Mad Penguin: Tux Goes Retail: How Open Source is Faring in Big Box Retail Stores | Linux Today

Mad Penguin: Tux Goes Retail: How Open Source is Faring in Big Box Retail Stores

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Mar 25, 2006

[ Thanks to silentbob4 for this link.
]

“Free open source software is making slow in-roads into the
world of big box retail. This article is the first of a series of
two Mad Penguin articles which take a detailed look inside the
world of retail as Tux is experiencing it. Today, in Section One
Mad Penguin goes shopping to see what can be seen in four retail
big box stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, complete with short
videos inside some of those stores for the purpose of providing a
wee bit of context. Later in today’s article, in Section Two, Mad
Penguin takes a look at how software distribution works and why
open Tux’s move into big box retail marks a big change from its
historical pattern of distribution through LUG meetings, mirrors,
and Linux how-to books. Finally, in next weeks article, Mad Penguin
interviews Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony; Xandros CEO Andreas
Typaldos; Mepis Linux founder Warren Woodford; and Kevin Jones,
Micro Center Vice President of Merchandising, to get their take
Tux’s jump into big box retail…”

Complete
Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

Linux Today Logo

LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.