Intel wins, and Microsoft loses
Thanks to its combination of Intel hardware and a non-bloated Linux install, reviewers found that Asus's little laptop performs just as well as much larger and more expensive Windows notebooks. And the company spent enough time tweaking the unit's default Linux distro that Windows users will supposedly feel right at home.
Asustek decided that the Windows operating system was out of the question. The licensing costs would have been the most expensive part of the computer. So it decided to use Linux and build its own user interface, and that became the most time-consuming part of the project.
”Asustek ought to re-consider its selection process and choice of this KDE-based distribution.“Sadly enough for the Eee, Asustek chose Xandros Linux to work with. Xandros is among those that send Microsoft royalties for the use of Linux (probably per units that is sold, which contradicts the ideology of Free software). Xandros was virtually 'bribed' by Microsoft to play along with the 'mythical patent plot'. Xandros betrayed the very same people that gave it 20+ years of work (GNU and Linux code).
Asustek ought to re-consider its selection process and choice of this KDE-based distribution. The next models of the Eee will be out early next year. There's time to accommodate underlying changes. There are many other (and better) options if the company insists on using Linux. These options are likely to be less expensive, too. Microsoft has already given discounts to 'fight' this Linux threat, but that's not surprising. Just look what happened in Nigeria last week.
Whether the Eee is worth buying or not, that's up to the average consumers, who probably don't know (and could not care less) about the behavior of Xandros. The least one can do is making all this information public and educating/advising buyers. There are several other low-cost laptops that come with Linux preinstalled. None of them (with the exception of SUSE in Dell China and SUSE in Lenovo) is plagued by the 'Microsoft Windows/patent tax'. Definitely not OLPC, which serves a charitable cause.
Comments
Maged Mokhtar
2007-12-24 16:18:15
Roy Schestowitz
2007-12-24 23:14:58
I agree with you. It is wonderful that GNU/Linux has been making its way to the 'masses'. The only risk and the only barrier, however, is a case where Linux loses its advantage. Imagine yourself a Linux that is expensive by design or has some key features of it castrated due to software patents.
Based on Novell's distribution of Linux wealth with Microsoft, it is natural to assume that Xandros will periodically pass on money to Microsoft, for PCs that never ever ran any Microsoft products. What if that revenue ('tax') became so hefty that it made Windows less expensive than Linux?
For the record, I enthusiastically promote the Eee PC. I just wish the interface and application layer used by Asus was put on top of a different stack -- one that does not acknowledge mythical software patents. It is by accepting something which is wrong that we make something wrong the 'norm'.
Jason
2008-03-13 05:14:00
Roy Schestowitz
2008-03-13 05:28:09
I sort of doubt this exists (unlike gOS for example) although all the source code for this customized Xandros is available from the ASUS Web site. Have you considered Linpus Linux?. It offers similar simplicity.
See this article from last week:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7223327753.html