Those are good questions, but I don’t have all the answers. We’ve just begun investigating Liscon as a possible solution. I suspect Liscon chose Ubuntu for the LTS aspect and consistent release schedule.

Liscon is based in Austria and I have spoken with the CEO and sales staff. They are actively working to develop a US distributor in CA. From my very limited discussions, they seemed to be OSS advocates and I would ‘suspect’ they contribute back to the community. Likely with code submissions instead of money (they’re a tiny company as of yet).

I would ask the VAR Guy to follow up on vendors like Liscon to provide more detail (right now, it’s not my priority…too many projects)

-Rodd

That’s a very interesting measuring stick for success you have there. You haven’t made it till MS hits you up for patent protection money. Makes you wonder why MS hasn’t approached any netbook vendor already doing with Ubuntu pre-installs. Could it be because Canonical has signed up as part of OIN? I wonder does Canonical indemnify OEM partners against patent infringement?

I find it interesting that MS has so far stayed away from threatening any OIN licensee directly yet. It could be that the best way for up and coming embedded vendors like Wyse or Liscon to avoid this sort of bullying is to hurry up and join the OIN as a licensee.

-jef

So lets talk about Liscon OS. It’s “based on” ubuntu. So what does that mean exactly? Does Lincon OS pull updates directly from Ubuntu’s repositories? Or is it more like how Canonical positioned Ubuntu as a derivative of Debian with its own separate packaging infrastructure?

Is any of the money paid to Liscon flowing back to Canonical or into Ubuntu development? Or is Liscon yet another company that is making money by leveraging the zero-cost acquisition model of Ubuntu without materially supporting the infrastructure that makes that possible?

-jef

Additionally, purchasing hardware through a vendor like Wyse locks you into that hardware and management platform. Many in the VDI/SBC realize the downside to that lock-in and are condsidering alternatives.

For example, we decided to build our own ‘thin pc’ to replace 80 older thin client devices (previously Wyse). Using a fanless Intel D510M0 mobo, 1G RAM, M350 enclosure, and either a 30GB SATA hard drive or 4GB SATA DOM, I have 3X the hardware of the current thin client vendors and each unit cost between $200-250 depending on the storage option. We’ll use our own Linux build, Liscon, or even Windows 7 depending on the use case. I can manage these with any of the various Linux tools, Liscons management platform, or our standard Microsoft tools with no vendor lock-in.

I appreciate Wyse coming to the table (late as it may be) with a Linux offering, but I would personally avoid the hardware vendor lock-in. And the case for using Windows Embedded Standard on a thin client is decreasing rapidly since it adds at least $90 to the package.

Jef@4: The VAR Guy will be sure to ask Wyse those questions when he hears from the4 company.

PunksUndead@5: The VAR Guy believes this Wyse-Ubuntu project is in the very early stages. The development team is still in the formation process, from what our resident blogger has heard. The VAR Guy will be watching to see if the consumer and business projects ever see the light of day…
-TVG

But just because its based on Ubuntu doesn’t mean its going to be Ubuntu in name or in spirit. There are lots of Ubuntu derivatives out there, lots and lots. Is this just another example of a company leveraging the zero-cost acquisition model Canonical is using to cut Canonical out of a potential revenue stream?

The real questions are:
1) Is this going to be branded Ubuntu? When you boot this device up are you going to see the Ubuntu brand in the UI?

2) Is Wyse contracting with (ie paying Canonical) to do engineering work to help build this?

3) Is Wyse contracting with Canonical to provide customer support services beyond the initial engineering of the devices?

4) Will the new interface be considered proprietary (like Litl’s interface)

5) Is it going to make use of the existing repository infrastructure that Canonical has in place for software updates or is Wyse basically going to spin up pre-cooked thin client software images on their own? ChromeOs while originally based on Ubuntu has moved away from deb packaging to Gentoo portage system.

-jef

It is possible that they only sell Ubuntu because it provides needed “competition” to help keep the DOJ of of Microsoft’s back–serves Microsoft’s purpose. I’ll bet you a cup of coffee they had to clear exactly what and how they chose to sell it through Microsoft.

If you don’t actually “sell” a product, how can you expect to do well with it. After all, Dell recommends Microsoft Windows. You have to dig deeply into their website to find any mention of Ubuntu. Even then they only provide it on a limited basis. You think they are being influenced from the outside on this?

Ubuntu thin clients are already available, check out Edubuntu, or LTSP. Wyse is joining the group with a hardware solution. Maybe it will help take-up of GNU/Linux –cheers to them.

http://www.liscon.com/lmd