Confused Consumers Buy Ubuntu, Expect Windows
A Wisconsin woman recently bought a computer from Dell with Ubuntu pre-installed and was shocked and angry to discover that Windows and Microsoft Office were no where to be found on her new machine. A few months ago, we were told returns of Linux netbooks were astonishingly high, due to confusion among consumers who expected their computers to ship with Windows.
While I don’t doubt the accuracy of these stories, I’m having a hard time bringing myself to believe that the general public is really so out-of-touch, and Microsoft so deeply embedded into consumer expectations, that thousands of people are purchasing computers for hundreds of dollars without understanding that Ubuntu (or whichever flavor of Linux they choose) is not, in fact, Windows.
Certainly, Ubuntu’s user-base is, in general, considerably geekier than the general public. But that doesn’t mean you need to be a coder living in Mom’s basement to understand the difference between Windows and operating systems that are not Windows.
After all, I’ve yet to find a report of a Mac user shocked and awed to discover that OS X is actually very different from any Microsoft platform. If no one contacts the news media to report purchasing a Mac without Windows pre-installed, why does Ubuntu generate such a fuss? Here are some hypotheses:
- There actually is no significant amount of user confusion. The woman in Wisconsin is a sad anomaly, and Linux netbook returns were exaggerated. The general public does know that Linux is not Windows. This is plausible, but we’d need to see real, hard numbers (something that always seem to be in short supply in the Linux world, unfortunately) to know for sure.
- Computer vendors are not clear when selling machines with Linux pre-installed. If the reports of consumer confusion involved just one vendor, I’d say this could be possible. But if Asus was complaining of higher-than-expected Linux-netbook returns, and the disgruntled Wisconsinite bought a Dell, there’s clearly more than one vendor involved here.
- The Microsoft-Apple dichotomy has become so ingrained in the mind of the general public that imagining a third platform, distinct from the other two, has become utterly impossible. I don’t think this would have been the case even ten years ago, when the Microsoft/Apple monopoly was still a recent establishment. But it’s possible now that uninformed users really do think that Windows and OS X are the only things capable of running their computers.
- People are hostile to change and hate what they don’t understand. I think this is the most plausible explanation. I’ve never seen anyone approach Ubuntu with an open-mind and fail to find value in it, even if it means spending some time to learn a new interface and different applications. But users who are hell-bent on doing something in a particular way, like the woman in Wisconsin, apparently can’t deal with even minor adjustments to the way they use a computer (unless, of course, it’s to learn how to use a Mac, because the cult of Apple trumps resistance to change).
Whatever the real reasons behind consumer confusion over Ubuntu, what is clear is that Linux still needs to make a better name for itself. This isn’t easy to do without the million-dollar advertising budgets of proprietary platforms. But it can be done, and the enthusiastic response of Linux users to stories detailing the supposed confusion and inadequacy of Ubuntu is a start.
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Well, it is how Ubuntu (or any other linux) is presented to the buyes. I always hear “This is Ubuntu, it is just like windows.” This leads to people trying to install stolen Office and Photoshop applications on these machines, because they do not know better.
People don’t really care what is unter the PC hud, they just want their pc to work and that they can install all the applications they know.
Instead of saying “hey ubuntu is like windows, but it is just tiny bit different and better”, would be better to make a name out of it. No newbie tries to install Microsoft Office 2007 on Mac os X, because Mac is not “just like windows but little bit different”.
Alecs
I thought it was MSI who complained of higher Linux netbook returns and Canonical backed them up, whereas ASUS said the return figures where about the same.
I’m surprised that Linux netbooks don’t state it on the box. There seems to be a reticence amongst vendors in regard to the ‘L’ word.
There is a 5th reason, of course, people may buy for the price knowing full well that the OS is not Windows and then decide that the Linux OS is the best excuse they have for a return (in the way people use size as the reason for clothing return when they don’t like the style).
“I think the return rate for the Eee PCs are low but I believe the Linux and Windows have similar return rates. We really separate the products into different user groups. A lot of users like the Windows XP, but in Europe a lot of people want the Linux option. Actually in Linux we support the Easy Mode and in Q4 of this year we are going to start selling Windows XP with an Easy Mode.”
http://blog.laptopmag.com/asus-ceo-reveals-eee-pc-sales-numbers-plans-for-touch-eee-pcs-and-more-eee-family-products
MSI had a shite distro on its netbook. Please stop peddling these figures from one manufacturer who isn’t even one of the top netbook sellers.
There’s actually an idea on Dell IdeaStorm asking Dell to make it clearer when a computer ships with Linux and not Windows.
Now if you’ve ever tried to buy a Ubuntu PC from Dell you’ll know that all Ubuntu options with the exception of the Mini 9 in the US are hived off into a special basement zone on Dells web site under lock and key. Dell also take extra measures to lure potential buys away from Ubuntu and back to Windows by posting “Dell Recommends Windows Vista” and “Shopping for Windows” every where. Like seriously everywhere. Apart from that the OS description in the order should have been a dead give away.
I’ve tried really hard. But I just can’t “Ubuntu” to sound like “Windows”. Maybe the single similarity in the letter “n” is what is causing all the confusion. “n” is also present in “Linux”. See! I’m onto a winner with my theory here.
So I propose that in the interest of helping dumb Windows users who can’t read and click click click until they get a credit card bill we should reserve the letter “n” entirely for use in the word “Windows”.
http://www.ideastorm.com/ideaView?id=087700000000FU3AAM
If I didn’t make it clear. These mistakes are down to buyer incompetence.
I just had an epiphany after reading this Helios blog entry on this very matter.
http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2009/01/gatekeepers-of-our-technology.html
Maybe Dell customers are getting confused because Dell posts “Dell Recommends Windows Vista” all over Dell Linux product pages and adverts? Windows users being stupid won’t pay any attention to the Linux advert.
I agree with RyanT – the quality and usability of the different Linux offerings on netbooks would explain a lot of the return rates. Many have been crippled, rushed and totally undocumented. I would not expect an average computer user to easily make the switch.
And, from what I see and hear, DELL seems to go overboard to prevent users buying their machines with Ubuntu pre-loaded. You really have to be seriously wanting an Ubuntu machine to even find the right web pages!
And the publicity generated by the Wisconsin woman is totally OTT for what actually happened (according to the original story, Dell offered her an immediate replacement which she knocked back). It looks more like a scam or a setup to me. The blogger who “broke” this story seemed to be quite happy to bait the less temperate members of the Linux community into rants – which were surprisingly mild IMO.
I really do question the accuracy of the Wisconsin story. Somehow she accidentally got a $1,100 laptop with Ubuntu on it — first one I ever heard of. Because her Verizon CD wouldn’t run the network setup, and because it wouldn’t run MS Word, she had to drop out of two semesters of online courses at a tech school in which she already-enrolled.
I went to school in Madison — you can’t swing a cat without hitting a computer geek. It’s where Dave Winer got his start, for crying out loud. She never apparently asked for any other help before she contacted the news, some time after the fact. The story also doesn’t give all the info; the Dell rep was correct in telling her that what she needed — internet access and to write/save documents in .doc format — is perfectly doable in Ubuntu. And the original story framed the entire thing as if it was a fault of the OS, not unfamiliarity with it, or the inability to figure out that if you don’t know what you’re looking at on your screen, you ask for help.
If you got lost driving from Madison to Milwaukee, would you stop and ask for directions and maybe get a map, or call the news and complain about the highway system? Based on the first story, we’re to believe she would call the news to complain about the highway system. At that point, WKOW had no business running the story; it’s material for The Onion. The fact that they did run it suggests they were trying to stir up a bees nest. Or they were set up, and she was either a dupe or was paid.
In one of the responses, someone at the station noted that many people who called and wrote were rude, and many were quite nice. He’s now looking into the system to see what it has to offer. So forget the woman; WKOW is now the target, and the goal is to get them to have a sincere look at this OS. Madison’s a big town with tens of thousands of undergrads — that’s great publicity.
The follow-up post where one of the reporters said he’d consider Ubuntu is at http://addins.wkowtv.com/blogs/behindthenews/archives/80.
However, he wrote another the next day, where he slammed the entire community for being rude, even though he said the majority of his responses were positive. Then he posted the rude emails he got. He also said the angrier people get, the more action his blog gets, and the better he looks. http://addins.wkowtv.com/blogs/behindthenews/archives/84
Right away, I thought bad move man. You just insulted a lot of computer geeks for knowing more about computers than you in a computer forum. And you committed the sin of hasty generalization. You just painted a giant DDOS target on your network. So I tried to log in to add a comment about that (I was one of the positive responders the day before), and whadaya know, their servers are failing.
The fact this chick was enrolled at a tech school makes her look even dumber. I hope who ever paid her paid her a lot of money. She won’t be getting a job with any tech company if they link her back to that story.
I’m not sure what people mean when they use expressions like “user incompetence” and words like “chick” and “dumber”. For most of us, I think, such approaches to expression are insulting and condescending. They imply that the writer/speaker considers himself or herself “smarter” and “more competent”.
This woman bought a computer. She made a mistake. She thought that her computer would have Windows on it and instead it had Ubuntu on it. She made a mistake. She didn’t hurt anybody. She didn’t commit a crime. She made a mistake.
For those who are more competent and smarter than she: congratulations. It must be wonderful to never have made a mistake.
But be careful. If you ever do, perhaps people will be justified in treating you with the same disdain that you are expressing for this woman.
Okay dojero go to http://www.dell.com and try to accidentally buy a Ubuntu laptop worth over $1,100 USD. It’s impossible.
http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9667184
Here’s the original story by the way.
What is the “Microsoft/Apple monopoly?” Wouldn’t that make it a duopoly? As for #4 on your list, I think you’re wrong about that. I used Linux full-time for about a year before deciding that it wasn’t worth my time. There were a number of reasons why I decided to give up on it, but my point is to counter the claim that people don’t like Linux just because they don’t know it. That’s nonsense.
Josh: since I don’t see any significant differences between the business practices or ideologies of Microsoft and Apple when compared to the open-source world, I think they may as well be one organization. Mainstream computer users, of course, are encouraged to think of Apple as the saintly counterbalance to Microsoft’s greed, but I think Apple’s obsession with closed everything makes it just as much an obstacle to innovation as Microsoft.
I’d be interested to learn more specifically what turned you off to Linux after a year of use.
Apple part of a desktop PC duopoly? LOL I don’t think so.
@Christopher Tozzi: Apple are paranoid. But they do contribute to open source code. They have to. A lot of their applications depend on it to run. The easiest example to give is Safari. It’s based on KDEs webkit.
Now while Apple aren’t running up and giving the Linux crowed big hugs and are way too over protective of their MP3 empire. They aren’t so far as I know actively trying to destroy Linux or any other legit open source projects.
“This leads to people trying to install stolen Office and Photoshop applications on these machines, because they do not know better. ”
Uh, there is no Photoshop for Ubuntu and no way to steal an Office app, becuase OpenOffice is FREE. There’s no way to ‘steal’ any type of application like that on Ubuntu, since it’s free.
Free = nothing to steal.
This is hilarious because I’ve switched a laptop that had one of those Verizon USB dongles for internet connection. I never once needed the CD, it worked 100x’s better than in Windows where the Verizon app would slow down the start-up as it loaded in the try and tried to connect. In Ubuntu it was mixed in right with network connections, I picked “DCMA ….” as the device and that was it! I was up and browsing.
The lady I switched it for also heavily used excel for basic spreadsheets and didn’t even notice the difference. Just make sure to change the default save as to .doc and .xls. Basically just showed her how to get to her Documents directory which I restored and how to connect to the Internet, she hasn’t called me since.
“People are hostile to change and hate what they don’t understand.”
True. But is the change applicable only to superficial things? Like how people loved to shift from 98/2k to XP. And how they might like 7 [Vista, of course, is an exception!]. How is it possible? Its like people are having dual standards. Maybe they should research with a few people; give them Ubuntu machines which says Windows everywhere and uses a similar theme….
I have installed 2 Ubuntu machines in the school I work at,the staff won’t use open office on them because “The icons look different”the kids have found out they are way quicker than the MS machines and are receptive to them but the adults just won’t use them,they seem to have been conditioned only to use MS because they have never used anything else and can’t think for themselves ,so I will be installing more machines
People are stupid. Ubuntu is FREE! Windows is not! Ubuntu has everything needed to get a job done and then some. Resistance to a new FREE O/S that runs better than Windows and does not need anti-virus is the result of being lazy, hard-headed and illiterate. Recently, I replaced a Windows XP installation with Ubuntu 9.04 and the guy whom owns the laptop is so happy that he calls me everyday just to tell me how much he loves it. I tell people, if you want me to fix your machine and you do not have a Windows key, I will install Ubuntu for free or you will pay $200. The Wisconsin woman is prime example of a dumbass illiterate moron. Two words for that moron cheesehead…”Open Office”