Hi All,
Here’s a real Linux Hero reporting:
It’s old news by now. CompUSA is out of bid’ness. While there are a number of reasons for this, one of them should be obvious. They stubbornly held onto their loyalty to Microsoft. Now, it’s no secret that I made an enemy of CompUSA years ago. I was “strongly advised” to pull that blog down, but in the end…it stayed up.
Hey, I remember the case here
CompUSA went down.
And no…there is not a shred of positive correlation between the two.
On several occasions I walked into CompUSA to see what I could see on the Linux Shelves. I asked them why they didn’t support Linux when there was evidence all around them that it was a desired product. When Linux was finally offered there, I wrote about my experience in finding Suse and Xandros stuffed on the bottom shelves, in obvious disarray. My confrontations with management over this led me to be escorted from the premises on more than one occasion.. On several occasions I found Microsoft products covering Linux offerings, or the Linux boxed distros thrown under the display case.
We launched a dead end investigation when each of these distros disappeared from the shelves within 24 hours of those above named entities making their Deal with the Devil. Yes, it was a dead end. I could never tie anything together to substantiate the “coincidence” of that timing. No one would talk any higher than store managers and they didn’t really have any reason to talk to me anyway. In the case of Linspire, I am assuming the bulging pockets of those top Execs who were shown the door might have bought some silence.
But I could be wrong.
Yeah, right.
Yet, when it comes down to it…CompUSA is gone. I personally will shed no tears. I am convinced that their blindness to consumer needs played some part in their demise if not a large one, whether it was Linux or any other non-microsoft product. You want to argue it? OK…
Walmart is carrying Linux products now. Intel got the religion for obvious reasons - thanks AMD.
So did Acer, and HP, as did IBM/Lenovo. Hell, even Best Buy, that bastion of Microsoft-only products has gotten the hint.
Some say that Dell started the landslide…I disagree but it’s not meant for discussion here.
That Grand-Daddy of all Big Box Stores, Sears Now carries Linux products (online only for now)
That’s right…Sears. The Ultimate Mom and Dad Store. You know you’ve made inroads when Sears carries your product.
And yeah, it’s Linspire…and I have some problems with that but for now, we gotta take what we get. Once we get them understanding Linux, we can get them educated properly.
Thanks Dumper. You raise some excellent points.
As did everyone else contributing to that post. Various deadlines and family commitments deter me from posting other examples of Linux hitting the consumer and hence, the retail awareness. A simple google will spill dozens more examples into your lap.
The biggest story isn’t the above cited cases…it’s the phenomenon of embedded Linux. The explosion of “hidden Linux” far exceeds Tivo sets. Wind River, a company who vocally denounced Linux as a “plaything” has found the value of Open Source. That in itself carries weight you and I have yet to even imagine. The “Linux Inside” thing is huge folks…absolutely huge. You know that it has to eat at the insides of those who made their living knocking FOSS and those who comprise this community.
Companies like Zareason.com are coming into their own. Why? They sell hardware for profit. They offer Linux on principle. That is how an open source venture will survive then thrive, and personally; I am going to go out of my way to see that these particular warriors succeed maddeningly. These folks put Linux on their computers when it was a matter of principle, not profit. You might want to make note of that before you purchase that brand new laptop from Dell or HP.
Now, had CompUSA gotten said religion, would they have survived? It’s hard to say and anything I post here is pure conjecture…sprinkled liberally with doses of wishful thinking, and topped off masterfully with globs of gloating.
Sticking my small, ineffective shiv into CompUSA prior to their demise is gratifying, as wrong as it may be. But that aside, we’ve established momentum…now let’s talk about the menu.
On this menu is only one item, but there are many delicious ways it can be served.
Cool, overall we are winning support, and fighting the good fight!
Thanks Helios!
Best Regards,
JJMacey
Phoenix, Arizona
The Valley of the Sun!
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