I've come to the conclusion that "competitive analyst" or "market analyst" is basically corporation-speak for "idiot with no job skills who gets paid to spout nonsense on demand". Sort of like "White House press spokesman".

Absolutely right! If Matt Kohut represents Lenovo's level of software savvy, then they are about 10 years behind the rest of the world. Corporate paradigms like this are one of the reasons the world is in the shape it's in.

It's actually rather pitiful, really, that an under-educated Blue-collar type like myself runs Linux on several computers, and has migrated dozens of his friends to it as well, yet someone so high up in the Tech Industry can't see past his office walls.

"What special knowledge do they possess that Lenovo is unable to grasp?"

What is probably happening is that Microsoft is paying Lenovo to try and subtly discredit linux.

Some time ago I bought a piece of hardware for one of my PC's, a multi-card reader with all kinds of slots, in a computer shop in Montpellier (South France). The guy handed me the card reader and then said he had to look at the back of the shop because the install CD was separate. I told him I didn't need the CD. He said: well, you will need it, I think. I said: trust me, I'll take the card reader as such, and I don't need the CD. Can I just pay for it? He insisted: but this piece of hardware will be of no use to you if you don't have the CD. I said: look, I take it your install CD comes with a bunch of Windows drivers on it. Maybe some OS X drivers. But I'm running Linux, so I can't use it anyway.

So he has a long stare at me and concludes:

- Ah, I get it. You're a fanatic.

Short illustration of how even so-called IT pros view the average Linux user.

Perhaps the text in the bio, "Matt knows a few things about computers and technology..." is a typo that is supposed to say ""Matt knows few things about computers and technology."

@Robert - The scary thing is they probably don't even have to pay them. It's like politics - the herd mentality creates a "conspiracy of ideas" where no-one has to order anyone - they just do it anyway.

"Will no one rid me of this turbulent penguin?" cried King Steve the Ballmer....

I recently installed the Linux distribution Ubuntu 8.10 on a friends Lenovo N500 notebook. Everything worked out of the box except for the modem and the webcam. I was able to use a USB modem, but the webcam still does not work. When I called Lenovo tech support in Atlanta to determine if they were planning to provide drivers. I was told that only the installed OS would be supported. Lenovo does seem to have any incentive to support any OS other than the Vista Home Basic Microsoft pays them to install. This all feels anti-competitive to me. I would like to run the operating system of my choice. I think Windows, Red Hat and Debian drivers should be available for all hardware systems.

"- Ah, I get it. You're a fanatic."

I hope your answer was "Not really, just not that stupid to use Windows".

Heh, I don't see anything wrong with being a fanatic against stupidity and dishonesty :)

I was hoping this story from Lenovo would just die quickly but I can't blame Carla for being annoyed enough by it to post something. I'm sure Mr. Kohut and Mr. Balmer are having a good laugh over the nonsense in Mr. Kohut's article.

i have to agree with you. it really shouldn't be any hastle at all for lenovo to preload linux on their computers. my ideapad runs ubuntu 9.04 better than vista or windows seven.

Something you didn't even mention was the ridiculous quote near the bottom of the article:
“From a vendor perspective, Linux is very hard to support because there are so many different versions out there: do we have Eudora, do we have SUSE, do we have Turbo Max?

“Those are all different enough that, well, if people buy Linux preloaded from us, we have to fully support everything they own."

They certainly are different enough. The guy is such a computer expert that he confuses Eudora, an email client application, with SuSE, a major vendor-sponsored Linux distribution, and even brings in something called "Turbomax" which is completely meaningless. I just did a Google search on "Turbo Max" and got a bunch of hits about water heaters and drill bit sets. Nothing at all to do with Linux.

This guy is a complete tool.

Remember when IBM made the laptops? I doubt they'd have had a similar attitude considering their support of Linux and open source. Well done to Lenovo for running a great hardware brand into the ground.

"Short illustration of how even so-called IT pros view the average Linux user."
Well.. for someone who's used to serve Windows customers, that a very logical conclusion; He could have used the word "freak", but because he's an IT pro, he didn't.

kohut is slovak word for cock, rooster, stag, tap

nonsens. i take any linux distro and it will run smoother and will support more HW on any Levono(IBM) laptop out of the box than Windows XP/Vista/Seven combined.

Ha! The article has been updated to reflect that Linux Today contacted them to verify the accuracy of the quotations, in which they note the whole interview was recorded on a Linux based Eee-pc.

Sadly enough, despite the humorously ignorant Mr. Kohut, its people like him that influence Lenovo, and people like this exists in corporate positions all over the industry, and they need to be shown the advantages that Linux has to offer, which they can have if only they would put a fraction of the effort into pre-loading Linux that they do in preloading and validation of Windows.

Welcome to the real capitalistic world people, big guys bully the little ones around. Just be glad we aren't being brainwashed.

Entirely agree with craig at the top, 'Stupid is as stupid does', the guy is a glorified salesman who is too stupid to get a real job.
Wouldnt be without Linux, web, game and data servers run with more stability and better security.
Have ubuntu and freebsd server, have never looked back.

About a year ago I came across a lenovo laptop w/linux preinstalled. My initial delight turned to disbelief when I realized how crippled and poorly configured it was. Seriously it was a disaster. So I did a good deed and installed Ubuntu on it. Compiz and all the bells and whistles.

What REALLY amazed me at the article (aside from the obvious "decompile codes and upload data") is this one:

“Linus needs to get to the point where if you want to plug something in, Linux loads the driver and it just works.

“If I need to go to a website and download another piece of code or if I need to reconfigure it for internet, it’s just too hard.

I personally have used Ubuntu on a T60 and T61p from lenovo and have had EXACTLY that experience. Everything I've plugged in has just worked, INCLUDING my USB720 Verizon EVDO modem, something that one can't do with Windows. Not to mention, I put the install CD in and have a fully usable PC in less than an hour. No going to the internet to download drivers for things, unlike with Windows. So I'm not sure he's really used Linux recently. Drivers for Linux are by-and-large contained in the kernel and require very little user intervention. Windows, not so much. The guy's obviously a clueless talking head. Typical marketing guy.

The problem is that the whole hardware industry is only interested about mobile phones. No one is really investing money in a OS-independent notebook solution. Try finding a "good" notebook with full OEM Linux support. NONE! I thing the way to go is by changing people's mind about OSs through mobile computers solutions (such as cell phones :p). Google came up with Android, lets see what happens. :p

ps.: Is anyone into starting a company that does what all the other companies don't, which is, listen to the customer? Is it so hard? I mean....not only computer manufactures, but any product :p.

Well, well, a poser IT professional on Lenovo's payroll. Very much deserving of a boot, he's a disgrace to the organization he belongs...

does he really helped anyone with that kind of knowledge ?
ya sure a very very typical marketing guy instead of an IT person

I'm using a T61 and it's a excellent piece of equipment (VGA port makes no sense whatsoever though). I bought it 2nd hand as I don't want to put more MS licences out there.

True - Lenovo made a few Linux alternatives out there. BUT those models were heavy on spec and came with a hefty pricetag. Lenovo have some volume models and quite often there's a campaign. Never for the Linux ones.

Now I'm considering a T400. The spec I'm after is 14,1 1440x900 LED backlit, P9500 CPU, 9cell and ultrabay batt + hdd ultrabay craddle, Advanced mini dock with a ThinkPad keyboard and the slim charger.

First of all - finding one with this spec without adding on garbage that I don't need is impossible. Trying to find alternatives close enough is also very difficult. (The US Lenovo store works, but I don't live there)
Every single machine has Microsoft stickers.

My impression is that Lenovo doesn't want to sell. AT ALL. They are doing whatever they can to prevent sales.

I'm not the only one that are rather fed up by Lenovo's attitude. For me It's quite simple: I really like their machines - but can't get the right one. I'm willing to compromise a notch, but one thing I will never compromise on is that I simply do NOT buy Windowslicenses. I simply don't.

Therefore I'm quite up to date on Apple's MacBook Pro, and recommend anyone who can afford it to choose MacBooks ahead of ThinkPads. Shame they don't have a 14,1 though....

The root of the problem is this passed the fact check. The blame lays on an editor somewhere; not the person being interviewed. Even if the person making the quotes is wrong (as they obviously are on some technical points) the person(s) posting the story (not here but the originating site) should have illuminated the errors or asked for clarification.

It really is sad to see that a company would overlook the intrinsic value of Linux and just use it as a marketing ploy, but I think eventually they will catch on if other vendors are successful in their Linux deployments, like Dell.

I see his point, I have an aspire one that came with XP, but I installed ubuntu right after i got it, oddly enough, i cannot get the audio device or the wireless to work, I gave up after a few hours. supposedly the netbook is where its gonna be "the year of linux" but if it does not work with basic issues like that, they have no chance of ever being anything than a niche market. and yes, linux is vastly more complicated than either XP or Vista. not saying thats bad, but dont expect the average user to use it everyday and enjoy it.

I think Lenovo as a company really, really sucks! I sent my T43 for repair 3 times in the last 6 months for the same hardware problem. I tried talking to a manager to discuss this, no success. Twice has my computer become unusable after installing updates from their website and fixing those issues took hours, hours hours.

I agree with the user Joe who says that Lenovo has taken a good hardware brand into the ground.

I think Lenovo is the worst computer experience I have had and I will never buy anything made by them in my entire life!

It is staggering that so many crap quotes by the same person can appear in only one article.

Matt Kohut complains: "If I need to go to a website and download another piece of code or if I need to reconfigure it for internet, it's just too hard."

If I want to install a new software package on Linux, often I only need to start the package manager and install the software. On Windows in contrast I may need to go to various websites to assemble the pieces for installing the latest spy or malware.

Moving the Windows taskbar from the bottom to the side is like picking your right nostril instead of your left one. If he can't figure out how to use Linux, chances are he's one of those people who can't figure out the VCR either.

By the way, Turbolinux is a Japanese rebranding of RedHat; maybe that's what he was thinking of. He probably tried using it, realized it was in Japanese, and gave up then and there.

"Lenovo is willing to invest all kinds of resources into mitigating Windows' deficiencies, and tailoring its hardware to hobble along in step with Windows."

It's willing to address issues in the operating system that most of their customers use. You are comparing two targets (WindowsXP and Vista) with more than 90% of ThinkPad market share with a variety of Linux distros. Guess where resources go?

Lets be clear Windows is getting better especially in areas like power management. It's gotten to the point where Linux distros like Ubuntu are watching MS Windows 7 developer slidshows for ideas/tips! Lenovo will move to make things better on Windows in areas that still need improvement.

Linux (the kernel and drivers) are improving too but not at the rate where utilities from vendors can compensate. Seriously look at their imaging software how many file systems would they have to support in Linux? Even adding something as simple as a WiFi and VPN connection management is a mess because of all the choice on Linux.

That's just two points.
How many are there per machine?

"When someone makes such giant mountains out of such tiny molehills it makes me wonder. How is it that ordinary Linux users can download and install Linux on Thinkpads, Ideapads, EeePCs, Mini Notes, and all kinds of computer brands and models without it being a big hairy failure?"

Sorry but in your attempt to tar and feather your target you missed his point. On a one off affair it's somewhat easy for a user to install Linux but in the enterprise it's different.

Many of the added features that lower the cost of operating a fleet of computers are not available in the hodgepodge of distros that exist. Instead one must cobble together all that management or (shock) standardize on one distro.

Your "mole hills" are chasms in the enterprise.

The number of transcription errors in those interview excerpts are interesting. A sample.

"Turbo Max" was probably Turbo Linux (fairly big distro in Asia)
"Linus" was probably Linux

"You don't have to be a total elite expert in every detail, but I think anyone who isn't informed enough to avoid spouting pure nonsense should not have a job in tech."

I hope you take your own advice next time before taking quotes out of context (enterprise versus single user), using a poor transcription and failing to use common courtesy in cleaning up obvious errors.

P.S Written on a ThinkPad using Kubuntu 9.04 and sadly the integration is piss poor compared to Vista even without all the ThinkPad goodies.

MS is actually trying to kill the netbook phenomona on behalf of OEMs. Look, the orginal price-point on netbooks was supposed to be sub-200 dollars. Adding the MS license, now adding Windows 7 (Starter, LOL) license, more expensive (higher-power) hw, general consumers griping about needing an optical drive when NONE was supposed to be there in the first place... Once the deal is done (and completely killed off), hw manf can go back to making the Sony Vaio's at the $1,500 - 2,000USD area making them more expensive than the regular-sized notebooks which is the way they always wanted it. Linux still could be in the race if only one of the hw manf (HP perhaps with their home-grown Linux) focused on one distro & added to it. I thought gOS was going to be the defacto disto on netbooks. Manf could've added their own theme to it, yadda yadda. Ugh, this just depresses me...

Wow,...I would say every 2nd linux user I know uses a Lenovo notebook. How can one of their own kind talk so much crap? Unbelievable.

I loved his comment about how you lose at least an hour of battery life switching over to Linux. My CPU cycles are significantly lower running on Linux (lower cycles = less battery) and this is true for pretty much every review I've seen of linux. The only case where this might differ is if he was running Compiz full blast with every effect enabled. Gnome is now less power hungry, too so you don't even have to switch to something like xfce to save power. I dunno, it just seems like he knows so little about anything. I used to only use Windows and I knew more than this guy even then. he seems remarkably misinformed.

I have to admit usability of Linux is less impressive (I still need to hit the console occasionally to do things that should be gui based), but Ubuntu has done some good things interface-wise to cater for that.

stringycustard=jizz right? anyway...back on topic. Obvious anti-linux propaganda, carefully designed to confuse/scare the sheep and infuriate the wolves...or in this case penguins. MS is good but FOSS and Linux will NEVER go away and it just gets better everyday! Remember that and smile the next time you hear someone bashing Linux...it's because they're scared! Written on an eeepc 901 running xandros advanced mode with 8Gb SDHC...ultraportable and powerful enough!

I used to work for Lenovo and got a little tired at how much they "promoted" Windows.

There was a comment made here that Microsoft pays Lenovo to discredit Linux and I couldn't agree more.

Before Lenovo's EMEA sites went direct to eCommerce and integrated into a CMS, their sites were built using includes and static HTML. I remember sharing the work load on changing a multitude of includes and static HTML that added the tagline "Lenovo recommends Windows Vista for home computing".

This was considered top priority and Microsoft gave us all kinds of hell about pixel spacing etc. It took a few months of backward and forwarding with Microsoft to finally get a sign off. They even fined Lenovo a number of times due to that and other supposed "branding" mistakes.

I doubt it is any different for any major PC manufacturer, the fact is that Linux has come on leaps and bounds since I first started looking at it and I understand that corporations like MS are scared that their product could take a huge hit in the home market especially.

That guy is blogging negatively about Linux because he has to.

I also agree that Lenovo is a weird company. Its just funny how they work.

your IT shop will spend far more in support costs, lost user productivity, and sleepless nights

Oddly, I've heard that exactly the opposite is true. (Well... actually I may have heard that IT has to work about 50% harder... after they downsize to one fifth the staff, because Linux IT techs are that much more efficient. IOW, less cost and better productivity. I'll give you the sleepless nights for the one guy that has to be on call after the other two shifts become redundant :-).)

The reason for Lenovo's lukewarm embrace to Linux could be much simpler than what most people think.As a former level 1 helpdesk at Lenovo, I know that 99% of their agents have no CLUE what Linux is.It would be a major financial undertaking for Lenovo to bring everyone on board the Linux bandwagon(training costs) and at this point I don't see any gain for them in that.I expect if you bought a TP with Linux on it you would be calling in DEMANDING to be supported, would you not?If you guys really want Linux that bad, look for brands that already support it.

just try to get a battery recall processed from lenovo if you run linux.

needless to say i will NEVER purchase a lenovo product again after dealing with their customer support. I've never asked or expected anyone to support linux on my laptop but when my battery stopped charging and the website listed my battery's FRU number as being affected by the recall(for the symptom i was experiencing) I was a little disappointed to discover that the only way to get it recalled was to run some windows program. when I called support I was treated poorly and flat out told that I had to install windows if I wanted my battery recall processed because thats Lenovo's policy...

to call them a joke would be an understatement. I personally don't care what OS they ship with their hardware, i'd just appreciate it if they supported the hardware independent of the OS.