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OEMs Looking to Ubuntu for Netbook Market

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the big-bad-microsoft-gets-left-behind dept.

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?'"

3 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. ASUS Eee PC by murp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, if you read the latest Distrowatch Weekly, they say that Linux on the Eee PC is almost a thing of the past.

    1. Re:ASUS Eee PC by InlawBiker · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They're losing because they're complacent and huge.

      They do a good job eventually but it's the story of low-hanging fruit. Microsoft is raking is barrels of cash because they can leverage their market position. Now suddenly, BOOM! UMPCs are all the rage. Agile companies like Asus can produce one within a year and Linux is infinitely flexible, especially with Ubuntu on board. They can produce a new distro in a quarter or two.

      It would take at least two years with all hands on deck to produce "XP Light" for UMPC's. They know this so they probably subsidized the hardware on the higher-powered EEE to run XP. Problem solved! Besides, they've spent a gazillion dollars gambling on Vista and the trend towards more powerful computers. They don't want to admit they were wrong.

      But the price is creeping up towards $600 now. The whole point was to make a $300 'Net surfer you can use from your kitchen.

      MS will do their best to not miss this boat but they'll have to subsidize the hardware somehow to bring the price down, or hope people don't mind paying more.

  2. Re:They are listening by amirulbahr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Which raises the question: What are the competition watchdogs around the world going to do about this?

    Here in Australia, ASUS has somehow managed to price its Eee PC 900 with XP Home cheaper than the Linux version by about $50. They claim that it is justified by the difference in storage capacity (12 GB in the XP version versus 16 GB in the Linux one).

    This reeks of anti-competitiveness, yet not a word to be heard from the ACCC (Australia's consumer and competition watchdog).