tomh38:
Thanks for your reply

Tech support is IMO a bigger issue even than funding. Even with hardware failure left aside, I expect the target audience to be more dependent than average on support. Without a good detailed plan on this, the plan as a whole is set to self-destruct. Customer trust and satisfaction are very important in this line of business. And, different from vendors of other OS's, I don't have the luxury to say: "A billion other people are using this OS, and they are _not_ complaining".

On the other hand, support will probably be the main source of income in a business like this. Will I be able to provide it? Not now, not on my own, and not without a good and detailed assessment of what the audience needs, what is serviceable, and how to yield proper benefits (<= Not really sure about the usage of 'yield')
Sure! I can set up a desktop or laptop in a nice and sensible configuration. And if nobody does anything to it that is outside the scope of what it was set up for, all will be alright. And helping someone set up a new mail account can be done digitally, if need be. So the audience that is not really demanding on a machine will be alright; browser/email/solitaire/word_processor type of users.
What else have you? More demanding users with webcams and VoIP. Frontpage, anyone? Seriously... is there a good alternative? Nvu maybe, but it doesn't automagically include javascript. Would I need to be able to provide an alternative? How about all the beautiful Peripherals like winprinters that pose a financial benefit to the buyer over a proper hardware driven printer that does work out of the box?
Maybe introducing the wonderfully complicated world of Service Level Agreements is something to consider (plan pending). But I fear it may still be more weight than I can carry.
nubcnubdoYeah... good links. You kept me busy for a long time ;-) There are quite a lot of them small boxes out there. Attractive. I knew some of them, saw some new ones, and found many more following my nose. Via had some interesting ones (a laptop among them), although they didn't list a price :-(
But, as mentioned above, many if not all are headless. Which means that unless someone already has a monitor, the price falls out a lot higher (may double in some cases). Also, the thin clients among them may not be a preferable solution in many cases. The support deals on the other hand, as far I could tell where not at all bad. Power consumption is also an issue these small devices address. 5~6 watts in some cases, but that is not counting the monitor. Still... impressive.
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Well, as I said. What I think is lacking in the world of Linux is a good amount of exposure to the people. A place where you can see Linux, work with Linux, check it out without fear of ruining your system. I've had this plan I was thinking about, to change this and make a living. What is wise? Maybe wisdom is staying silent about your silly plans (default)... Maybe wisdom is speaking out and doing something innovative; filling a perceived hole in the market. But, as far is it's now... tech support is wanting wisdom. And I'll be needing a business partner. Hmmm. At least I've got something to break my head over, keeps ya sharp :-D