Up until now,I been real quiet to this whole "Linux to the Desktop" debate, but the whole Linux community is missing the real issue on the "why" its not happening.
It all boils down to 2 things:
1 MONEY
2 Support
Now before you all start flaming me on this, hear me out.
Up until recently, I worked as a service manager in a small computer store in Edmonton. We had a lot of Linux users come through and asked "Why we only sold systems with XP on them". It was a: Money- the store's owner made a (small) profit on every licensed copy of XP we sold with a system. He could not get a licencing deal with any of the Linux manufactures with the same incentives as Microsoft. Therefore the only copies we could legally sell with a system cost us just as much as the consumer- be it free or otherwise.
B) support- in Edmonton, you can't throw a stick without hitting an MCSE. Therefore labor costs for qualified MCSE is very low. The average computer tech probably makes only $8 to $10 an hour working for this over flooded market. Now, the Computer Store will be forced to hire a Linux Tech and they are very few and hard to come by. If they really want the push for the desk-top market, IBM, Red hat etc will have to make certification available everywhere, and Cheap. Microsoft has flooded the market with "Schools" everywhere. the Linux supporters will have to bow down and do the same. I myself would love to get my Red hat Certification, but with the over flooded IT workers Market and the high cost of certification, that will not be happening anytime soon.
Today is just a syntax error on the basic road of life.
It all boils down to 2 things:
1 MONEY
2 Support
Now before you all start flaming me on this, hear me out.
Up until recently, I worked as a service manager in a small computer store in Edmonton. We had a lot of Linux users come through and asked "Why we only sold systems with XP on them". It was a: Money- the store's owner made a (small) profit on every licensed copy of XP we sold with a system. He could not get a licencing deal with any of the Linux manufactures with the same incentives as Microsoft. Therefore the only copies we could legally sell with a system cost us just as much as the consumer- be it free or otherwise.
B) support- in Edmonton, you can't throw a stick without hitting an MCSE. Therefore labor costs for qualified MCSE is very low. The average computer tech probably makes only $8 to $10 an hour working for this over flooded market. Now, the Computer Store will be forced to hire a Linux Tech and they are very few and hard to come by. If they really want the push for the desk-top market, IBM, Red hat etc will have to make certification available everywhere, and Cheap. Microsoft has flooded the market with "Schools" everywhere. the Linux supporters will have to bow down and do the same. I myself would love to get my Red hat Certification, but with the over flooded IT workers Market and the high cost of certification, that will not be happening anytime soon.
Today is just a syntax error on the basic road of life.