Fedora Project: Announcing New Direction

[Sean Estabrooks]

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 07:49:57 -0400
snookertb <snookertb at comcast.net> wrote:

> >
> I was talking about today's expanding market of RETAIL USERS, you know 
> the ones that buy MS Windows at the store. Not having a box on the
> shelf is fatal to this growing segment of the market. It's all about
> perception for the END USER. Not having the store shelf visibility
> relegates Linux to the hobby crowd.
> 

Hey Bill,

Buying boxed software isn't the future.   High speed connected networks
are the future.   Even today, I would hazard a guess that the _vast_
majority of desktop users out there never buy _any_ boxed operating
system but just use the one that came preinstalled on their new computer.

The fact that RedHat is bowing out of this market suggests that there
aren't enough people who put their money where their mouth is in this
regard.   If huge numbers of people were buying boxed RedHat releases you
can bet that RedHat wouldn't be throwing that money away.

Anyway.  LINUX is not defined by the actions of RedHat alone.   Linux is
doing fine in business and may someday be even more prevalent on the
average users desktop.

Sean.