How Linux Can Save a Company Like HP
4th of March, 2010
A major problem facing PC manufacturers right now is that all the computers are the same. They all run Windows. The hardware is all pretty much the same, with only minor variations. There’s really no compelling reason to get a Sony over HP or HP over Dell. Other than price, that is. John Gruber wrote that, “the PC industry is engaged in a race for the bottom…” and I couldn’t agree more.
But HP in particular is in a unique position. They’re engaged in the race to the bottom, and as far as I can tell, they’ve got nothing interesting in the computer department. They are almost totally irrelevant. When your computer is being sold for under $500 at Cost Co, I’m not sure you’re doing things right.
Reminds me of Apple, actually. In the 90′s, they weren’t being sold anywhere, and were largely irrelevant. Then Steve Jobs came back, they bet everything on OS X, and are now rocking hard.
Windows is killing innovation and killing the PC marketplace. The only innovation happening with PC computers is based on making them cheaper.
Well, not the only innovation. Dell has been selling computers 1 preloaded with Linux for a while, now, but it seems to be sort of a hobby, by and for hobbiests. They’re not doing anything special, there’s nothing about their computers or their Ubuntu treatment that would make anybody I know switch from Windows.
Which is where HP comes in. Their computer strategy is clearly not working. Their iPAQ isn’t even a joke. Their cameras are just another camera. Yet they’ve been around for a million years. The Apple I was designed and built by Steve Wozniak while he worked for HP. Outside the computer department, they still make some great products: calculators, printers, dvd burners, and blank media for instance. Despite ho-hum computers, they’re still selling some quality merchandise.
Now, what if HP dropped Windows entirely, spent some real money, and bet the farm on Linux? I think they could succeed where Dell hasn’t and create a whole new class of computer and customer. Or if not a new class, they could revitalize the Windows PC class.
But first, they need to spend some money on hardware development. They have one computer that looks like a direct, if poorly executed copy of a MacBook Pro. They should concentrate on this design. Take a page out of Apple’s book and simplify the product line, and make them beautiful.
Back to Linux: Despite Dell offering computers with it preloaded, Ubuntu has not caught on in the mainstream because it’s a pain in the neck. It’s sort of impossible to simply install it on a computer and expect it to work the way you might when you put Windows onto the same computer. So I envision HP pulling an Apple. Apple put OS 9 to rest and bet the farm on OS X. HP is the only company I can think of that can afford to (ahem) close the door on Windows and make Linux be the future. Well, maybe Sony, but they’re far too entrenched and big to make any kind of sweeping change like this.
Anyway, HP can do all this by putting the might of their computer division into making every modern and semi-modern printer with an HP logo on it work with Linux, making all their hardware work with Linux. They can’t do it halfway, and they should consider, even if they choose not to, making drivers so older models can be moved over to Ubuntu. Maybe not, though.
So they make Ubuntu easy to use. Every HP computer should work with all the hardware right out of the box. Webcam, WiFi, all HP printers, scanners, USB DVD burners, everything. And the computers should look lovely right out of the box, too. They should be able to DVDs and web-based video.
Which is actually a major problem. How do you get a 20 year old junior college student to buy an HP Ubuntu computer without world-class software? You can’t. So we look around, and we see that both major non-IE browsers work on Linux: FireFox and Google Chrome. Google’s Picassa is something of an answer to iPhoto, and that’s available for Linux, too. And Open Office is free. So we’ve covered the major things people want computers for in the first place: Internetting, playing with digital photos, and Office stuff.
Lastly, there’s iPods. HP can get around this by being the first company to make a world-class awesome Android phone. They can also do a non-phone Android device, iPod Touch style. They can also put time and money into an iPod-friendly iTunes-like piece of software for Linux. 2 After all, why does Apple spend so much time and money on things like GarageBand and iPhoto? To sell Macs, that’s why. There is precedent for this kind of software: Missing Sync for Android, for instance, allows one to use iTunes on her computer, but put songs onto her Android.
And the Amazon MP3 service is also available for Linux.
Look, the list goes on. What needs to happen is someone with power and clout has to come along and put it all together into a bitchin’ little package, and sell them like crazy. I’ve even got a marketing angle: “Live in a post-Windows world.”
The point is not for HP to be Apple, though I suggest borrowing a few parts of their business plan. The point is to get out of the race to the bottom. The only way to differentiate themselves from the other PC manufacturers is to make a different product. But even that’s not enough. The different product has to be great. I think HP is the only company on earth who could do this; they have the money, clout, and other businesses to allow this shift to be a loss leader for a while. If they did it right and well and with commitment, they could see absolute greatness.