The Great Linux Roadblock
 

So the other night I decided it was time to close the chapter on M$ for good. I dug up my burned copies of Mandrake 9.1 and started the install. Everything went fine untill it asked for disk 2. Little did I know that the 2nd and 3rd disks where bad. Probably my cats using them for scratching pads.

"No big deal." I though. I'll just jump in the car and head to OfficeDepot and grab a distro. Guess what? They stoped selling Linux. Alright, let's go to OfficeMax. Nope. Nothing there either. Circuit City? Don't think so. After 2 hours of driving I end up at Best Buy. To my suprise they have Linux! They had SuSu 8.2 pro and Redhat basic. Hmmmm.

Every shop I went into was overstocked with M$ products but no linux. If the Linux reveloution will ever get a foothold in the mainstreem, they need to get it into the retail establishments. I didn't want to spend $50 on SuSu. I wanted Mandrake. But my choices where nil. I wasn't going to spend $30 on a watered down Red Hat. (one disk). We need to scream to these places that there is a need for this software or they will never carry it.

It seems like Redhat has given up on desktop to focus on enterprise. Hence the Fedora project and no retail boxes. Mandrake is putting energy into direct sales of boxes and the Mandrake Club for downloaders.

If you want Mandrake, buy it directly from them. It helps them more. Better yet, join Mandrake club. If you want to use the download edition and have a slow internet connection just order from easylinuxcds.com or cheapbytes.com. It only costs a few bucks.

I knew I could get it online, but it would be nice to be able to walk into a store and just buy it. If I don't have an OS installed, I can't get online. And you can understand, when the computer is down, you don't want to wait to get it back up.

You're right. but you know where I found mandrake?

Borders Books had it back in the UNix/Linux section. A bookstore isn't where I'd think to buy a distro though.

-Shade

I've found Linux distros in magazines, in books, hell, almost everywhere. I've also downloaded Redhat, Mandrake and like every other distro, but for some reason I am compeld to go out and buy a boxed set. I do the same thing with music cds. I copy, burn, and if I like, I buy. Nifty try before you buy method.