March 27, 2008

Linux Is Still Not Viable for Most Customers

Last night I was in an informal get together with a group of gentlemen (it was a private meeting my not mentioning the details) and we had an interesting discussion about Windows vs Mac. Bottom line is that clearly many people are buying Macintosh computers for two reasons: due to the overall frustration and complexity of Windows and due to the increased marketing (and possibly a better product) of the Mac platform.

What about Linux? Wal-Mart recently stopped selling Linux computers in it's stores due to slow sales.

PC World writes The customer response to the US$199 Everex TC2502 Green gPC desktop was not as high as expected, said Melissa O'Brien, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman..

Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the U.S., agreed last year to carry the product as a test and stocked it in about 600 stores where it saw high interest in computers.

"The idea was to see if shoppers in our stores would respond as they do online to the offering. The answer is that customers did not respond to expectations, so we decided not to restock," O'Brien said.

No matter how much Geeks want you to think that LInux on desktops (for server's it's fine) is ready for prime time, it's not the case. Linux is still a product for geeks. Although the platform has become easier to use and more drivers are available, it's still not as as easy to use, overall, as Windows or Mac.

tags: linux , mac , macintosh , windows | 0 comments