Re: Linux Hardware Quality Labs (was: Linux in a binary world... a doomsday scenario)

[Vadim Lobanov <vlobanov@speakeasy.net>]

On Thu, 8 Dec 2005, Nicolas Mailhot wrote:

> Felix Oxley wrote:
> A good exhaustive online centralised hardware database, blessed and
> maintained by kernel people, will have influence with or without a logo.

I don't think this is quite right.

The beauty of having a simple and easily-recognizable logo plastered on
a website or product box or what have you is exactly that -- simplicity.
That's a good thing, because it means that the person looking to
purchase some bit of hardware can merely look for that one sign, and
it'll be "guaranteed" to work.

Simplicity is a very good thing, in this case -- the easier it is for a
consumer to check/notice/comprehend something, the more likely they are
to use it and put value into that process. This leads to greater
mindshare for that logo. And besides, there are some cases where an
online database does not help you much: for example, if you find
yourself shopping in a brick-and-mortar store.

An online database is definitely a very useful thing to have, for those
who know to look for it, and who can look at it. But aside from that, a
simple logo is what the vast majority of people wishing to purchase
hardware would benefit from the most.

> Regards,
>
> --
> Nicolas Mailhot
> -

-Vadim Lobanov