August 6th, 2008
Microsoft contracts stymie IBM laptop Linux plans
I admire the audacity of what IBM is trying to do with its “Linux on a stick” program.
(This picture first appeared at our fine Apple Core blog in November. Say hi to Jason and David for me.)
It is amazing how cheap stick memories have gotten. Down at the local Fry’s you can get an 8 Gbyte stick for $35. I’m old enough to remember 5 1/4 floppies with 128Kbytes. (Hey, Sparky, today’s 6th graders have no memory of 9/11.)
But the hardware side of this remains a big problem, as I’m learning in my Linux laptop experiment.
It’s the channel, stupid. IBM abandoned PC retailing when it sold its PC business to Lenovo of China, four years ago now, but here in the world the channel is where we get our stuff.
So I used my fingers to do a little shopping and educate Big Blue.
When it comes to new hardware, most makers charge you for Windows even if you don’t get it. They do this to maintain their relationship with Microsoft.
Sometimes they’ll load something like FreeDOS on for you, but the cost of Windows is usually baked-into the price you pay.
Small dealers, like LinuxCertified, sell Linux-only laptops, but given their small quantities their rock-bottom price can be higher than what you’d pay for a similar Windows machine.
Given the fact that it takes less power and storage to run Linux than it does Vista, a used market might sound nice. But the savings aren’t huge and who are you dealing with?
The target market for Linux on a stick may be existing Windows users, but if your Windows laptop is working why do you want to get (and learn) a second OS, unless you are (like me) really, really motivated?
And then, as I noted in the first episode of this series, my story started when my Windows hardware fried. I need both hardware and software to happen.
This weekend I’m going to drop by some stores, get funny looks from clerks, and maybe take pictures of those funny looks for your amusement.
But, personally, I won’t be amused.
(Jeff Dunham, who performs Jose Jalapeno on a stick (left) is very amusing.)
For the Linux laptop to be more than a hobbyist toy it needs a wider channel.
Linux (on a stick) won’t do the job.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
| 08/07/08
