
Ubuntu To Soon Ship On 5% Of PCs - davux
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTA5ODM
======
glesica
Doing deals with OEMs actually _seems_ like a better strategy today than it
was even just a few years ago when Canonical did their original deal with
Dell.

For one thing, Ubuntu has (for better or worse) made significant progress
toward their UI vision. Unity has been polarizing, but many users (especially
the "normal" people who are likely to buy an Inspiron or similar) seem to like
it.

Even more importantly, a significant number of users today (in any case, more
than there were back then) basically only care about having a web browser
installed. This means they are less likely to care about having MS Windows (FF
and Chrome run on all three "major" platforms).

~~~
Lednakashim
Fact: normal people invested significant time learning MS Windows. They will
not be happy about the loss of productivity involved in switching GUIs.

~~~
naich
s/fact/my opinion/

~~~
bergie
Also, I think this is slowly becoming less of an issue. A substantial number
(10-15% of global PC market share, depending who you ask) of users have made
the jump to Mac, which is quite different from Windows. And on top of that,
many now use iPads or Android tablets, with even newer UI paradigms.

When you combine this with much of your data now being available through cloud
services, the barrier for trying something like Linux should become lower.

5% share for Ubuntu would be significant. Compare that to 2.9% for iPad, and
it could mean a lot better application support. The current desktop Linux
share is about half of iPad's:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems)

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josefonseca
The latest Ubuntu desktop is absolutely stunningly beautiful. The first time I
saw it couldn't tell if it was an improved Windows 8 or some new release of
Mac OS X. The fact is I think this may have a shot with the masses.

If the latest rumors of EA being in talks with Ubuntu are true, then if
massively successful games start appearing for the platform, it may well
signify a turning point for desktop Linux.

Here's hoping widespread desktop Linux finally becomes a reality. Well
deserved for the amazing work Ubuntu has put into it.

~~~
redthrowaway
>Here's hoping widespread desktop Linux finally becomes a reality.

If it did, it would be doing so on the downswing of the desktop as a platform.

People will still do work with traditional computers, but mobile looks set to
replace them for entertainment and browsing.

~~~
josefonseca
> If it did, it would be doing so on the downswing of the desktop as a
> platform.

This _may_ be true, but I'd like to point out that I've been hearing this
since 1980something.

------
fauigerzigerk
I'm not sure it's a great idea to distribute Ubuntu too widely in its current
state. It's not fit for end users. Yesterday I had to fix my third broken
Ubuntu installation in a year or so and it's always for the same reason:
Failed upgrades. Upgrades leaving the system in an unbootable state has to be
an extremely rare event and it's not.

How can this be fixed? I think the entire package management system has to be
based on a more robust transactional infrastructure. Unless the user confirms
the success of an upgrade, the system has to be rolled back to its original
state. If the system doesn't boot, it must boot straight into the old system
version on the next reboot.

Upgrades should not be something that anyone hesitates to do, but I know
Ubuntu users who'd rather install new software on a separate computer instead
of upgrading the fragile Ubuntu installation. The close coupling of
application versions to OS versions is the main reason for that. The
sources.list concept is just too complicated for most people.

~~~
fierarul
I think we easily forget just how broken the rest of the OS were. If I
evaluate Linux as if I am a few years back in time, I don't mind the lack of
good QA.

I've also broken an install because I tried an upgrade and there wasn't enough
free space.

But that doesn't mean Ubuntu isn't fit for end users. My mother and my sister
are running Ubuntu on their laptops and do just fine. And they are in no way
technical: they just use the OS for their needs, be it browsing, music, movie
playback, photo management, etc. I was actually surprised when I went at a
small barbecue for my sister's birthday and she had brought her laptop and was
playing CDs some friends brought with music. There was no friction -- the
laptop just did its job, just as it would have been with any other OS.

You do have a point though: upgrades should be transactional and I'm surprised
there is no way to rollback a failed upgrade. I'm actually postponing
upgrading them to 12.04 because I don't want to risk breaking the current
setup they have and give myself extra work for nothing. I've decided to only
apply the security updates for now and switch to 12.04 when end-of-life is
reached for their current version.

~~~
b0rsuk
Debian upgrades never break for me.

~~~
fierarul
So if I upgrade, for example, on a disk with low disk space it magically rolls
back?

~~~
b0rsuk
In this particular case the upgrade was interrupted. I have around 250MB on my
/ partition now. But as I prefer to upgrade from text console, I caught all
"out of space" messages and fixed it trivially (made more room, repeat the
command). That's the only problem I ever had with a Debian upgrade. I
typically use testing.

Now Ubuntu upgrades are hidden behind a GUI, and you are told not to do it
manually. It's not uncommon that they fail to cover all difficult cases.
Either way, I have Ubuntu on my mother's machine and I've become scared of
making upgrades. A few times I had to drop to IRC to ask for specific
instructions because I couldn't figure it on my own.

------
freehunter
Here's the big question on my mind: why can I not go on Amazon right now and
buy an Ubuntu laptop? There is one I have seen (and I have searched for a
while), where someone is reselling used laptops with Ubuntu installed.

There are so many device makers out there trying to replicate the feel of a
MacBook Pro with Windows. Seems like it would be easier with Ubuntu. The
success of Apple sprang mostly from marketing and differentiation, it could
happen to Ubuntu with a little motivation.

~~~
colonelxc
If you're looking for a Ubuntu preloaded laptop, you can take a look at
System76 ( <http://www.system76.com> ). They only make Linux computers
(laptop/desktop/server), though they don't sell through Amazon.

~~~
fierarul
The thing about Amazon is that they sell almost worldwide and they also have
customer support.

I wouldn't want to buy a System76 laptop in Romania and ship it back to the
States if it needs service under the warranty.

------
padobson
_As far as when Ubuntu will be back at Best Buy here in the United States, or
"When at Best Buy down the road?" Kenyon said, "We're working on it and I'm
confident we're going to get there."_

A better question is whether Best Buy will still be selling computers or
anything at all down the road.

I'm happy Ubuntu is starting to gain this type of traction, but it needs two
things to really make the leap:

1) Mass market game compatibility. The mainstream computer user needs office
tools, a browser, email, music, video, and games. Games are the only absentee
from Ubuntu. Some major upgrades to Wine could solve this.

2) A mobile strategy There's definitely been attempts to put Ubuntu on mobile
devices, but nothing concrete from Canonical. If they had been more forward
thinking, they could have been Android instead of Android being Android.

Finally, I'd personally like to see a lite version of the latest Ubuntu
releases. The reason I got into Ubuntu in the first place was to bring new
life to my old hardware. Unity doesnt work at all on old hardware, and the
fallback is not as good as the old Gnome 2 experience. I'm still running 10.10
on a number of machines because it was my favorite release.

~~~
hlfshell
Xubuntu is your "lite" release for old hardware. It's shipped with XFCE
instead of Unity so it doesn't require much to run. I believe Xubuntu 12.04 is
released same-day as the 12.04 release.

~~~
krakensden
The latest Unity 2D is actually quite snappy on my machine, for what it's
worth. More so than Unity, in fact.

------
w1ntermute
> Canonical will be opening their first Beijing office this year

> At more than 200 Dell stores in China, there is Ubuntu branding present and
> Dell China employees knowledgeable about Ubuntu Linux.

One of the things I noticed when I went to download Precise Pangolin is that
there's a "Chinese Ubuntu" link featured prominently at the bottom of the
page[0]. It looks like they've made China a primary target market, since the
vast majority of Windows users there are running pirated copies and cannot
afford to pay for a legitimate copy.

0: <http://www.ubuntu.com/download>

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Perhaps Canonical will finally liberate the world from IE6...

------
moylan
i'd rather pay an ubuntu tax than a microsoft tax so i really look forward to
buying a new machine with the option of ubuntu even if it costs a little more.

but my main concern will be the those who buy an ubuntu machine and then
expect to run ms office or other windows only piece of software on it. i will
be getting those calls. thankfully most of the home users aren't as dependent
on windows only apps anymore.

~~~
vibrunazo
Just rename their libre office to Word and Excel. I've tried it with 2
relatives and so far it's working, no complaints :)

~~~
spurgu
Haha yeah I did that too, I installed Firefox and renamed it to Internet
Explorer. :)

------
konceptz
Even if I have moved away from Ubuntu, if mass users adopt it, I will be
happy. And I think they are doing a great job at purposefully" bloating" their
platform to accommodate newbies.

The skills I have on Linux only become more valuable as the user base grows.

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plessthanpt05
If these figures are legit, then this is pretty cool news for the open source
/ Linux community; however, wonder what real user #'s look like since this
"...count also obviously doesn't count those that install Ubuntu manually or
obtain Ubuntu installations via other means," which seems to be the way that
most folks currently get Ubuntu. Either way, hope the trend continues so, at
the very least, consumers come to realize there is an alternative to Windows
(besides Mac of course).

------
gouranga
I don't believe the figures until after they've been sold. The demand for
Ubuntu is pretty much non-existent outside the technology enthusiast arena.
Ubuntu is just not as polished as Windows either.

OEMs also know there's an easy way out if they don't sell - chuck windows on
them and shift them out through clearance sales.

This is all marketoid speil from their marketing VP at the moment.

~~~
lloeki
> The demand for Ubuntu is pretty much non-existent outside the technology
> enthusiast arena

Government and public services.

------
joejohnson
_...when I talk with OEMs and others about Linux pre-loads, I commonly [sic]
here a "significant percentage" of these Linux pre-loaded systems usually get
wiped by their customers and replaced with pirated copies of Windows --
especially in the Asian markets, where customers are just going after the
Linux PCs due to the lower sales cost._

Can anyone confirm this?

~~~
fierarul
In Romania it's common practice to sell cheaper laptops running FreeDOS or
some Linux (say, Acer with Linpus) with the expectation that people are just
going to wipe it and install a pirated Windows on it.

If you look at the online review for them, the first remark people have is
about how Windows drivers are hard to find. Or they ask about the Windows
score.

I once called the Samsung hotline asking about Linux support for a laptop they
were selling with FreeDOS and the answer was that they only collaborate with
Microsoft.

Otoh, it is actually quite hard to find a laptop that's Linux certified. We
bought a HP ProBook just because it was certified although it came with Suse.

~~~
dgudkov
Not that hard. E.g. <http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/>

From my experience -- ThinkPads usually work quite smoothly with popular linux
distros.

~~~
fierarul
Oh, it's not hard to find which model is certified. It's hard to actually find
it selling in a store!

Also, I don't want to buy a ThinkPad if I have to buy it with Windows then
wipe that.

So my choices are laptops that come with FreeDOS or Linux and that are
actually certified for Linux. Because, rumor has it, even some laptops that do
come with Linux don't have proper Linux support for all their components --
they are built with the assumption of a Windows install.

At this point you don't have that many choices and if you also want a
particular hardware configuration (say, i5) the choice narrows down a lot.

------
nextparadigms
About time. In many countries there are laptops that come with "FreeDos",
which is rather pointless. If they aren't going to use Windows, why not just
use a great Linux distro like Ubuntu?

Sure Microsoft might not like that, but unless Microsoft is _paying_ them to
not allow Linux on their laptops (which I think would be illegal), then who
cares?

~~~
mappu
There was a line of Thinkpads that you could buy with FreeDOS installed for a
while. I think there was an understanding that everyone would replace the OS
before even booting into FreeDOS once. Perhaps they didn't want to support an
official distro?

------
sk5t
My honest first thought: hasn't Ubuntu's share of the Linux market been
dropping since their introduction of the universally-reviled, highly
unintuitive Unity UI? I tried out 12.04 a couple months ago, tried to use it
for a few weeks, and very enthusiastically retreated back to CentOS.

~~~
moylan
i hate unity. it's nothing but distracting eye candy. a non standard waste of
resources. but i like ubuntu overall so at the mo i use xubuntu. suits all my
needs without unity.

but ubuntu is still an organisation to support especially in terms of them
helping produce hardware that will be 100% linux compatible no matter what
distro i choose to run.

~~~
k_bx
> a non standard waste of resources

I don't know what resources you are talking about, but it's definitely not
wasting my screen resources as others do.

My vertical spaced is saved my menu-on-panel integration, on fullscreen title
goes into panel too. Left-panel is also nice, it doesn't do "minimize on
second click" as docky or others, it does nice "overview" on click on multi-
window app. And finally, it also saves space by combining launcher and app-
switcher.

------
dsirijus
What percentage of PCs ship with FreeDOS? And how's that indicator of the
popularity of the FreeDOS system?

Most of Ubuntu preinstalls won't even live to boot. A shame really.

~~~
sukuriant
Could you give me some stats? I wouldn't expect a population to go and spend a
lot of money on a CD to install Windows onto a marginally cheaper machine

~~~
jrockway
My guess is that people will get their Windows install media from the same
place they get their Blu-Ray rips.

~~~
pjmlp
But at least the sale counts as a Linux sale, which is positive.

I've also seen people that replace Mac OS X with Windows or Linux on their
Apple laptops.

~~~
sukuriant
I completely forgot about people installing Windows on their Macs, even though
anecdotally this is very common.

~~~
pjmlp
This can be easily observed in any Games Development Conference (GDC).

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josephcooney
So 2012 is the year of linux on the desktop?

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acuity12
Upvote to Ubuntu. Downvote to the tremendous amount of ads on phoronix.

~~~
spurgu
Ever heard of Adblock?

~~~
acuity12
I purposely don't use it so I can get a feel for a website, and so I can learn
from how other people design.

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batista
> _Ubuntu To Soon Ship On 5% Of PCs_

To be formatted and have (pirated?) Windows installed.

We saw the same story unfold with those Walmart Linux PC et al...

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wunderland
Yup, I knew that 2012 would the year when Linux on the Desktop finally took
off. Gartner Hype curve blah blah blah.

