Summary: ASUS is said to be embracing Linux for tablets, HP carries on with Linux in tablets (or another form factor), and Microsoft will use its own employees as guinea pigs for phones

ASUS made a lot noise about "better with Windows" after it had changed operating systems on the Eee PC, probably because Microsoft paid for fake endorsements again.

We wrote about the subject of ASUS many times before, with posts that include:

1. ASUS: “Currently, We're Closely Tied up With Microsoft”
2. ASUS Enters the Slog Business
3. More Suspicious Moves from ASUS
4. It's Unofficial: Microsoft Pays ASUS (Kickbacks) to Block GNU/Linux. Will EU Commission Step in?
5. ASUS Profits Fall 94% After Getting “Closely Tied Up with Microsoft” at the Expense of GNU/Linux
6. Russia's Antimonopoly Service Targets ASUS, Toshiba, H-P, Samsung and Dell for Potentially Colluding with Microsoft
7. ASUS Express Gate: Could Microsoft Stand in the Way?
8. ASUS: Want GNU/Linux (Express Gate)? Buy Windows.
9. No, ASUS Did Not Abandon Netbook Linux

ASUS is one company that suffered from becoming a Microsoft partner and according to reports from Germany, ASUS abandons Vista 7 in favour of the Linux-based Android, at least for tablets:

Acer is switching its consumer-oriented EP101TC tablet (pictured) from Windows CE to Android, claims NetbookNews. Meanwhile, HP has trademarked the word "Palmpad," which is likely to be the name for its upcoming WebOS-based tablet, says The Inquirer.

More information here:

Asus Eee Pad abandons Windows 7 CE for Android

According to a report from Germany the Asus Eee Pad will run a tablet version of Android after switching to the mobile OS from Windows.

Likewise, HP dumps Vista 7 for the Linux-based webOS and it has just trademarked "PALMPAD".

Hewlett Packard filed a trademark for the term PALMPAD on July 9th, leaving open speculation that PALMPAD may be the moniker of HP's rumored webOS-powered tablet.

New applications and games still reach the Palm-branded phones. How about:

Angry Birds, where you fling birds at pigs in an effort to smash them and get your eggs back. It sounds simple and it is, but it's also fun, addictive, and features some ingenius level design and great artwork.

Our reader Ziomatrix, who owns a Palm Pre, says that "those "crap apps" are some of the best selling on iTunes apparently. I found plenty of good exclusives on my own and don't feel the need to be 100s of duplicates of those that do roughly the same to constitute a healthy dev community.

“I find WebOS's dev community a cooperative while iTunes is a jungle...”
      --Ziomatrix"I find WebOS's dev community a cooperative while iTunes is a jungle, and Android is fluctuating between the two with only Google apps such as Google Voicemail and Goggles leading the way in killer apps."

Microsoft's Windows seems unable to keep up with Linux on devices, but what about Apple?

Well, Apple continues to bring trouble upon itself with rather bizarre trademark bullying because Apple still is all about branding. The latest example: [via]

Frustrated Apple customers dealing with new faulty iPhones may think they belong in the loo but a Perth company's foray into toilet humour got them into trouble with the technology giant.

According to another report [via], Apple intends to push advertisements into people's desktops. That's not too nice, is it?

It sure seems like proprietary software is a poor fit for devices. It requires far too much work and investment in development is thus risky. Linux is modular, so developing devices with free/libre stacks makes perfect practical sense. Here is a bait headline which says "Bye, Linux, I'm into Windows 7 Now!"

This somewhat satirical headline leads to the point that Windows -- like Mac OS X -- has idealogical and pragmatism-related deficiencies:

SO, I AM BUYING WINDOWS 7. Only I am not doing it RIGHT AWAY. I will buy it when Turner can guarantee on his job that I can use Windows 7 to go online without an antivirus for a year, without ANY FURTHER DOWNLOAD, and my HD remains pristine, for today SECURITY is one indispensable condition of a SUPERIOR OS. In the meantime, I am going to use 42% of the $140 Windows 7 Home Premium license to buy Mandriva Spring Powerpack and then I am going to support other Linux-related projects with the rest.

Microsoft is desperately trying to sell some hardware. Artificial scarcity in software won't last forever. Windows is breaking. It depended on inertia.

Mary Jo Foley says: "90K down... just under 30 million to go: RT @simchabe: Woot. Every single microsoft employee will get a windows phone 7"

Ziomatrix responds with: "I wonder if MS will include these in their initial Windows 7 phone sales PR?"

Microsoft always embellishes or lies about such figures. In this case, 'sales' of those Vista [sic] phones will exceed sales of KIN by orders of magnitude just by virtue of Microsoft eating its own dogfood, forcibly. ⬆