--- Mathieu Peresse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi all, > > I would like to talk about Hardware Support in > Ubuntu. > > The big problem for Ubuntu adoption is hardware > support. The problem is > hardware support in Linux in general but,as Ubuntu > is becoming THE Linux Distro that awakes all Windows > users from the Matric$ > , let's focus on Ubuntu: > > Hardware manufacturers are reluctant to go open > source or even to provide > binary Linux drivers with their hardware, we know > that, and it seems like > it's not going to change any time soon if _we_ don't > do anything... > > To "solve" this issue, I've thought about some sort > of "Ubuntu Hardware > Certification Program", that Hardware Manufacturers > can subscribe to. > Certified Hardware Manufacturers would have Ubuntu > supported products to > offer to the end-user. This may involve > colloboration between > Canonical/Ubuntu devs and the Hardware > Manufacturers, or not. For the end > users, this could be materialized in an official > website listing all > manufacturers enrolled in the program along with the > supported hardware > (Desktops, Laptops, Periphals, etc). I know there is > already a wiki entry > for Hardware Support, but honestly end user are not > looking at this page > when buying new hardware (some even don't know that > Ubuntu exists...). I am > talking about Officialy Supported hardware, not only > "reported to work by > someone". > > More, with this program, the existence of Ubuntu > Linux can be spread more > easily: stickers with "Ubuntu Certified Hardware" > could be put on product > boxes, or certification status could be indicated on > the Hardware > Manufacturers websites. We can even think of PCs > preloaded with Ubuntu. > > The Hardware Manufacturers' interest for this > program is obvious, as Linux > is growing in the public place through Ubuntu, they > might want to > participate to the Certification Program if they > want to keep/rise their > market shares (related to popularity, expertise (on > Linux drivers)...). > > The interest for consumers / Ubuntu users is also > obvious, as with this > Certification Program, they would be _sure_ that the > hardware they are going > to buy is offcially supported in Ubuntu, and works > out of the box. > > And last, the interest for Canonical and Ubuntu > developers in general is > that this Certification Program makes things go > faster for Ubuntu > development and widespread adoption... > > "La boucle est bouclée !!" (Everybody is happy !!) > > I am no Linux Market expert and hopefully never will > be, and I may be > missing some points here but I just wanted to share > this idea with you guys > (if anyone reads this ML...) > > Now you guys tell me why this is not possible !?!?!? > > > Cheers, > > > Mathieu > > -- > ubuntu-marketing mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing > I wld like to suggest another approach. Instead of "whitelisting". Why not have a blacklist kind of certification. ie. "Certified not to work in Linux" THe rationale is that many peripherals such as keyboard, monitor and mouse can work with Linux without issues. Yet, their box says sys requirements is MS Windows. It's hard to have an all encompassing whitelist, and the hardware detection of Linux has improved tremendously. Hopefully, the negative marketing will persuade manufatureres to release Linux drivers. The only catch is that manufacturers that do not produce Linux drivers will not want to have a blacklist sticker pasted on their hardware =P Possibly the blacklist could be maintained somewhere prominent. Any ideas, comments? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
