[NTLUG:Discuss] Fry's and Linux

[terry]

Lance Simmons wrote:
> I sent this note on May 29th, which was while the NTLUG site had died,
> and I still welcome comments:
> 
> 
>>I think this has been talked about before, but here goes again.  As a
>>lot of you know, Fry's sells computers with Linspire pre-installed.  I
>>wasn't previously aware of the scale on which they're doing this.
>>Yesterday they sold over 1,000 units in the DFW area.  There were 300
>>boxes at the Irving store, the guy there said there were 1,000 at the
>>Plano store, and there were probably a couple hundred at the Arlington
>>store.  At $99, they were going fast.
>>
>>The machine came with Linspire installed, together with a Linspire
>>recovery disk.  After fooling around with the Linspire desktop for a
>>couple of minutes, just to see what it looked like, I wiped the hard
>>drive and did a network install of Debian.  Probably lots of people
>>installed Windows, but I wonder how many new Linux users there are in
>>the Metroplex this weekend?
>>
>>I don't know whether these people will think of themselves as Linux
>>users, because the Linspire desktop is so Linspire-centric.  I guess
>>they'll end up going to the Linspire website for support.  But even if
>>they don't really understand what Linux is, the fact is that they're
>>using Linux.
>>
>>Is it a good thing for the development of Linux that Fry's is flooding
>>the market with cheap Linspire boxes?  (I can't get over the fact that
>>Linspire boots into a desktop running as root!)  Does anyone actually
>>use Linux on these machines who wouldn't otherwise be using Linux?
>>Will these new users, if there are any, be able to find NTLUG?
> 
> 

"I can't get over the fact that Linspire boots into a desktop running as 
root!"  WOW, I can't either! If that's so, they're doing more harm than 
good (for the linux community), [by exposing new users a box that boots 
to root].  If they get on the internet with it, well, Kady bar the 
door!!!  (People will see just how vulnerable Linux can be.)