I didn't spend too much time in here in the past few days and somehow I
missed your reply.
Sorry, but I don't see the connection between the truisms above and Ubuntu
not being ready for the average computer user.
I never said it is not ready for desktop OS, instead, my point is that it is
not ready for the mass adoption or to the degree that you are hoping for
based on the business model that Linux community (and its supporters) has
been doing in the past few years.
I meant to write a longer post but decided to drop it since this is not the
place for doing it.
But I try to highlight some points and hope you can think about it:
(1) You and many others are limiting your thinking to the product and
technologies, although both are important, but god I hope you could
understand that they are not enough for the mass adoption of any product.
(2) In every purchase decision, there are buyers, users, and influencers,
and those can be the same or totally different persons. You need to educate
each of them to comprehend the benefits (in different terms) so their
collective decision will be coherent and consistent.
Back to my examples -
This is part of MS strategies so when a regular user consults with one of
these people, they will say differently. But this is just an example of
influencers and there are more for other stakeholders, just get the picture,
ok?
(3) Computer is a solution, computer is a solution, computer is a solution,
and OS is part of solution, CPU is part of solution, Office is part of
solution, graphic card is part of solution, fan is part of solution, power
supply is part of solution, Adobe CS3 is part of solution, AutoCAD is part
of solution, and so on and so on. Regular people use solutions instead of
parts. Period.
In my view (which is more than just a personal opinion), MS is a tech
company founded by a computer nerd but had not been acting like one (until
in recent years), and that's why it could succeed and not Apple nor Nix
family. It spent tremendous efforts on understanding users and framing its
business model and strategies so that it could better accepted by the
market. Technology has never been its primary strength; it is how it
understands what users and decision makers would think and care about.
As a user, I resent many of its recent practices and product designs. As a
strategist, I can fully comprehend and understand although I won't not take
the same actions.
If you failed to recognize and appreciate your competitor's success, you are
doomed to fail.
Final notes: Heard of Minitel? Low cost solution for simple
Internet-related tasks and personal stuffs are always there, and Minitel was
a big success (in France and part of Europe) at its time but eventually
failed because it couldn't adopt WWW. In any case, the needs for a low cost
solution for simple tasks are always there and Linux needs to think about
how to pack the solution. Dell is a good start but not enough. And forget
about the US market. No company can ever survive when it lost its home
market which is its cash cow, so if you wish to compete in the home market,
you are looking for suicide.
Just think about it, ok? Don't bother to reply and I am not here to debate.
