[Cialug] Computer show?

[Theron Conrey]

off topic?

Tony Bibbs wrote:

> I think this is all leading to Apple trying to become a bigger player 
> in the PC market but at smaller, atomic steps.  I think going to Intel 
> is the first step.  As noted on a /. article recently, the next 
> missing link is having companies like Dell offer up Mac machines.
>
> Keep in mind the total number of machines Mac sold last year was less 
> than a single percentage point of all PC manufacturers (Dell sold, if 
> memory serves me correct, around 126 million machines compared to the 
> roughly 3 million Macs sold) and I think Mac wants to find ways to 
> earn more of that money...and, ironically, I think it will have to 
> eventually include partnering with a company like Dell.
>
> Another interesting tidbit was the recent news that laptop sales have 
> overtaken PC sales in the US.  That being the case and given that most 
> laptop users (myself included) hardly ever upgrade hardware in them 
> with the exception of RAM and harddrives, that would, IMHO, put Apple 
> in a place to compete well and might provide the best short term goals 
> for them.
>
> If they can avoid the same sort or proprietary pitfalls that the PPC 
> chip got them into then they would suddenly be in a position to really 
> chip away at MS and the desktop market.  Apples biggest problem is 
> still centered on the fact they are in the software *and* hardware 
> business...they are trying to compete with the Dells and the 
> Microsoft's of the world and that may be too much to bite off.
>
> I hope they continue to make the right moves...but then again, Apple 
> has a history of f*cking things up.
>
> --Tony
>
> Stuart Thiessen wrote:
>
>> It may even be worth to take a slower step for those who haven't even 
>> experimented with open source software and show them OpenOffice and 
>> other software available for Windows even.  Once they are comfortable 
>> with those tools, it isn't nearly as hard to move from Windows to 
>> Linux, BSD, or even Mac OS X depending on the user.
>>
>> I have a Mac OS X laptop and  a SUSE Linux fileserver that I use 
>> predominantly. I have an old Windows 98 desktop that I keep around 
>> for those Windows apps that I use from time to time that do not have 
>> any equivalent in Linux or Mac environments ... yet.
>>
>> I have managed to get people to consider OpenOffice much easier than 
>> Linux, but once they have an office app and meet some of the other 
>> everyday open source tools that do work well, then moving to Linux is 
>> a less "scary" step.  Might tie in with the "tweak fest"
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Stuart Thiessen
>>
>> On Jun 8, 2005, at 0:52, D. Joe Anderson wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 06, 2005 at 01:10:28PM -0500, David Champion wrote:
>>>
>>>> FYI... we *have* done successful Installfests in the pasts, so it's 
>>>> not
>>>> like we (collectively) have no idea how to do this. The most recent
>>>> event was a flop, mostly due to a lack of planning & promotion.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> You know, I wonder if maybe Installfests anymore aren't a little
>>> too . . . turn of the century?  What with better installers,
>>> pre-loaded system availability from vendors, commercial distros,
>>> live CDs, better hardware detection, etc. a lot of the basic
>>> gruntwork of the basic getting-started install has fallen off.
>>>
>>>> One area I would like to see is a "Tweakfest" where we can have people
>>>> bring in their existing Linux system and have us help them with issues
>>>> they may be having, getting them updated and such. I think there are a
>>>> lot of casual Linux users out there who are past the stage of needing
>>>> help with installation, but aren't fully comfortable with some 
>>>> advanced
>>>> configuration.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Aha.  I think this is a ripe area.  This and maybe the "demo
>>> day" targets: People who have either never heard of this stuff,
>>> or who have no idea what it means, or what it looks like
>>> running, or why anyone would possibly want to use it.  Having
>>> stuff from The Open CD running as a demo might provide a bridge
>>> for bringing some of these folks over.  At the very least, it
>>> helps cultivate the ground, so to speak: Even if these people
>>> themselves don't switch, it can drain some of the strangeness of
>>> the unfamiliar.  So when a friend or family member of theirs
>>> gives it a try, they can be more accepting/understanding or
>>> perhaps even more supportive.
>>>
>>> I swear, it was the weirdest thing:  This girl working at Sam's
>>> Club I saw the other day had a little notebook with Tux on it.
>>> Just because she thought he was cute, I guess.  Downloaded it,
>>> printed it off, pasted it onto the notebook.   Knew that he was
>>> associated with something she initally pronounced link "links".
>>> Had to just smile and nod, mostly, and suppress the urge to go
>>> off about how "links" is an ncurses web browser, or did she mean
>>> "lynx" the other, older ncurses web browser, or yadda yadda
>>> yadda.  :-)
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> D. Joe Anderson         http://www.etrumeus.com/~deejoe
>>> "DRM [...] is to copyright law as a machine gun on
>>> a motion detector is to real estate law"  -- Don Marti
>>>
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>>>
>>
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