[Leaplist] good read

[Gavin Baker]

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Steve Litt wrote:
[...]
| The author says "In the end, users are cheap and want to use what came
with
| their notebooks -- very few exceptions here. Suggest that they go out and
| purchase from one of the no-name wireless vendors that do support
Linux and
| the user will balk at the very idea."
|
| The author needs an English lesson here; what does "one" mean as in
"purchase
| from one?" Does he mean purchase an external wnic? Where ya gonna get
it? How
| are you going to know it's any good? Or does he mean the whole laptop. I
| guess he's right -- I'm cheap because I'm unwilling to spend an extra
50% to
| 100% on a computer guaranteed to run *at least one distro* of Linux.
If it
| were 10% to 20%, it would be a different story, for me and for lots of
| people. But spending $2000.00 on a mainstream laptop in 2008 is just bad
| economics, and spending $1300.00 on a laptop with RAM and HD
compatible with
| 2006 applications is just plain short sighted.

As for me, I can say for certain that the next time I'm in the market
for a new computer, I'm going to look long and hard at Linux
preinstalls. Here's why:

* With Dell and other mass manufacturers in the market, prices are
fairly competitive now (Dell's laptops start at $550)

* Saving the hassle of installing, and gaining a little assurance that
your hardware should work, is worth it

* Voting with my dollars. One of my friends put it this way:
http://www.asheesh.org/mmm/today.html

If we don't support companies who are least _trying_ to do the right
thing, who will? Not that Dell needs our help, but its Linux division
does, if we want it to survive and grow (and encourage other companies
to offer Linux).

- --
Gavin Baker
http://www.gavinbaker.com/
gavin at gavinbaker.com

If we cannot be free, we can at least be cheap.
~    Frank Zappa
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