Richard Forth wrote:
Also why not market the support side of things by introducing all new
customers who buy a machine powered by Linux, to the PLUG? I mean, I
know trading standards would have fits if you said this but it is
*sort of* a 24/7 free email tech support offering.....most importantly
with each new machine sold we'd have one more potential new member to
the LUG.
Obviously that suits me fine (put simply: other people do the work and I
get paid for it!) but that's not exactly "fair" unless (a) I'm not
actually making anything on it (its just a way to promote Linux and
PLUG), or (b) money I make from it is going to a "good cause", eg
sponsoring a project we care about as a LUG, or to a general FOSS fund.
If a local PC retail business came to PLUG asking for help building a
range of Linux-based PCs he could sell I'd have to problem offering help
to them, but speaking as the local PC retail business I find it
uncomfortable asking for help if I might make money out of it. Perhaps
the key is that we build knowledge together that anyone can use, ie give
at least as much as you take.
I might take the plunge and spend some of my hard earned pennies on a
test system, then put together some web pages and see if anyone bites.
What should I be looking at, AMD Dual Core 5000/2GB/500GB/etc systems or
budget systems? My gut feeling is that we need to get Linux out of the
"bargain basement" and into the mainstream - use Linux because its
better, not just because it saves you £40 of the OEM price of a desktop.
--
Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0845 45 89 555
Registered in England (0456 0902) at 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG
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