following groups:
- Computer Science Students (that does not mean geeks). How many of them use Linux at home? If they are in charge of a server, and have to chose what would they chose?
To attract these we need to improve usability and easy of use, not only developing and server activities.
- Public Services and administrations:
Some governments are forcing administrations to use open formats and that’s the way to go. But not also that, computers in the libraries, schools, and public computers (the only do browsing most of the time) have to begin to use Linux for them. They don’t allow installing applications most of the times and they are always full of virus, so it makes perfect sense.
- Developing countries:
Windows is expensive and requires a high end machine.
- Mobile devices (phones, PDAs, UMPC, …)
Windows is too heavy for these. Windows mobile is not good.
Once this is done, computer scientists will feel confident with Linux, knowing that they won’t have to spend hours to configure a device, they feel safe to propose install Linux in a server if they have the chance.
There has also to be room for commercial applications in Linux, any free application is going to be a professional replacement for autocad or photoshop.
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Until Ubuntu 7.04, I wanted to install Linux on my machine but I was never able to fully set it up (everything working).
How could I propose to use Linux at work if I was unable to make it work at home?
This is being fixed with new distributions, and at least now people who already likes Linux, is able to actually use it.
That’s one step in the right direction.
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Many computer science students, still think Linux is difficult. This is not really true, after latest improvements, however there is still some weak points. Let’s convince them first. They install many friends and work computers, anyway.
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:14 pm
[...] a long comment, Roger made a number of good points. Here are two of them: “For me, Linux needs to first [...]
December 25th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.
December 25th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.