[LUNI] linuxdays ?

[Samir Faci]

I dunno if I'd take that far,Dell supports ubuntu on 2 or 3 models.

As far as the retail idea, it's great in theory if you get the
management to let you in.

A few things to look into.

1.  if you install another OS on the machine, does that the warranty
still apply? (I had a gateway where I ran fdisk on the disk (dual
booted windows for that matter) and that apparently voided the
warranty, I was told very sternly to never do it again)

2.  have 2 OSes might add to the value of the machine if you're a
geek, from a sales perspective, I'm not so sure.  Remember their
target audience of most of these retail stores isn't uber geek, it's
mom and pops who have no interest in building their own box.  You give
them two OSes and it's only going to confuse them.

What I would do is grab the Ubuntu/Sabayon (had to throw my gentoo
pitch in there) CDs boot the machine and show off beryl/compiz/-fusion
/whatever and just volonteer to install it for them if they have an
interest or dual boot or what-not.  Maybe promote the local lug, or
have a listing of lugs in the area that can provide help and explain
what they need to do to restore their OS if need be.  You should of
course also give-away an Ubuntu/*insert distro* for each customer that
wants Linux Installed on their machine.



--
Samir



On 7/11/07, Mark Stuart Burge <mark at msbrepairs.com> wrote:
> Hey guys and gals,
>
> Just to throw an idea out there and see what you all think...
>
> I sometimes have people ask me what laptop or desktop pc to buy that
> would work great with linux.
> As you are all probably aware, that is not such an easy question to
> answer without a lot of research.
>
> Soooo
>
> I got to thinking how cool it might be to try and convince the likes of
> bestbuy, microcenter and other laptop stockists to hold a sort of
> 'linuxdays' event now and then.
>
> This would ..
>
> Allow the general public to see what linux is like.
>
> Give sales staff some knowledge of which computers can handle linux .
>
> Provide a basis for promoting additional sales of hardware, for example,
> having a complete multimedia setup in store.
>
>
>
> I could imagine going into bestbuy on a saturday morning and dual
> booting a bunch of display models with ubuntu.
>
> With some of the nice shiny new hardware out there and putting beryl up
> against vista in a showdown, we could create a lot of interest and at
> the same time get to find out the answer to the question at the top of
> this email.
>
> As far as the store owners are concerned, well, they end up with a bunch
> of display models that now have a bonus o/s added to them for an 'extra'
> sales factor.
> They get some publicity.
> Their staff gain knowledge.
>
>
>
> Any comments, further ideas, criticisms ?
>
>
>
>
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