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OEMs Looking to Ubuntu for Netbook Market
Anon writes "Mark Shuttleworth provides much more detail today about development of the Ubuntu netbook platform, and says OEMs are calling Canonical when they want to start building netbooks. Channelweb notes: 'It's actually a big deal. For example, Dell CEO Michael Dell has been carrying around an early version of a Dell mini-notebook, and referring to it as the device for the next billion Internet users [...] Asus has become an industry rock star by using GNU Linux to power its Eee PC. HP's niche Mini note runs SLED 10 Linux. The iPhone, of course, doesn't run Microsoft software. Is anyone paying attention in Redmond?'"
And here comes the next round from a company on it's way out the door and no longer truly innovating: litigation!
"Is anyone paying attention in Redmond?"
Yes.
At least OLPC and Asus are.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
It really is pretty simple here - there are those who want overcoded, overprotective, overhyped operating systems. And then, there are those who want to use their computer.
The eee, Netbook remix, ume-launcher and all OSS-friendly friends fit into the latter. Let's face it - the operating system is slowly melting into the background. Vista, for instance, is trying to kick and scream its way back to the front of your widescreen LCD - but sooner or later, people are going to 'ho-hum' them into oblivion, and get on their Intarwebs the easier way.
P.S. lolsauce.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Just call it Linux. Calling it Gnu/Linux completely ignores the work that's gone into making Linux a household name. "Linux" is a weird enough name, throwing a little-known water buffalo that nobody knows how to pronounce is disastrous.
The iPhone, of course, doesn't run Microsoft software. Is anyone paying attention in Redmond?'
if anyone is a bigger offender of lock-in it's apple. why do slashdotters act like it's some kind of victory? is this about a brand or about freedom as you all caw on about?
I'm sure that's what they'll want to do, but for Microsoft the chief problem is while everyone else is concentrating on mimimalistic systems whose specs were top-notch six years ago, everything in Microsoft's code base has been going the other way. By the looks of it, they're going to try to reposition Windows XP for low-end systems, because it will run reasonably well on these systems. Vista and Windows 7 are going to be no-shows. There's simply no evidence I can see that suggests that Windows 7 is going to be any less a resource hog that Vista.
And good luck to them recoding for Silverlight. I think they're going to need it.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
OEM such as Dell and HP has always relied on MS to tell them when to upgrade hardware and drivers, but all the time half listen and looking for cheap outs, ergo the Vista flop. They've long lost the ability to innovate or motivate on their own nor understand their users. Linux companies ought to beware of established OEM as partners when they come knocking looking for help on that next sale to bail them out. As soon Ballmer slip a 'We'll give you a Windows XZ for a nickel!', the same OEMs will drop Linux on a dime. And will the same vendor offer dedicated support to help novice users upgrade the ever-evolving OS 3 times a year? To ensure long term success and real Linux traction, whoever the Linux company is supplying the netbook OS must keep up the positive user experience for years, not months.
When user see that they can get more with less money, it's a difficult deal to resist...
I've tried playing around with the Eeee PC, and while I can see the appeal, the GUI experience is a bit sucky. Gnome as is, just wasn't designed with a screen that small in mind, and it shows with the amount of real estate consumed by control buttons and what not in proportion to the data.
What's needed is a kind of minimalist mode, where contol buttons and menus don't get in the way, but can be exposed easily and intuitively as they're required. That's going to be a lot of very hard work.
Do not get me wrong - I'm all for Linux. But I guess the mini-notebook producers have put Linux there because they didn't need anybody's permission to do it. First. Second. I think they also tried to provoke M$ to get some bargaining chip in negotiations.
Now that new market have opened, rest assured, M$ will do anything to grab it.
After all they already brought XP from dead...
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
I guess what I'm a little worried about is if the market perception becomes that Linux is only good for small portable computers/cell phones/etc, that the larger distros will stop paying as much attention to the desktop.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Linux is preloaded on such machines mostly because Microsoft "convinced" the governments of many countries that no computer should be sold without OS to reduce piracy. Manufacturers get around those laws by preloading Linux and even sometimes FreeDOS - seems that they have a good sense of humour :)
This is exactly it. Manufacturers are learning that if they ignore the WinTel platform definitions and just give us the good tech that makes sense, we'll gobble it up.
Some of us will even think of new and clever things to do with it. It sounds scary, but that's where you build the brand values that matter in the long run.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
I imagine Microsoft is being short-sighted and deciding they don't want to promote another platform like Windows Mobile that will never sell a $300 Office or any of their bread and butter.
The nettop is not intended to replace your laptop. That is what your "desktop replacement" laptop is for.
The nettops are way cooler than that and if you would get out of your "can't" rut you could probably think of a few applications in your life that are worth the three hundred bucks to you.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Microsofts choices are few
They can keep selling XP on small devices. But linux is still capable of being scaled down further. Where it goes XP can not follow.
WinCE cant run real Windows XP software. It does not even compare to what can be run in Linux. No body wants CE. Microsoft has not even offered it as a choice.
Vista and Windows Seven are two heavy
Microsoft would be forced to write a new OS or bring back windows 98. WinCE is too different under the hood. It does not even have the concept of "current directory". Microsoft stripped out the mouse API, then realized when it was time to work on smartphones that they needed a mouse API. So did you add it back in. No, they wrote a new API incompatible with the win32 api. They are not going to be able to merge WinCE and Windows Vista.
vi +