Slashdot Mirror
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
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