Re: Linux in a binary world... a doomsday scenario

[Felix Oxley <lkml@oxley.org>]

On 13 Dec 2005, at 09:07, Rob Landley wrote:

> On Tuesday 13 December 2005 01:56, Arjan van de Ven wrote:
> > >                                t best.
> > >
> > > > And you don't have to be Linux user to refuse closed hardware.  
> > > > Having
> > > > option in future is always good.x
> > >
> > > If Linux desktop users are less than 5% of the laptop buying  
> > > population,
> > > a more effective technique would be to focus purchases on small  
> > > companies
> > > that _do_ provide things we can use.
> >
> > however, in areas where margins are really thin, like consumer PC
> > hardware, 5% of revenue is the difference between a loss and a  
> > profit.
>
> With thin margins, 5% of volume isn't the same thing as 5%  
> revenue.  It may be
> 5% of _profit_, but unless fixed costs being amortized are a  
> dominant factor
> the whole point of thin margins is that it costs you almost as much to
> produce as you sell it for.
>
> More importantly, if they can't trace the loss back to what made the
> difference, then it doesn't matter.  And very few things at this  
> level have
> only one cause.  When less than 1% of the planet's population ever  
> bought the
> product in the first place, a few more not buying it really doesn't  
> register
> easily.  Making a change may net you $5 million and cost you $10  
> million
> elsewhere.  (Hence boycotts either not being noticed or being  
> attributed to
> tidal forces and brownian motion.  And most of them simply _aren't_  
> big
> enough to make a difference.  There are groups out that regularly  
> claim
> responsibility for the sun coming up.  Decision makers learn to  
> filter this
> stuff out.)
>
> Now large customers that purchase lots of stuff in blocks can  
> easily get their
> needs noticed at the negotiating table.  "Not supporting X will  
> cost your
> company this $$$ million contract".  They don't have to find this  
> out via
> data mining or surveys, there's a big check with explicit strings  
> attached.
>
> > And if we can have official 'works well' and 'don't buy' lists,  
> > the PR
> > around that can help make that impact, especially if people who don't
> > run linux yet but might in the future also start to pay attention to
> > this list.
>
> Bad publicity, and good publicity for competitors, is something  
> that can get
> noticed, yes.  But being able to translate it into actual dollar  
> values is
> noticeably more effective.  Showing an $x dollar market that  
> wouldn't exist
> without Linux-motivated purchases is one way to do that.

Hence the justification for a Linux logo. As I said in another thread  
"Linux Hardware Quality Labs":

"The primary motivation for this is that it leverages the individual  
power of each purchaser (of a system or individual piece of hardware)  
be they a consumer, SME, system builder, tier 1 or 2 PC manufacturer,  
government dept., or Linux distro company, into a single point of  
pressure that can be applied to OEMs to ensure that they provide open  
source drivers."

regards,
Felix

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