Robertson said Linux has enough technical expertise to compete with Windows – he said that company’s own Linspire desktop operating system is on a par with Windows XP – but needs to concentrate on retail distribution and original equipment manufacturer deals.
Robertson, who founded the San Diego, California-based desktop Linux specialist in 2001, said: It’s critical that when you walk into computer stores you see Linux on desktops and laptops. What the desktop Linux world needs is profitable Linux companies that can take it out to the market and get it pre-installed on desktops and laptops.
Robinson was speaking at the UK launch of Linspire 5 where the company also revealed a software distribution agreement with UK retail chain PC World, and an OEM agreement with Tiny Computers.
Robertson said the company is able to offer Linspire to OEMs at 15 pounds ($28.50) for the operating system, open office suite, and a year’s subscription to its CNR application warehouse, undercutting Microsoft by a considerable margin. This is the power of Linux, and this is why desktop Linux is unstoppable, he said.
Is it practical to compete with Microsoft? The answer is yes, if you leverage Linux, he said before making a lofty claim about the functionality available with Linspire 5. I would say that we are on a par with XP, he said. There are some areas where they beat us, but there are areas where we beat them.
The CNR application warehouse was identified as an area in which Linspire is ahead. The company’s subscription offering enables users to locate and download both open source and proprietary desktop Linux applications, and boasts over 2,200 to choose from. Software should have real economies of scale. As you sell more the price should come down, it hasn’t, he said. One of my goals was to effect the economies of software.
Robertson also identified some of the areas where Linspire is behind Windows, including high-end video games, and support for consumer devices such as MP3 players and mobile phones. In this area, he said, software developers and device vendors will begin to support Linux more as it gains market share.
As is evidenced by this list of identified deficiencies, Linspire is very much more focused on the consumer market than the enterprise. This will change later this year with an enterprise management kit including a network administrator version of CNR that will enable administrators to remotely managed Linspire desktops.
Meanwhile, Robertson has ruled out another attempt to float the company in the near future after Linspire postponed a planned initial public offering in November 2004, citing adverse market conditions.
The postponement came shortly after Linspire reached a $20m settlement with Microsoft that prompted it to change its name from Lindows, which Microsoft claimed breach its Windows trademark.
The market really shut down for IPOs, said Robertson of economic conditions at the time. We didn’t need an IPO because we got a bunch of money. If the market warms, we might, but we have no plans to right now.
