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Linux And Unix Devices Popular On Amazon's 'Best of '07' List
christian.einfeldt writes "Computers and handheld devices running default GNU Linux or Unix OSes have swept Amazon's 'best of' list for 2007, according BusinessWire.com for 28 December 2007. Best selling computer? The Nokia Internet Tablet PC, running Linux. Best reviewed computer? The Apple MacBook Pro notebook PC. Most wished for computer? Asus Eee 4G-Galaxy 7-inch PC mobile Internet device, which comes with Xandros Linux pre-installed. And last, but not least, the most frequently gifted computer: The Apple MacBook notebook PC."
Linux is cute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aufL76bXLAg
I got one a couple of weeks ago and I am more than happy with it.
.net code which I thought crawled along). It appears as though its main problem is refreshing the 800*480 screen quickly.
However it is not a slick device like an iphone.
Does anyone have any information about a Windows based development toolchain?
Currently I am starting with Python+gtk but on the device I am finding performance limited (even compared to the old pocket pc
liqbase
It sold out in Myer stores (the only retailer) within a couple of days of the initial release. I read reports of schools buying them by the dozen and families buying one for each member of the family.
The last I heard they were getting more in just before Christmas but a lot of those had been pre-sold in December. I don't think Linux is a negative for the people who buy this product. They like the fact that it has open office out of the box, which is a bigger money saver than the OS.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
reading the list myself I think it needs some filtered perception to summarize it like it was done for this entry. This is
605413? Yes, it's a prime.
From this, it seems like there is a growing demand for small scale tablet PC's, like Nokia's model. I wonder how Apple's new oft-rumored ultra-portable will do in this market.
I doubt Vista can thrive on such devices in the near future, because it is such a resource hog, and will thus tend to drain small batteries too quickly. Flexible Unix OS's seem more suitable for these devices. Windows mobile is simply horrendous, and I doubt Microsoft is quick footed enough to adapt its newer generation OS's in time. These small computers are an interesting trend that could perhaps change the playing field for computers.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
Currently, the first review of the EEE PC is from someone who installed windows XP on it. (A great little Windows computer!!).
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Not true. Macs only stand out in Amazon statistics cause Apple has only two models of laptops, the Macbook and Pro, where as there are dozens of PC manufacturers with sometimes hundreds of different models, all listed separately on Amazon. So sales figures for Apple's ones inevitably end up looking better than for any single PC laptop.
... and I'm writing this on a Macbook, so there!
www.tribalnetworks.org - helping tribal people around the world to own their own means of high-tech communications
If you take the definition of "electronics" to be anything that has a microprocessor, ram, program storage, and I/O, then all of these would be "electronics", but I don't think any of them run Linux. I might be wrong, and some of them might run Linux, but I am sure that at least one of them doesn't.
If the Canon A570IS ran a GPLd OS, that would be awesome to modify that so that I can do things that Canon hadn't thought of or doesn't want users to be able to do, like time-lapse, recording RAW, changing the menu system, etc...
Yes, there are a lot of devices running Linux or Unix on the Amazon "Best-Of" list, but it isn't a sweep unless you mean "computers", but even then the line gets fuzzy.
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
Now, the "Linux Desktop" fantasists can finally let it go. There will be no "year of the Linux desktop", just as there will be no "year of the Linux mainframe".
Like the $1,000,000 "mainframe", the DEC $100,000 "minicomputer", and the Sun $10,000 Unix "workstation", each major generation had its most-popular software environment, the one with highest network effects.
Pushing for a change in the desktop from Windows to Mac or Linux is, in 10 years, going to seem like striving to continue the VMS vs Unix wars on the VAX platform.
What 2008, 2009, and 2010 are going to be are the "years where appliances took over half the desktop functions" - you still want a big monitor and ergo keyboard to Photoshop, do development of web pages and code, and so on. But people sitting right at their desktop will whip out their paperback-sized appliance to do E-mail and chat, because that's where their communication apps live.
And, yes, those new appliances will mostly run Linux. What else?
All the hot new developers and innovative companies are not going to hogtie themselves to proprietary platforms like Windows and Mac; they've tossed themselves out of the running by their lack of freedom. They can put out their own product entries, sure -- but as Bill Joy said, most of the smart people in the world don't work for you.
yeah, updating that screen with any speed is the achilles heel of the n8x0. These things are super-cool though, and turn out to be more useful than I thought.
They also seem to spread virally. I know of 2 people who bought n800s after seeing mine, and they aren't IT professionals either.
Apple have 3 models of Macbook, and 3 of Pro, each of which have a separate amazon listing.
It's simply a matter of time before Unix-based operating systems become the de-facto standard in portable electronics. Companies may be able to leverage their skills in their native markets (i.e., MS on the PC), but the portability of Linux makes it a no-brainer for royalty-free devices. FOSS's agnostic approach to interfacing with other technologies makes it ideal in attaining the interoperability desired by consumers. Let's share our good ideas so that others may benefit from them.
I, for one, welcome our new agnostic overlords.
"You could almost look at defense of Microsoft as a form of the Stockholm syndrome." -neapolitan
Asus is now planning to build 5 million Eee PCs in 2008. That is equal to Apple's Mac production.
Together with Linux server sales, this will push the Linux X86 market share far above that of Apple.
i think something like this would be more appropriate.
They ARE out to get you simply because They are in it for themselves and they don't care about you.
Amazing. There is not a single mention of MS Vista anywhere on those Amazon lists.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
As far as I can tell, the olpc blows the Nokia internet tablet pc out of the water.
The trouble with Amazon is that it will naturally focus on stuff you can buy. Here is Groklaw's review of the olpc. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071223132431291
My gripe with the Nokia is battery life. My wife's Blackberry goes for days without charging. It has a keyboard (sort of). The Nokia is reported as getting only a couple of hours under heavy use.
Apparently the buy one, give one, program for the olpc is available until the end of the year. I'm sorely tempted. Of course it runs linux and even its bios is open source. The only thing holding me back is two kids in university. AARGH!
You put a -1 in the title, it confuses moderators~
Plus MS pays people to troll.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Let me call you out for a second: do you have proof of this?
Unfortunately, everyone I know who has bought one (around five people) has installed XP on it. I'd guess lots of others are doing the same.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
- interesting device using Deb-like app management... found some Fink scripts on board after installing ssh...
.doc, text reading
:-)
- what's not to like?
FM receiver built in w/automagic polling of station lists based on zipcode!
web cam/camera built in
video playback (nearly any codec - dunno about QT though)
mp3 playback
pdf, MS
web browsing
touch screen
two SDHC slots
USB (albeit non-powered)
bluetooth keyboard support (nearly any model AFAIK - i'm getting an Apple!)
GPS support for external BT GPS units
Skype (don't use it)
IM support (all, AFAIK)
games
- unfortunately, Nokia better get its defecation in configuration on its repositories and software management... at the time of this writing, some twit has horked app install off one of the companies software repositories through a typo in DNS ('repostry' vs 'repository')... i'd be dealing some serious whoopa55 if i were a PHB!
Even if there is no prove which is really to much to ask and unreasonable for a slashdot commend , it is very believable. Just take a look at the acer laptop for bloggers scandal, The people ready scandal and the wikipedia scandal Microsoft was involved in. and than I do not even speak of the ooxml payoffs.
Have a look at the post count on eeeuser. Posts about windows installs are significant but not overwhelming.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Is it just me, or is the use of "to gift" a recent development of holiday commercialization? I could swear I never heard that as a kid; now everything is about "gifting" rather than "giving". I suppose "giving in the spirit of Christmas" is too non-specific: it could mean giving to charity, or giving one's time at a senior center. No, it has to be "gifting", because that can mean only one thing: a piece of merchandise that one must purchase. It's hard to find an ad with the word "giving" anymore.
Fortunately, everyone I know who has bought one (around seven people) has left the default OS on there. I guess they either are happy with it or don't have the technical know-how to install Windows XP.
Let me tell you this: they don't pay us very much.
Those devices may run unix or Linux, but how many people even know that? Wouldn't a typical consumer see that a device does what they want and looks good without regard to the OS? I doubt that many Nokia owners know their tablet runs Linux.
...Mac OS X. Three Apple products at the top of the list. Not bad!
Beauty is in the beholder of the eye.
Shrug. That probably doesn't begin to balance the number of sold-with-Windows computers (or for that matter, Macs) that have had Linux installed on them.
-- Alastair
If the Canon A570IS ran a GPLd OS, that would be awesome to modify that so that I can do things that Canon hadn't thought of or doesn't want users to be able to do, like time-lapse, recording RAW, changing the menu system, etc...
Not GPL, but the CHDK alternative firmware (for the A570 and most other mid/high-end "prosumer" Canon cameras such as the S3) that enable RAW mode and other enhancements for these cameras.
I really hope your native language isn't English.
Putting aside your questionable writing ability (which is surprisingly difficult!), I'd like to point out that there is no proof MS was involved in any of the "scandals" you listed (just because slashdot and the register carry the "story" doesn't make is true). In fact I think the idea that MS pays people to post on slashdot is ludicrous. Lots of people just like to troll and/or play devil's advocate. Given the anti-MS nature of slashdot, making pro-MS posts is just how these people get their kicks.
I hate to break it to you (i'd love to see linux hit the mainstream too), but Apple sales are probably going to be at or near 2 million Mac's a quarter next year, putting their total sales at maybe 7-8 million.
That being said, I got an EEE PC for my father, and he (and my sister, surprisingly to me) love it. He spent something like 2 or 3 hours playing with it christmas night after we got back from all the festivities. I was glad he enjoyed it because I was worried at first it's small size would be hard for him, but it seems to be perfect. The fact that it's linux doesn't bother him at all either, as he already knows how to use firefox, and most of the reasons he wanted something like the EEE was to be able to look up things on the internet when out and about. Overall it was a great success, and I would recommend it to (most) anyone as a gift.
Microsoft has responded to the popularity of small devices by releasing versions of Windows designed for embedded systems. But devices are getting smaller. It's not just the difficulty of porting Windows to smaller devices: Microsoft's licensing model is also not portable to really tiny machines. There's always going to be a device that's too small for Windows because Windows is too expensive to be economical. Why pay a software tax when free software does everything you want?
I couldn't be happier with linux running my hdtv receiver/analog-to-digital converter box from (the now defunct) us digital. I wonder how many consumers are running linux without even knowing it.
BTW, free over-the-air digital television rocks!
http://williambryson.blogspot.com/
Which mobile sold the most units? The one running this.
And it appears they will be coming pre-installed with a Microsoft OS soon.. http://eeepc.asus.com/global/news10192007.htm
Where did they buy their legal copy of XP for the EEE from? I thought Microsoft wasn't selling it at retail any more. I know I can still get it OEM but most people don't have the connections for that nor do they have the resources to install XP onto a machine without a DVD/CD-ROM drive.
I really doubt that he was entirely serious, but I've wondered more than once whether Microsoft does that, when I read in MS vs. Linux flame wars that Linux is "too difficult," there are "no drivers," it's "not mature enough," and other comments that just look like somebody hired a hobo to login at a public library and talk some trash, guided only by a handful of vague outlines of counterattacks to a list of most-common criticisms. In fact, Microsoft doesn't officially pay people to troll, or even to defend the brand in Internet forums AFAIK, but those whose commissions depend on selling an operating system that really does not operate very well have a built-in incentive to troll; the money Microsoft pays them to sell Microsoft. So, what he told you in jest was true, from a certain point of view.
All 19 hijackers were known terrorists 09-10-2001. Lack of FBI intelligence does not justify warrantless wiretaps..
Posted this comment from my tire gauge.
Choosing Xandros was the closer for success. Anyone using the Xandros version of Linux has a truly transparent OS without and special Linus knowledge. As it has been pointed out most users are concerned with what the product will do without having a advanced knowledge of how it does it.
... that Linux tries to distinguish itself from Unix as being its own identity, but when it comes to comparisons they are deemed one and the same. They are not one and the same, they are different branches of the same seed. It's like saying DOS and Vista are the same and comparing the two... they are cut from the same cloth, yes, but completely different.
I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
Where did they buy their legal copy of XP for the EEE from? I thought Microsoft wasn't selling it at retail any more. I know I can still get it OEM but most people don't have the connections for that nor do they have the resources to install XP onto a machine without a DVD/CD-ROM drive.
You can still pick up a copy of XP at your local big box store.
Time makes more converts than reason
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.