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OEM distributions...OEM distributions...Posted Dec 2, 2008 17:41 UTC (Tue) by smoogen (subscriber, #97)In reply to: Losses at Mandriva by endecotp Parent article: Losses at Mandriva
One of the big issues is that OEM's do not seem to be as big of a market as they were 10-20 years ago.While they still make a significant amount of the overall market.. individually they are very very small. People who run in this market usually have to be strong willed because its a constant fight with the other 'monkeys' to deal with the big apes who get most of the bananas.
I think the vast diversification of distributions on the OEM is a reflection of the diversification of the OEM's. Every OEM wants to have something that makes it different from the others.. to stand out, get more sales.. so they see the Linux distributions as being something that will make them stand out. If everyone shipped Red Hat, SuSE, Ubuntu or Mandriva.. then none of them would stand out as a 'different' buy. So instead they look at some distro, and use it as their brand-definer. This allows them to get the people who like that small distro.
No its not going to increase the usage of Linux, but OEM's aren't in that market nor are they a consolidated enough 'vector' to push that anymore.
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OEM distributions... Posted Dec 2, 2008 19:22 UTC (Tue) by vonbrand (subscriber, #4458) [Link] Going after Xandros' (and other very minor distributions) enthusiasts won't get you very far; going for Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, ... would be a much better choice.
OEM distributions... Posted Dec 2, 2008 21:10 UTC (Tue) by jspaleta (subscriber, #50639) [Link]
Why? Why would any distro with an established userbase be a better choice?
Do the majority of the consumers in this market care about access to a large range of software that is the strength of a linux distribution?
It comes down to this. In a year, once the rush to market for netbooks is over and the device die-off begins... how will netbooks be marketted and sold? Will they be marketed as general purpose computers with the expectation to handle a vast array of software workloads? Or will they be marketed as gadgets like smart-phones or other mobile devices with a narrow set of expected functionality? I really don't think we know yet. The market is still in its infancy, with manufactures rushing to fill it up. Once the market gets crowded enough, competitive enough, we'll learn.
If these things are the next generation of mobile gadget OEM's be better off using a base platform like moblin backed by coronary to build custom...differentiated...images for their specific brand of device instead of using an established distribution at all. The different interface designs become part of strategy to appeal to some portion of the very large market.
If these things end up being marketed more like laptops, there's probably pressure to use a common interface across devices..including other traditional laptops. But if that's the case, that pressure is going to also work against using linux and OEM's will end up being under consumer pressure to provide xp. The open source development model give Linux an advantage right now in that MS totally didn't see this market coming and wasn't prepared for it. But a year out from now, will linux continue to have that advantage if there is pressure for netbooks to be like traditional computers even if it means a bump up in price? I'm not sure.
It will be an interesting year. I expect 2nd/3rd quarters 2009 to be a bloodbath of competition in this space with some very innovative marketing efforts.
-jef
OEM distributions... Posted Dec 2, 2008 21:46 UTC (Tue) by nim-nim (subscriber, #34454) [Link]
And additionally, will there be any netbook market next year at all?
Neither Intel nor AMD ever intended for netbooks to sell in the developing world. Their huge success happened at the cost of the low-end laptop segment. It would not take a lot of (concerted or not) inertia from them for the netbooks to die a slow death and margins to be restored.
Via is something else, but Via's ability to deliver was always questionable.
OEM distributions... Posted Dec 2, 2008 20:50 UTC (Tue) by eru (subscriber, #2753) [Link] Every OEM wants to have something that makes it different from the others.. to stand out, get more sales.. so they see the Linux distributions as being something that will make them stand out. If everyone shipped Red Hat, SuSE, Ubuntu or Mandriva.. then none of them would stand out as a 'different' buy.On the other hand, these same companies also ship systems preloaded with Windows, which makes them equally similar buys, modulo some small customizations in utilities, logos and the selection of bundled apps (all of which obviously could also be done within a standard Linux distribution). So I'm not sure this is the explanation.
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