Study Explains How Retailers Stop Linux From Entering The Market

Tux, the Linux penguin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Portuguese Open Source Business Association (ESOP) has published a white paper which aims to explain the problems laptop manufacturers are facing when trying to introduce systems preloaded with Linux to the market. The report, which is titled “Laptop retail oligopoly: the unnoticed digital divide“, analyses the current laptop market with the help of game theory and concludes that it is “bound to a configuration which is not efficient” and does not benefit consumers.

In another publication from January, the organisation had detailed the sales failure experienced by an open source software bundle, which included Linux, that was pre-installed on laptops locally built and marketed in Portugal. The failure of Portuguese retailers to supply these laptops led to the second study analysing that behaviour by the market.