Slashdot Mirror
Elonex ONE Subnotebook Shows Right Path For Linux
davidmwilliams writes "Whether it was to your taste or not, there's no denying the ASUS Eee Linux subnotebook was a massive sales success. Demand far exceeded initial production so it's not surprising competitor models are on their way. Just like the Eee, the Elonex achieves cost savings by bundling freely redistributable open source software including, of course, the Linux operating system (specifically, Linos 2.6.21). Those who use the Elonex ONE may well understand it uses something called Linux under the hood, but they don't really have to grasp what this means. They don't have to care that the WiFi hardware was carefully chosen to be one of the exclusive few which has supported Linux drivers. They don't need to tamper with the way their family computer is already set up."
Just what exactly is Linos? I tried Google, and it gave me nothing useful. (Photphonics, and Industrial software)
They might get even more publicity and help if they said "It uses Linos, which is based on [insert major distribution]"
Unless its not based on anything, which would be "cool" but not very well thought through, unless they have a huge Help & Support staff/department.
Unfortunately: this hasn't happened yet (in a big way) in the corporate desktop market. That will happen next year -- as I have been predicting for the last 8 years.
As long as Excel and Word macros are ubiquitously used and locked tightly (not to mention the piles of features built into both apps), Google Docs will have a very hard time prying open Microsoft Office's dominance. Businesses are so dependent on them, in fact, that it would be much more feasible and secure for them to tunnel VNC/Remote Desktop sessions through SSH or VPN and run software off a central application server.
Of course, the client machine doesn't need to be Windows, so herein is a tremendous opportunity for Linux subnotebooks. Configure the client distro to use as much physical RAM as possible, and let your mobile users run everything inside VNC. No need to download files to the laptop, where you can have data leaks.
Other than a small screen, the fact that you'll still buy a pile of Windows Server and Office CALs, and possibly crummy 'net access, I can't see much to complain about this scenario. I'll leave it up to someone else to set me straight Car Talk style. Here, I'll start it for you: "You knucklehead..."
"We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
There is no "gap" between Windows and Linux for general use. Windows has more specialty applications that Linux lacks but that is only because it has been around in desktop use (for most people who use Linux we aren't talking about Linus here....) for longer then Linux has. All Linux is lacking is good support pre-installed by most manufacturers, with the EEE, the XO and now this, it seems like Linux can start being installed on more things. The gap is closing with every new computer maker who installs Linux on new computers.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
As Joel wrote, a good business strategy is to drive the price of the complements of your product down to commodity levels. Decreasing the cost of operating systems will make laptops more profitable, so a lot of the companies entering the subnotebook field will be stimulating linux (and other open source) development. We've already seen this from VIA; I can't wait to see if some big US brands start openly supporting linux development.
Linux has needed a single, unified, vision from the beginning to get past all o fthe choice/freedom crap and get on to a unified UI, a solid look and feel, and most importantly ONE of everything that is best in class and 100% working by default. Since the OSS community will never agree to do this, a company is my only hope (as sad as that is). I'm wishing ASUS nothing but luck.
Fair enough, in a way I sort of agree, in the sense that Linux might be seen as a competitor to Windows as a marketable item. However, a strength of Linux (OK, and the BSDs too) is the customisability of the interface(s), since neither Microsoft nor Apple seem to care much about this. By now, the bigger players in the UI scene (i.e Gnome and KDE) have pretty much got their act together, and their products work at least as well as their proprietary counterparts.
The last thing Linux users need is to be squeezed into a proprietary box. We've seen enough of that already.
Linux is not for everyone. If you want EXACTLY one of everything and a lack of choices because you don't want to be confused, perhaps you should stay with windows. There is a market for a fisherprice OS, and it is you. The strength of Linux is Freedom and Choice. Stick with windows, you'll be happier, you want mind the lack of Freedom, or being force fed some corporations idea of what you need on your computer.
Linux is just the kernel, GNU is the operating system.
GNU is just a bunch of command line utilities. According to the literal meaning, there is no more justification for calling it the "GNU operating system" than the "Linux operating system".
But, as any non-autistic person understands, language isn't limited to literal meanings anyway. Calling it the "Linux operating system" is an example of metonymy and is quite reasonable.
And, as such things go, it will probably still be called Linux long after the Linux kernel has been replaced by something better.
both hardware mfr. and Linux developers
:)
.deb and .rpm.
Yes, but their hardware quality, especially in comparaison to Gigabyte (by itself it's fine), has been in a rather harsh decline since the launch of S775/AM2.
Oh, they don't develop anything Linux/GPL IIRC. The linux distro on the eeePC is outsourced to Xandros, a shoddy company that puts my city's already crappy tech sector to shame. They were also one of the companies that signed a deal with MS, another reason to avoid them (Novell's turned out to be not too bad, the ones following it however were a lot worse).
Still, I love the eeePC, because it was the first and the only subnotebook to be under 400$ and released to the "general market", something MSI, Dell, and HP have missed.
Apple using them as their vendor
Apple uses Foxconn parts.
Linux has needed a single, unified, vision from the beginning
I would like to direct you to kernel.org
That said, really, there is no need for a unified Linux distro. Almost everything is "unified". The only thing that really differs amongst distro packagers are slight kernel modifications, small lib changes (basically things that would make an Ubuntu binary not run on Debian), and choice of package managers; even then, only two are relevant;
get past all o fthe choice/freedom crap
Why are you using Linux again? Might as well go back to MS/Apple if you have an attitude like that. That's not to say we're all elitists, I even less, but if you don't like the "choice/freedom crap" then you're free to leave you know.
and get on to a unified UI,
Why? I freaking hate EDE. I hate gnustep. I hate FLTK. I love GTK. Why should we have a unified UI? All of the major desktops (Xfce, Gnome, KDE) have unified on a set of desktop standards, namely Tango, so there's nothing really non-"unified". Sure, there's different toolkits, but hey buddy:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/microsoft-learn-from-apple-II.media/vista.png (and they've left out non-MS toolkits too!)
http://bla.st/static/blog/macos_interfaces.gif
Yeah, good job Apple and MS! We should really be "unified" too! That's what people want! As opposed to two major ones, GTK, QT, and one minor one, FLTK!
"Linux" looks rather unified to me. Look at how well GTK and QT can play together.
a solid look and feel,
Feels solid to me. If you have complaints make 'em verbose & direct so we can fix it.
and most importantly ONE of everything that is best in class and 100% working by default.
Yeah, like things on the OSX and Windows side work 100% amirite or amirite? You don't have to install every effing program you know. You're free to use the apps you like, and I'm sure it's in your distro provider's best intentions to give you the nicest experience they can. Otherwise you've got a bad maintainer and should leave.
Since the OSS community will never agree to do this, a company is my only hope (as sad as that is). I'm wishing ASUS nothing but luck.
Yeah, like Asus does such a good job; have you ever looked at their xandros desktop? Not exactly farts and sunshine there. I especially like that they mixed IceWM and KDE. That's two toolkits that need to be loaded. Good game, guys.
Wow! You have demonstrated an unbelievably low level of reading comprehension. Congratulations!
In case you missed it I will quote the second sentence: "Windows has more specialty applications that Linux lacks but that is only because it has been around in desktop use for longer then Linux has." Now you can argue whether that is true or false, but he directly addressed your question.
And users care about that distinction because...?
Unfortunately, I think there's a big uphill climb in getting people to accept a desktop.
OS X has gained a respectable amount of traction but there's something that linux evangelists forget:
In order to grab a mostly disinterested audience, you need to have the desktop stay 90% the same year after year after year.
It's not the 80s. Folks aren't used to learning a new using environment every time they buy a computer.
I'm the same, more or less. By doing just about everything I can, except web browsing, on bash, I ensure that when the big leap in whatever interface happens, I can just keep doing things exactly like I have.
The world was really excited to try out new desktop configurations around 1989. It's old news now and we really just want ot get back to work.
The linux for the clueless distributions need to settle on a much more consistant presentation.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
Good idea! When will you have it ready for us? :-)
I'm joking. Linux has developed into an ecosystem, not just a single product, so why reduce it to that?
The people using Linux on their mobile phones, and those using it on their research supercomputers might disagree with your idea of optimizing it for the desktop only.
There's room for everyone.
To be, or not to be: isn't that quite logical, Slashdot Beta?
Ask yourself how many DELL laptops are being shipped with Linux on them, and how many end users will leave the Linux on their new Dell laptop and actually use it regularly.
The answer will surprise you : almost ALL of them.
The MediaDirect functionality that's being shipped on every Dell laptop that comes with the media buttons on the front (so the user can play music, DVDs, etc) without booting the system - is running Linux.
So yea - Linux is out there, and people are using it. Maybe not as originally intended, or to the limits of its ability - but it's definitely being used.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer