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March 25th, 2010 @ The Royal Garden Hotel, London
The third annual PCR Awards is set to be the social event of the year for anyone involved in the PC retail sector, and a well deserved celebration for the nominees.
Competitive
Woking, Surrey
Retailer says will replace open source OS with Windows XP after high levels of customer confusion leads to 20% return rate
Carphone Warehouse has dealt a serious blow to Linux supporters after it moved to recall all of its own-brand open source-based netbooks, and announced it would install Windows XP on them, citing customer confusion with the unfamiliar operating system as the reason for the move.
The retailer recalled its Webbook device – which was produced as a white label of Elonex's own netbook – after what it described as high levels of returns – 20 per cent in some areas – due to customer confusion surrounding its Linux operating system.
A source at Carphone Warehouse told Mobile Today that there were no faults with the devices being recalled, it was merely "an issue of consumer understanding".
Dismissing any suggestions that the move had been prompted by anything else other than a customer disapproval of Linux, the source added: "The Webbooks were selling well; it's just that customers preferred XP."
It is unclear if other firms are likely to follow in Carphone's move, or whether it means the retailer or its partner Best Buy will stop offering Linux models altogether.
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Sounds very much like a gap between what was expected, and what was delivered. Just as easily attributed to the expectation built as any reflection on the product delivered.
Given some of the successes elsewhere when the former is done right, I'd hardly blame the latter.
"The Webbooks were selling well; it's just that customers preferred XP."
Why were they selling well if people didn't like the OS? Sounds a bit fishy to me. It's not beyond interested parties to make the switch worth Charles Dunstone's while.
What CPWH mean is that their staff were woefully wanting when it comes to supporting anything more technical then a Nokia. Walk into any branch and ask a mildly technical questionabout these Webbooks and you will see.
Usual story. All the techy nerds harp on about how great open source is as a replacement for windows but, when it's put on the desktop, it fails to come up to the mark.
Can't argue that it's solid, (once it's up and running) but not easy enough to use and configure for the common man to use as a desktop replacement.
What on earth has it got to do with the CPWH staff? What a redicilous excuse.
You sir, have made the mistake of jumping to a conclusion and opening your mouth before engaging your brain. Is there anywhere on this page (article or comments) where a single soul is harping "on about how great open source is as a replacement for windows".
The comment was simply based on an observation that around the world, there is a growing market for netbooks, with dozens of models sold across hundreds of chain stores like Carphone Warehouse. They aren't all having the same problems across the board, so maybe its just a little possible the issue here is one of expections incorrectly set?
BTW, what is "not easy enough to use and configure for the common man"? Xandros? PCLinuxOS? Ubuntu MID?, Mandrake?, Mint?. They differ almost as much as Windows and OSX. You've used them all I take it?
Simple answer here. People took their cheap or free notebooks, and then when they got them home and tried to download Windows apps for them, found that they couldn't, and weren't clever enough to find/install the Linux versions or equivalents.
But that's a fundemental issue if they are returning them because they can't find the software. It means that Linux is unlikely to ever break Window's stranglehold.
Regardless of the eternal Linux vs MS debate, Rob above is correct. The average consumer doesn't even know there's a choice of O/S out there - so they get their Netbook home and it won't do what they expect. They can't plug their iPod into it, they can't load apps they thought they could, so back it goes.
Do you really think that CPW would go to all this expense with a RECALL of Linux-based Netbooks - yes, that's a RECALL, not a phase out - unless there was a massive consumer problem out there with Linux? It's not about educating the customer prior to point of sale (or mobile broadband sign-up)... the volume market just doesn't want Linux, no matter how much we all may despise MS and its profiteering monopoly.
Oh and in reply to Gary above, I'm hearing on the grapevine that both Asus and Acer are encountering extreme resistance to Linux (with Dixons/PC World having large double figure percentage returns rates on certainly the former). This would suggest that Carphone Warehouse's experience is pretty much typical.
Sorry to all the Linux enthusiasts out there, but you're not representative of the mass market.
In our opinion, the biggest problem with the Linux netbooks is that the majority of mobile broadband sticks won't install on them. And the customer got the netbook free when they bought the mobile broadband. No wonder they're bringing them back.
