Why not be a hardware manufacturer?
Well, in a word, "Shipping". The shipping of a full PC is a
nightmare, and to do so internationally is twice the bother. Dell
does it, as does Cobalt, but Dell is huge and the other Linux-iron
vendors are not doing very well.
This is tangental to my proposal, but what I would prefer is to do
what Microsoft has done with their "White Box" program --- despite the
name, this is not just "Windows on a generic PC", but a trademark name
for a specific set of hardware components which can be reliably
assembled. It's a recipe for a hardware box which you can license to
franchises who can obtain parts locally, and then also pool community
resources to gain discounts from hardware suppliers for flashy
components like an elegant case or a Mandrake keyboard.
--
Gary Lawrence Murphy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> TeleDynamics Communications Inc
Business Innovations Through Open Source Systems: http://www.teledyn.com
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."(Pablo Picasso)
