"Where are we on this Jihad?"

--Bill Gates

Summary: "Red Hat's Adam Williamson discusses the troubling epidemic of Vista 7 Crippleware Edition taking hold of netbooks," as our reader Ryan put it last night

LAST night we had a long discussion (warning: 1 MB page) about this new post written by Adam from Fedora. As he put it, "Only Dell of the major-tier manufacturers has shipped netbooks with Ubuntu pre-installed; the other major tier vendor we’ve discussed, HP, ships/shipped SUSE). But really, what I’m interested in with this post is the question of how Linux is doing."

In order to understand what Microsoft has done in the area of sub-notebooks, people must first look at confirmed stories where Microsoft was coercing OEMs, dumping, and allegedly sometimes bribing and using Intel-type tactics to exclude GNU/Linux. We covered the subject in posts such as:

• Russia's Antimonopoly Service Targets ASUS, Toshiba, H-P, Samsung and Dell for Potentially Colluding with Microsoft
• ASUS Enters the Slog Business
• More Suspicious Moves from ASUS
• It's Unofficial: Microsoft Pays ASUS (Kickbacks) to Block GNU/Linux. Will EU Commission Step in?
• ASUS: “Currently, We're Closely Tied up With Microsoft”
• What is Going on with ASUS and GNU/Linux?
• ASUS Profits Fall 94% After Getting “Closely Tied Up with Microsoft” at the Expense of GNU/Linux
• Microsoft Embracing, Extending, and Extinguishing Sub-notebooks
• Does Microsoft Blackmail Sub-notebooks Vendors?
• What Microsoft's Anti-Linux Taskforce in Wal-Mart Teaches Us About Sub-notebooks

Those who ignore the history of sub-notebooks will fail to understand the present. Microsoft still abuses its position (a monopoly). ⬆