Anita Pesola wrote:
> Hey,
> 
> Hubby asked me to put this out for public consumption. He's thinking 
> about starting a computer shop for sales and service that is strictly 
> geared to Linux users. You know, building computers with the Linux OS 
> installed (he's thinking Mandrake, but he's not sure). Two questions 
> come to mind:
> 
> 1) do any of you know of anyone who is already doing this?
> 2) would you frequent this type of a shop?
> 
> He's thinking about doing the research and stocking all the items that 
> pertain to Linux--mostly hardware that would be compatible with the OS. 
> I need some input because I'm not sure of the logistics, and quite 
> frankly, I'm quite nervous about dealing solely with Linux when so many 
> are indoctrinated with the Windoze philosophy. He wants to get certified 
> with Linux (apparantly RH and Mandrake have this available) so that he 
> can do more with it.
> 
> Any ideas or input? Thanks!!!
> 
> Anita
> 
There are at least three problems with this:
    - There aren't enough of us to support a computer shop.
    - We are (almost) all computer and Internet savvy enough to go to 
www.streetprices.com, find the best prices, and figure-out which 
hardware is already Linux-friendly.  A shop would be more convenient, 
but you would have to keep your prices down around those of the cheapest 
sites on the Internet (ouch!).
    - Most of us can do our own service and support.  For those who 
can't quite do everything themselves, there is a lot of help out there 
(er, here).
--ronan
PS: Another problem with Linux users (from a retail perspective) is that 
we aren't forced to upgrade our hardware as often.  We like shiny, new, 
speed-demon machines as much as the next guy, but my home server is 5 
years old and going strong.  My 3 year old P2-450 is still quite zippy.
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