Hacker News Reader

Comment by bluedino | Hacker News Reader

Linux 'is free'. Very difficult to get people to pay a premium for 'free'. You have to charge less for a PC with Linux on it, since there's no Windows license it should cost less, right?

Without getting people to pay a premium, it isn't possible to make things that are 'Apple-gorgeous'. Not to mention the Linux market is so small to begin with...

View on HN

But Android proves it can be done.

You just have to make the hardware very very desirable and do the integration right. Like what Sony does with consoles, Microsoft does with consoles, Apple does with nearly everything, and most Android phones do now.

Android proves nothing of the sort. People don't necessarily buy Android because they like it, but more because because it is pushed to them by the parties that directly make money off it: the carriers and their data plans and contracts. Google makes money from the ads people see on those phones (which, apparently, it shares with the carriers, so you can see how the incentives line up.) The hardware makers get the scraps (which are still plenty, as Samsung demonstrates).

Note that the parent is also wrong: Linux PCs typically cost more than their Windows equivalents because there's no crapware to subsidize the cost.

A big part of these products is the software. You would have to create desktop software to deliver this, and that is not cheap.

Linux has a lot of high quality desktop software. What is needed is polishing.

Good design does not have to cost much.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com