2011 December 20 archive at Robert Pogson

Archive for December 20th, 2011

Strange Things Found in Strange Places

Published by Robert Pogson December 20th, 2011 in technology. 48 Comments

I have never been to Viet Nam. Most of my knowledge comes from coverage of the Viet Nam war on television. I was looking at IDC’s news this week and found mention of tablet sales in Viet Nam and was curious. Interestingly, iPad is not leading there but Android/Linux has 60% share. Absolutely interesting is that “Linux” shows up at 1.3% share and that other OS is nowhere to be seen.

Admittedly it is a small sample but it shows GNU/Linux can thrive given the opportunity. The opportunity in Viet Nam and other emerging markets is that price/performance is absolutely vital. Profit margins for global corporations is the last thing consumers want to pump up. When people struggle to survive, GNU/Linux makes sense. It’s the right way to do IT. I recommend Debian GNU/Linux. I wonder what tablets in Viet Nam run?

Viet Nam certainly has no problem selling GNU/Linux. site:www.trananh.vn linux gets 1700 hits. Oh my! That’s a growing business: “November 2011, the business results of the company’s continued growth: sales companywide months reached 151.86 billion 11/2011 growth than 9.48% and profit before tax was 8.32 billion copper increased 16.36% over the same period last year”

Their channel is unusual, too, with telephone and e-mail orders.

The picture is likely similar in Philippines where netbooks are actually growing in market share.

“Price-sensitivity is still a major characteristic of the local retail market. According to Ng Juan Jin, Market Analyst for Client Devices Research at IDC ASEAN, “The popularity of mininotebooks is evidence of end users prioritizing affordability over more advanced specifications. The surge in shipments indicates that first time users are content with the functionality of mininotebooks. And, given the relatively low adoption rate of PCs and the large low-income segment in the Philippines, there is still growth potential for mininotebooks provided prices remain low relative to other competing IT devices.” Sequential and year-on-year growth rates for mininotebooks are at 29% and 36% respectively.”

- Robert Pogson

Birthday Party

Published by Robert Pogson December 20th, 2011 in technology. 12 Comments

There was a party at my house this evening and besides the warm/fuzzy familial stuff, two people were introduced to GNU/Linux. One wanted to check FaceBook and the other wanted to know more. All I had to do was boot the machine for the first and write URIs for Distrowatch and Debian GNU/Linux for the other. A few questions were asked and answered to get the ball rolling. It was a good end to the evening.

Clearly, those who claim ordinary folk are not ready for GNU/Linux or GNU/Linux is not ready for ordinary folk are out to lunch. Neither party, although they don’t ever remember hearing of GNU/Linux had any difficulty grasping the concept of free software that is Free Software. Sharing is something people understand. It’s a GUI folks. The first person had only to point and click, read and type, more or less the same as they usually do. The second person understood that the world can make its own software without help from M$ and the world could share software freely.

UPDATE
An unintended consequence of the party was that a visitor left a child seat in the back of my car and when they did so, they left the light on discharging the battery overnight. A couple of minutes on the welding machine fixed that… I set it on the lowest range, 30A DC, and made contact with the ground clamp and a welding rod. About two minutes allowed the engine to start. Darn hybrids have such small auxiliary batteries…

- Robert Pogson

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.