> Aim for the mainstream. The SteamDeck, or HP Dev One are not marketed as "Linux machines". Very few people buy a product for the tech alone, but rather as a modern gaming or developer workstation if the experience is good.<p>Well, we really screwed the pooch on that one with our Linux-computer-for-end-users. It was originally "kubernetes in a box!", and as the author points out, didn't sell outside of that niche. I am conflicted about the next line though:<p>> provide a product that simply does its job easier and faster than the competition<p>Well, sure, but... Isn't it a <i>computer</i>? Is it not a dream machine? (<a href="https://press.stripe.com/the-dream-machine" rel="nofollow">https://press.stripe.com/the-dream-machine</a>)<p>Does a bicycle simply "do its job better" than a horse?<p>We're building <a href="https://pibox.io" rel="nofollow">https://pibox.io</a> and boy is it a hard wire to walk: it's a server - we want it to be as capable as any SRE's home-rack (sans the horsepower), but we also want it to be end-user friendly and not require tech skills. We're <i>absolutely</i> not there yet, most of our users are engineers, but I do have my dreams, and they've been pulled off before: A more or less easy to use box that helps regular folks get things done but <i>also</i> puts a proper 'dream machine' into the world.<p>Thank god Apple, NeXT, or even Microsoft didn't just ship "a product that simply does it's job". They shipped computers - and in the muddled and unsellable space between "it's a really spiffy typewriter" and "it can do anything", the modern world was born. Linux devices these days are more like appliances than 'bicycles for the mind'.