If people learned how to use an editor and WHY you use an editor, they would be better off. A general computing class should be more than just learning MS Office (like it was at my school). Neal Stephenson is right, we need to meet the computer half-way in order to get more done. The REAL PROBLEM is people who grew up with the “hand-holding” style of computing.

I think the $99 dollar distros have their place. See I just made everybody happy (and Linux a ton of money). So just like we have to pay for our Khakis and Polo shirts, we should pay for our OS too (helps pay those pesky programmers and makes them turn out clean code.) Here’s a great idea, to keep things free for technicians, developers and engineers, you get a free 2 year subscription to the distro of your choice when you get certified through CompTIA on A+, Network+, or RHCE. But we don’t offer our services for free either. I’m a computer technician and I hate paying for product as much as the rest of you. Perception is everything in the market place. Example if you’re here in america and if a bar is offering $1.00 DRAFT BEER the general assumption is that you’ll be getting really cheap domestic beer, not really good high quality German import. Just because something is free or really cheap it is automaticly looked at as inferior. They would judge linux to be a good value if it does everything they can do on windows for 50 dollars less.

The general public wants to pay for products, it gives them a sense of ownership. If XP is selling for 129.99 retail then 79.99 would be a good starting point for a FULL distro of RH, you could release UPGRADE product on a 6 to 8 month cycle for a measly 39.99 and a new full version product on 12 to 18 month schedule. In the retail place Linux distrobutions should be selling for less, but not alot cheaper than microsoft products. the more expensive it is the better it is. Most people place a value on retail products based on their cost, i.e. Everything in this world has a perceived value.

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