[ltp] Re: Lenovo to shun Linux

[Marcin Trybus]

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Jiang Qian wrote:
> Inn China, many OEM sell bare iron PC with no OS or Linux.  And let's
> face it most people would promptly wipe their hard drive and install the
> *pirated* Windows on it. 

It's (sadly) very true for Poland as well. We have AFAIR around 50%
piracy rating (half software we use is illegal). I'd rather say
"they", but I feel guilty as well for my very own past 8 years of piracy.

The A-brand (and some B-brand) laptop makers sell their equipment here
only with Windoze XP preinstalled to enforce the use of legal
software. No refund possible. :-( I don't see the point in this
practice, as 100% of the people I know or work with use an illegal
copy of M$ Office at home for example. Apart from those I convinced
into using Open Document Format that is. Not so many people consider
Open Source a viable option. Most of them are not aware of the
possibility (not to mention potential) anyway.


> In short the seemingly gratuitous assault on Linux loving geekhood is in
> fact an unintended consequence of a drive to root out Windows piracy in
> Chinese, and maybe some other developing country's, market. Maybe you
> think the Windows is evil and its piracy therefore good, but we have to
> first understand what all this fuss is all about.

While you're making an interesting point it's naive to think such a
measure will root out the habit of installing whatever system is the
newest (and most flawed), as long as it's made by M$, for
"compatibility".


> As for myself, as long as they make well designed laptop I'll continue
> buying them and enjoy linux on them. I don't get any linux help from
> them anyway.

Same here. I guess Open Source is "by the geeks for the geeks" more
than "by the people for the people" after all. Sigh. I have a mission
set myself to convert some poor soul from time to time, but it's a
slow and tedious process.

Summing up, I don't think it has any impact whatsoever on the TP-Linux
community. As long as they won't be making laptops with some
state-of-the-art whiz-bang soft-(name a device), based on binary
driver it's still as usable by our distro of choice as any IBM. I
don't even mind the Win-keys, as long as you could also get custom
Tux-keys instead. Not that I plan on getting myself (or can afford) a
new Lenovo laptop as long as my T23 will be as perfect as 2 years ago,
when I had an one-time opportunity to have my very own IBM. Owning an
IBM Thinkpad was not only fashionable, but also a wise choice as it
turned out. My next pick will be more aware and I will go for a
reliable model this time, not the reliable brand.

Regards,

Marcin Trybus
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