A Nightmare on Linux AvenueBy Chris HallLet’s say it finally happens and the big OEMs get tired of dealing with Microsoft and decide to make Windows only one choice of several on new computers. Not a world like we have now, where the likes of Dell halfheartedly offer half baked and broken installs of Ubuntu, installs that need serious tweaking before they’ll work. Not that world, but a pretend world of Linux being offered across all models, with a choice between two or three distros. You know, OEMs giving Linux exactly the same treatment as they give Windows today.Sounds like Tux heaven does it not? Don’t be in too big a hurry to celebrate.Say this day has arrived. You wake-up in the morning and go to check your email, only to discover your computer won’t boot. Right away you know it’s the motherboard, because it’s been showing signs of dying for about a year but you haven’t been able to afford do anything about it. Not to worry, though. Not only have you been making regular backups on an external hard drive, so your data is safe, you also saw an advert just the day before on a sale in progress at the Big Bytes store on Huddle Palace brand Linux boxes.So you eat a bowl of genetically modified corn flakes and head for the store, where you walk past a small display of Windows computers that are being ignored and gathering dust, much to your inner pleasure. In a much larger, cleaner and brighter area, set-off by a gigantic cut-out of Tux holding a clearly branded Huddle Palace laptop with the words “I run Linux!” on the screen, you are immediately approached by a salesman who asks if you’d be interested in buying an extended service contract.The timing of the question seems somewhat strange, prompting you to ask, “On what? I haven’t bought anything yet.”The salesman, a boy really, is unfazed. “Well, what are you looking for?”...
