More on Toronto's Linux-only Computer Store 145
bluethundr writes "The Register today is running a story about what we first thought (but thought incorrectly as it turns out) to be the world's first Linux-only computer store. Who knew that they were also running a Linux-powered car wash in the back? Heh."
Rotating penguin (Score:5, Interesting)
its quites sad.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Some thoughts..... (Score:5, Interesting)
The store remains focused on the Linspire (formerly Lindows) OS and office suite, says Silverman, with no immediate plans to start selling other distros from the store.
For the regular user, Linspire is the most simple to work with," says Silverman. "It installs in less than ten minutes."
I've been to their site before...They state on both Canadian and American sites the following -
"Do you prefer a different Linux distro? We can accommodate most requests."
Which does seem contradictory to TFA...Linspire seems hokey to me to be the primary distro. One would think that they would use a popular distro (ie-Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, etc) While Linspire is easy to use, I threw my younger sister into SuSE and Yast and she had a decent handle on things (Mind you, she's no geek but quite trendy, so a shock indeed
Ditto on the hard disks preloaded with Linspire. A neat idea, although I bet it takes a bit for the distro to auto-detect the hardware, etc. For the non-Linux, this might troublesome.But a good idea nonetheless...Like Knoppix on steriods or something....
Gotta love the rotating pengiun though....
-thewldisntenough
Linux and Booze (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.moneymachines.com/touch.html
Re:Interesting (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Some thoughts..... (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm no businessman, but I would imagine that the demand for Linux-based PCs is less than that for Windows PCs, or even Macs. So if you can't move huge quantities of stock, simple supply and demand theory tells us that the price will be higher.
I also think that the major desktop PC companies keep their prices down through very large scale automated processes. If however you assemble boxes largely by hand, this will take longer and cost more in the end. (Not to mention the labour costs involved with assembly.)
I haven't read all of the article though, the reg seems slashdotted...
Re:Wonders (Score:2, Interesting)
Universal joke ID cataloging system info...
Currently assigned universal joke IDs are as follows:
SLDT02004070900001 - "no yuo"
SLDT02004071000001 - "vlad farted"
SLDT02004071000002(x) - "YOU FAIL IT (it is x)"
SLDT02004071000003 - "omg ror"
SLDT02004071000004(x, y) - "In Soviet Russia, x y YOU!"
SLDT02004071000005 - "Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of these!"
SLDT02004071000006(x) - "x is dying."
SLDT02004071000007(x) - "Have you ever seen x? That's the kind of martial arts I practice, and you're about to get one free lesson!"
SLDT02004071000008(x) - "x. What's it all about? Is it good, or is it whack?"
SLDT02004071000009[x] - "wtf is this some kinda x talk?"; default x="nigger"
SLDT02004071300001(x) - "I, for one, welcome our new x overlords."
SLDT02004071300002(x, y) - "1. x. 2. y. 3. ??? 4. Profit!"
SLDT02004071300003(x, y) - "All your x are belong to y!"
SLDT02004071600001(x, y) - "damnit, x, if i find you fucking my y again, i'm gonna remove your dick with a buckshot pattern you sick fuck!
If you wish to tell these jokes in the future, you can simple refer to it by these UJID numbers and we'll all know what joke you're referring to.
The number system can be broken down like this:
AAAABBBBBCCDDEEEEE(x, y, ...)[z, ...]
Where AAAA is four character string assigned by me to uniquely identify a joke's source. For example "no yuo" was first cataloged into this joke library when it was spotted on slashdot, so its UJID begins with SLDT If you'd like to apply for a unique identifier string for your web site, please contact me.
BBBBB is a 5 digit value which specifies the year that the joke was originally cataloged. This joke cataloging system is designed to be y10k compatible.
CC is the 2 digit value which specifies the month that the joke was originally cataloged.
DD is the 2 digit value which specifies the day that the joke was originally cataloged.
EEEEE is the 5 digit value which is assigned sequentially per day. So the first funny thing that's said on any given day will be assigned 00001. etc. You may ask why this is only 5 digits. Well, its my theory that human civilization can only produce a certain amount of original comedy per day. I haven't established a precise upper bounds to this value, but all simulations appear to indicate that this value is well below 99999, so 5 digits should suffice.
(x, y, ...) is a parameter list for variable punch line jokes. For example when someone posts joke "SLDT02004071000002(life)" This should be interpreted as "YOU FAIL IT (it is life)".
[z, ...] shall specify optional parameters; the default parameter shall be noted in the UJID definition. Example: SLDT02004071000009 with no parameters will resolve to "wtf is this some kinda nigger talk?"
Re:Linux and Booze (Score:5, Interesting)
I was quite amazed to learn this fact while sipping suds at my local watering hole. There was a technician working on the machine, and had it open. Seeing the guts, it was pretty obviously just a pc inside. It even had a cd-rom drive, mounted sideways. When he was finished, and started it up, it looked (from across the room) to be Linux starting up.
I asked the (extremely grumpy) repairman what OS was running on the box, and he grumped, "ly-nucks", with a frown. I asked him how he liked it, and he gave me a thumbs down.
Then I quipped, "So you're more of a BSD guy, then?" He gave me a long stare, turned his back, and walked out. My drinking buddy thought it was pretty funny.
Five minutes later, it was into it's endless reboot cycle that he'd been called in to fix. Freakin' genius.
Seeing linux, as well as the technician's incompetence and rude manner, made me consider applying for a job with the vending company. I may yet, but I doubt my credentials would impress them.
What is Linspire? (Score:2, Interesting)
For access to their forums, you also have to pay a membership fee, and to get access to the real forums you have to pay another $100 "lifetime insider fee" so you can be an insider as long as you're suckered into paying the other membership fees.
Why would anyone be interested in these terms? Its reality is far worse than the most avid MS basher claims MS is planning.
About that car wash (Score:3, Interesting)
But hey, Toronto is lucky. They have a store where they can prevent having to do the maintenence that I'm doing to my dad's computer (installing Firefox, Ad-Aware, and Spybot). Can you believe that he's been running that computer for three years without running Ad-Aware or Spybot? It's just a normal Winblows box, too!
Re:What is Linspire? (Score:3, Interesting)
Old Linux store (Score:1, Interesting)
It was Linux only, this is where I used to buy all my Linux CDs (bandwidth was so expensive back then).
Anyway, this store doesn't exist anymore, it lasted few years though.
It was in the Bastille area, just behind the Opera.
First All Linux store went bankrupt years ago! (Score:4, Interesting)
In todays environment as a small business I don't think you can compete with $200 PCs at wallmart with Lindows pre-loaded or on the side of the equation with the IBMs of the world.
The one niche I do see for significant growth in the Linux marketspace is as a consulting firm for small businesses. You do NOT need to spend $30 a square foot on retail space to do that! (Or whatever you pay for retail in Canada; but I can assure you professional looking retail is more expensive than professional looking mixed warehouse/office space.
And for you entrpeneurs out there: you can start such a business really cheap!
Bangalore already has a Linux store (Score:2, Interesting)
Why not Xandros? (Score:2, Interesting)
I found Xandros to be quite simple ( although I'm sticking with Mandrake) and Lin[dows|spire] wants your first-born and bank account.
If Linspire were the only choice for desktop Linux on x86, I'd stick with Windows XP.