On 6/24/05, JM Ibanez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 6/23/05, Dean Michael Berris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<snip> > > computer shop that doesn't offer computer games. It can be shown that in > > urban areas, computer shops are easily substituted for gaming arcades -- > > in that almost all the people that pay to play in computer shops would > > want to play games more than surf the net. > I guess it varies from one area to another. Take for example the shops near schools (more like universities). A lot of the customers, as far I have observed, are into typing and internet surfing rather than gaming :) <snip> > > On a related note, I've been talking to the owner of a shop where I > study (the school will remain nameless). Apparently, he's clued-in > with Linux and, though he wishes he can run it on the customer PCs, he > can't simply because of the games that the clientele run. OTOH, he is > quite a fan of Linux on the backend, having seen the wonders of > running several instances of the Counterstrike server on a Linux box, > vis-a-vis one instance on a Windows box. He believes in the backend > potential of Linux, and would be a hard sell in terms of Linux as a > desktop platform. > > I've been talking to him also about using Linux as a gateway and > bandwidth shaper. The shop does have a lot of MMORPG clients, and > although it's being fed by a 512kbps DSL line, there is a tendency to > bandwidth-grab when Internet browsers download stuff or listen to > Shoutcast, hence those activities are severely curtailed in the shop. > The owner does want to enable clients to listen to music or stream > videos, but he also wants to give MMORPG players a lag-free > experience. So, a Linux or even *BSD box acting as a bandwidth shaper > and gateway is a welcome thing. > > Why would this be a Good Thing? Well, in this case, the shop owner can > concentrate on providing more services to his clients-- it's a win-win > situation. People can listen to streamed music while gamers have > lag-free Ragnarok. With such a gateway box, the owner could likewise True. That would give customer satisfaction :D A must! > expand into other uses (say, being able to hook up a monitoring client > or even a cafe timekeeper), without too much additional cost. And the > enabling technology here is the Linux gateway-- not the desktop. ;) > > So maybe the desktop isn't a good fit at the moment. Big deal. The > backend is also an enabler, and does make good business sense. > Then again, case to case basis =) Depends on one's market. I suppose that this plan of the shop owner you have talked with is a win-win in his case and I think that he has really given it much thought. And that is good because it means that he has been looking around for means to keep his business running. In the case of the shop in Philcoa, I think that they'd be fine with Linux on the desktop because of the needs of their customers which are school-related more than gaming. There are other shops that offer games in the area and I guess that they have specific markets already. The good thing here is that there are various approaches and solutions that are available to them =) > > It boils down really to where the money is -- and right now (AFAIK) > > Linux/Open Source and Computer Shops do not mix well, and that's not > > where the money is. > > This is where I beg to differ. Although Linux will not prosper *at > front*, it will, as I point out, prosper at the backend. Eventually, > of course, we'll see shops with Linux desktops. Soon, my pretties. ;) > Sounds like a Grand Plan to me ;) > > > > However, I still like Linux and it's place in the market -- only not in > > computer shops. > > Sometimes it's the invisible presence that counts more than the visible one. > Let's wait and see what happens next. These might be exciting times =) -- Clair Ching librarian, bookworm, information gatherer, anime fan, linux newbie http://clair.free.net.ph - blog about linux, emacs planner, tech and culture http://clair.pinoyweb.net - daily journal, stories, miscellany _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
