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When
we started Lindows.com, we came up with the slogan
"Bringing Choice to Your Computer." When you give
consumers choices, their needs will be better
met and they'll pay a lower price
due to competition on all the products they buy.
Even if consumers don't buy a Lindows.com product, they'll
pay less for their Microsoft products because choice
will keep Microsoft honest in their pricing. Microsoft
admitted this in their latest SEC filings, "To the extent the
open source model gains increasing market acceptance,
sales of the company's products may decline, the company
may have to reduce the prices it charges for its
products, and revenues and operating margins
may consequently decline."
It took us close to a year to build a product
that was suitable for store shelves and that could
gain market acceptance, but that's exactly what
we're now witnessing. Here's what I mean:
When you buy a computer from an online retailer,
many have an interface where you can customize
your purchase. Dell offers more than 100 options
to choose from on their line of computers. There
are choices for everything, except for perhaps the most important
component, the operating system. Here the buyer
can only choose Microsoft. This needs to change.
Consumers should be shown multiple options,
along with the prices associated with each.
(Most people think Microsoft Windows XP is free because
they don't see the additonal costs it adds to the PC.)
Well, several progressive retailers are providing
choices to their customers now, including
Walmart and Idot.com. The Idot.com implementation
is ideal because it has a pull-down list of
operating system choices along with their respective
costs, so the consumer knows exactly how each choice impacts
their pocketbook and they can make an informed decision.
I predict more computer retailers will start giving
consumers more choices and when they do, more
people will opt to be "Microsoft free in 2003."
Hey Dell, Gateway, HP, Toshiba, IBM,
how about it? Select one affordable computer and
offer it with LindowsOS or Microsoft Windows XP and
see where consumers vote by their purchases. My prediction
is that 12 months from now, all of those vendors
will offer LindowsOS because a growing list of retailers
like Walmart and Idot will compel them to, by taking
increasingly larger slices of their business.
Another new choice that consumers have is
to purchase the two CD set of LindowsOS Membership
Edition at traditional retailers. Walmart has
never sold a non-Microsoft operating system, until
now. See www.lindows.com/walmartOS.
The computer superstore, Fry's Electronics, has
recently started stocking LindowsOS in every one
of their more than 20 store locations
as well. When comparing prices between Microsoft
Windows XP and LindowsOS Membership Edition, remember
that besides being a modern, easy-to-use operating
system, LindowsOS Membership Edition includes an entire
office suite and hundreds of other great software programs
from the Click-N-Run
Warehouse - all for one low price.
And finally, Lindows.com wants more people
to experience the LindowsOS choice. We're so
sure that you'll be blown away by the 10 minute
install and ease of use, that we're making LindowsOS
available for the first time by itself for just
$49.
If you've always wanted to try LindowsOS,
but never had a chance, here's your most affordable
opportunity yet.
-- Michael
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