Microsoft Sends Best Buy Employees "training Materials" That Trash Talk Linux

[galexcd 0]

This is too hillarious....

 

Look, nobody's saying Linux is perfect for every consumer (or even most), but Microsoft's "training material" for Best Buy employees casts the open source operating system in a bit of a bad light -- and isn't exactly accurate. A few of the humorous tidbits in the Linux comparison guide include mentioning World of Warcraft as incompatible with Linux (despite great support for it under WINE), calling Linux's safety reputation a "myth," and describing Linux updates and upgrades as difficult and time consuming. The availability of Windows Live Essentials as a "free download" is also quite laughable -- Linux has endless free alternatives to Microsoft's Live Essentials, and many of them are better than what Microsoft offers. Not to say there hasn't been the odd consumer that was burned by purchasing a Linux-running netbook, but we'd say there are enough tangible benefits to Windows for Microsoft to avoid misinformation when talking down the open source competition.

Typical Microsoft, thinking their terrible software is better than everyone else's.

 

 

Source: https://www.engadget.com/

Original blog post: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

[Spudd 0]

Well I agree that the so called "training materials" are biased in what they choose to compare, as well as untrue on a few points. I do think that it makes more sense for Best Buy to just sell Windows, however. If you look at it from a business perspective, there is a lot less money to be made on Linux than Windows. For starters, it is true that there is very little in the way of commercial software available to Linux; due to the nature of Linux the majority of it is available for free. They also can't sell Linux, as most distros are free, and they'd need to get the rights and such from the original makers of the commercial distros to sell them. Anyhow, I wouldn't buy a Linux computer from a store anyway when I can just get a Windows one anywhere and download the OS. Still, I don't see why that comparison would even be necessary, it's not like Linux is any sort of threat to their sales. An unbiased Mac vs. PC comparison might make more sense, since they actually sell those.

[jlhaslip 4]

"Authorised Support" - with Linux, you rarely need it, and it is available on many Forums for free. Not to mention the Driver issues Vista created. I wouldn't install Windows even if it was free to purchase. When I buy my next computer, it will have a Linux install from the factory, or I'll do it myself.Typical Micro$haft Marketing crap.

[rvalkass 5]

If you look at it from a business perspective, there is a lot less money to be made on Linux than Windows.

I don't know if there is. They have to buy the Windows licences they sell from Microsoft, and they pass that cost on to the customer. With Linux that cost is removed, the price drops, but the profit made on the hardware is still exactly the same - nothing lost. Companies sponsoring Linux distributions (such as Canonical) often sell support packages too. I'm sure retailers could sell those on their behalf and earn a handsome commission on each sale.

For starters, it is true that there is very little in the way of commercial software available to Linux; due to the nature of Linux the majority of it is available for free. They also can't sell Linux, as most distros are free, and they'd need to get the rights and such from the original makers of the commercial distros to sell them.

There does seem to be a growing base of commercial software packages for Linux, but the plethora of free software available surely isn't a bad thing? Getting my whole office suite for free is nice, and my DVD burning application, and my image editor, and vector drawing program, and professional print design application, and my games...

Selling the distributions shouldn't be the point. They should be offered for free, which makes the PC cheaper to buy and removes the hated "Microsoft Tax". For most people doing a bit of web browsing, word processing and photo editing etc. switching to Linux makes no difference - my mum switched to Kubuntu without issue, and now prefers it to Windows. So, offered two PCs that can do exactly the same stuff, but one is Ł80 cheaper, which would you prefer?

Anyhow, I wouldn't buy a Linux computer from a store anyway when I can just get a Windows one anywhere and download the OS.

As in downloading it illegally? You would therefore be prosecuted and subject to both a lengthy jail term and colossal fine.

When I buy my next computer, it will have a Linux install from the factory, or I'll do it myself.

I'm building my new PC soon, and it will have Linux installed from the get go. I haven't decided which distribution yet though - whether to stay with Kubuntu or perhaps try openSUSE or Fedora?

[rayzoredge 2]

The allegations that Microsoft throws out here is laughable, but look at the potential customer base that's going to look at that and go, "Hey... that seems right, I guess." No casual or computer-literate person is going to disagree, considering the fact that they don't really know better.I think that until there is more things available for Linux as far as the gaming department goes, I'm going to be stuck with dual-booting Windows XP/7 just to be able to play DirectX games and run programs that I've been stuck with using, since having to deal with workarounds that apparently only work for certain individuals with certain machines doesn't appeal to me. Yes, you can try to WINE everything, or try an alternative, or try a program that the community develops in its free time, which is good for the whole community to be able to expand on Linux's capabilities, but since I can't complain about free software that doesn't fit my needs or even works for me, I'm going to have to stick with propriety crap-ware that fits what I need it to do (like Windows Media Player media sharing with proprietary Xbox 360 software/hardware). Linux has milestones with the field of gaming, WINEing popular games like World of Warcraft and developing games like Nexuis, but I have yet to see an OpenGL gaming implementation of something like Crysis. (I've seen the capabilities of OpenGL 2.0, but have yet to find a game that looks that damn good.)From a consumer point of view, we wouldn't want to restrict ourselves to the limitations of what the status quo is for provisions to Linux. Yes, they've been great, so I think that Linux should be a better if not equivalent operating system for most casual users on decent desktops and laptops available at Best Buy and other vendors, because the most you can do would be the usual productivity software, surfing the Web, social networking and IMs, entertainment with digital media, and whatnot without any hiccups. And if it was released in an OEM version, no one would have to face the nightmare of looking for workarounds to making hardware work AND release their potential. However, it still has a decent way to go as far as developers offering games utilizing the OpenGL API, and in that aspect, I can't solely go with Linux, even with possibilities with WINE and Cedega.It's not the fault of Linux that it doesn't have what Windows has available to it, because developers are only aiming for the money, and the money is in Microsoft thanks to its ubiquitous nature of being on most PCs. But I believe that in the future, Linux will find a larger market as it emerges from being "that geek OS" to being a user-friendly, wallet-friendly, and robust community and operating system.

[mahesh2k 0]

Video chat on all major chat networks ? What that feature got to do with operating system ? They mean support to web camera device ? If so, linux supports almost every web camera out there. If there are few exceptions then they will be supported soon. I don't see why this is under comparison chart in anyway. Besides many IM's on windows as well, don't support file transfer and video chat. What about those ? Oops, now they'll cry that they're not major IM networks ?Authorize support ?. and what is that ? They mean support for distribution ?. I guess then they didn't heard of company like Canonical which survives solely on software development and authorize support for ubuntu linux. Same is the case with linspire,suse, red hat. So i think this is not the point for comparison either. So 2 points they've selected very poorly against comparison with linux. Software compatibility ? Which softwares they're taken into consideration. Major softwares which are common to windows and linux are yet to be ported on linux. So how come they raise this point for software compatibility. Linux indeed supports old software which runs on it's previous version.Windows Live service as comparison point ?. and why will sane users use windows live services ?. People use gmail, yahoo and hotmail just to check mail. and yahoo and google services are used in most of the social networks. Even many forums and chat networks support usage of gmail,yahoo,icq,aol chat services. Why anyone will bother for MSN services ? and Pidgin and some other IM's on linux do support MSN chat, they might miss few features. But i doubt people use IM for those services.

[Spudd 0]

I don't know if there is. They have to buy the Windows licences they sell from Microsoft, and they pass that cost on to the customer. With Linux that cost is removed, the price drops, but the profit made on the hardware is still exactly the same - nothing lost. Companies sponsoring Linux distributions (such as Canonical) often sell support packages too. I'm sure retailers could sell those on their behalf and earn a handsome commission on each sale.

But they already have that license. And the initial profit may be the same, but what about after the fact? That buyer certainly won't be purchasing any of those windows games or software already lined up on the shelf.

There does seem to be a growing base of commercial software packages for Linux, but the plethora of free software available surely isn't a bad thing? Getting my whole office suite for free is nice, and my DVD burning application, and my image editor, and vector drawing program, and professional print design application, and my games...

Growing, yes, but it's still no where near as expansive as the huge selection of software for Microsoft; it is, like it or not, the most used OS and has been for a long time. And no, there's nothing wrong with free software, but Best Buy can't sell any of that. If they were to promote Linux they would have less commercial software to sell for it.

Selling the distributions shouldn't be the point. They should be offered for free, which makes the PC cheaper to buy and removes the hated "Microsoft Tax". For most people doing a bit of web browsing, word processing and photo editing etc. switching to Linux makes no difference - my mum switched to Kubuntu without issue, and now prefers it to Windows. So, offered two PCs that can do exactly the same stuff, but one is Ł80 cheaper, which would you prefer?

I'm not talking about what's a better choice for the user, I mean which Best Buy could potentially make more money off of. Best Buy won't make a penny off of distributing free software, only off of the hardware that runs it.

As in downloading it illegally? You would therefore be prosecuted and subject to both a lengthy jail term and colossal fine.

Of course not, I'm talking about the free distros, like Ubuntu, Debian and Gentoo. Linux's free distros can be just as good if not better than many of the paid ones.

As I said, I was thinking from a business perspective. I have nothing against Linux or people who use it. Heck, I was planning on downloading it a few years back, but seeing as my parents put down the money on that computer, and didn't trust me to dual boot it properly, I had to settle on just Windows. There's nothing wrong with Linux, I just don't think there's quite as much money to be made off of it on Best Buy's part. Besides, it would be a colossal trouble for Best Buy to buy the rights to several distros and then produce a bunch of computers pre-packaged with each, so what they would probably do is pick out one distro to sell, which kills part of what makes Linux so great in the first place: The huge selection of distros available to you, most of which are free.

[truefusion 3]

I'm not talking about what's a better choice for the user, I mean which Best Buy could potentially make more money off of. Best Buy won't make a penny off of distributing free software, only off of the hardware that runs it.

The GPL, which practically almost all software available for Linux is under, allows users to sell the software it is licensed with, regardless of who it is selling the software. In fact, you can purchase the Kubuntu DVD for $10 off of Amazom. However, due to Ubuntu's philosophy, that is most likely to pay for the DVD and packaging and not the software itself. Stores like Best Buy could sell a Linux distribution for as much as they wanted; but, obviously, anyone who knows about Linux would not purchase it (at a store), except for maybe distros like Redhat and SuSE.

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

Why doesn't Microsoft talk about security on there? Or updates? Linux has many dedicated programmers that work on coding and can release updates fast, while Microsoft probably has a bunch of of overpaid programmers that sit in an office working on yet another OS, while Vista is far from perfect (hearsay since I don't have Vista). Sure Linux might not have all the latest games or applications, but unless you NEED them, it shouldn't be a heartbreaker.As for Best Buy, next time I'm there I'll talk to somebody there about looking for a computer so that I can run Linux.

[mm22 0]

I wouldn't even believe that this came from a company like Microsoft. As some pointed out there are advantages using Windows over Linux, as well as there are disadvantages. I just don't see why they have to make up a "comparison" like that, pointing out things that are misleading if not false.If you have never used a Linux based OS you will certainly be disoriented at first, and it's probably true that most customers are happy enough with Windows and its inefficiencies. Most people in fact wouldn't even consider getting a Linux computer and will go straight to familiar Windows if given the choice. Unless Linux and its most recent distribution like Ubuntu is really seen as a threat and Microsoft is taking preventive measures to fend off attack by the penguin... in that case that could be good news for the Linux community.

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

Exactly what I was thinking. Linux must be gaining ground in order for Microsoft to spend time making such materials and to get Best Buy to send them to the employees. Also seeing that Macs are gaining ground, Microsoft puts out ads with people disgusted at the price of Macs, and saying "Ohh a Windows, and it's only $600!" Unless I'm wrong (which I don't believe I am) Windows has dominated the market for a long time compared to the sale of Mac and distribution of Linux. Now people are seeing that there are other options, and that they can get much better features/security in an operating system that they haven't previously looked at.