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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
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
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.
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.
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
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!
From what I know the screen can be updated reasonably quickly (because movies can play smoothly) but from what I can also gather is that this only occurs once the device clocks itself to 400mhz and talks directly to the lower graphics driver.
I am not afraid of direct hardware knocking but think I need to get lower than python+gtk to get there.
http://maemo.org/development/documentation/how-tos/4-x/maemo_architecture.html#SWDecomposition
liqbase
The poster below is correct; Apple has several models of both computers:
13" 2.0 Ghz White Macbook
13" 2.2 Ghz White Macbook
13" 2.2 Ghz Black Macbook
15" 2.2 Ghz Macbook Pro
15" 2.4 Ghz Macbook Pro
17" 2.4 Ghz Macbook Pro
Each one has a separate marketing part number and get recorded separately during sales. The thing to keep in mind is that there are still probably a lot less models available then Dell or Acer or Hp machines, and so the numbers are still likely to be artificially inflated but not as much as the OP indicates.
One of these days i'm going to find this 'peer' guy and reset HIS connection!
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.
- 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!
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.
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.