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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!
Actually, if you read the latest Distrowatch Weekly, they say that Linux on the Eee PC is almost a thing of the past.
See, I told you soo; 2008 is the year of linux on the desktop. For real this time.
"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.
I'm sure that Microsoft and most hardware vendors are really not thrilled that customers aren't demanding exponentially faster machines with exponentially more RAM and disk space.
How do you drive customer upgrades to more bloaded OSes when customers are demanding devices with lower cpu/ram specs?
As the price of systems drops from thousands of dollars to hundreds of dollars, having to pay Microsoft hundreds of dollars for OS + Office licensing becomes a non-trivial fraction of total system cost.
Also, you can bet that the hardware manufacturer's profits on a $500 device are razor thin. If they can cut $20 to $100 or more off the cost by using Linux, it's worth it.
So, at this point, I have to wonder whether Microsoft is going to try to converge WinCE code with Vista code for Windows 7 to have a single OS that can run on phones / UMPCs / netbooks / laptops / desktops (or at least the same codebase even if CPUs aren't the same). That's probably going to be hard for Microsoft. I expect they'll try to reimplement apps in silverlight instead.
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?
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.
It seems to be the case that, while the Year of the Linux Desktop may never arive, 2008 may be the Year of the Linux n(ote|et)book.
In trying to compete for the desktop, the open source guys have managed to get a strong foothold on the newest, latest, cheapest portables. Perhaps not the particular victory which was sought, but perhaps victory here would gradually translate into victory on the desktop. If people like what they use most of the time (Linux on the portable), it would be reasonable that they would want the same thing on their own desktops.
Like the author didn't find the linux eee booth and decided that was a lack of marketing push, a step on the road to deprecating linux on the eee.
I don't see this at all yet, and if I did it would not worry me. There are plenty other and bigger OEMs fishing for the premium experience you get with linux on the netbook now. Asus got an early lead but if they want to throw their advantage away and return to differentiating their product only by price and color that is their right. There are more than enough other mfrs eager to push the mindshare across the threshold and bring about the unchained era of personal computing.
It will be chaotic for a while. That's when the interesting things happen.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
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.
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.
This comment disregards the whole point of these sub-notebooks:
:)
Photoshop -- on a 10" screen? Really?
Apache -- running on a laptop? Perhaps as part of development...
Desktop publishing -- see Photoshop comment. Hard to do page layout when you can't see enough of the page.
As far as Office goes, again, you're missing the point. Sub-notebooks are fine for creating quick docs and even presentations, but the real work is to be done on a desktop with a much larger display.
Software engineering is a *great* use for this type of system. vi isn't all that resource hungry.
Sub-notebooks are for people who want to carry ready access to a few simple functions: web, email, quick document editing and the like. This are to augment your full desktop, not replace it.
Why do you think the Gates Foundation has sold so much Microsoft stock?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
However, it's likely that once the buyers bring the unit home, a bootleg version of Windows gets loaded on it. Linux is preloaded just to show that the unit is working.
On the other hand, netbooks aren't really living up to the name. They're coming in with more memory and more disk space -- case in point is the Deep Blue H1 (not sure what the designation is in other countries): 1GB memory and 40GB hard disk, and all of $300.
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.
Yeah-- These guys
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=office+chairs+in+redmond,+wa&ie=UTF8&z=12
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Linux was the intial factory option on the EEE which was one of the first cheap subnotebooks.
But now on the EEE series windows is availible from the factory and runs very nicely. I would imagine once people realise that for a little more (or even a little less in some cases) they can get the familiar XP and use thier familiar appliacations while also getting the micro form factor and of course avoiding vista the EEEPC 900 with XP will look like a very attractive option.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
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.
How can a scripting language suck cum from an anus? It doesn't have a mouth, lips or lungs.
Is everbody using linux the "win"-situation?
:)
For me the "Win" is having an open enough environment that you can use most software without "Having" to use Windows. Like the IBM PC eventually became. I also think Vista is Microsoft's "Micro-Channel Architecture" which was IBM's last attempt at lock in. It seems to be doing about as well.
Save your personal attacks: I'm not the moderator, and the post was never intended for an "insightful". At all. I had just spent seven hours doing full Windows re-installs on a server pool so, frankly, I was a little anti-Microsoft.
I wasn't particularly enamored with the distro pre-installed on the eee. Other than a nice webcam and skype implementation (which is not FOSS, so really, what is the point?), I found it a big cludgy, unnecessarily kid like, a little unreasonably slow, and basically not nearly as clean or simple as standard Ubuntu, OS X, or Windows XP. Now, if they put out a Linux eee clone that was even cheaper, and ran faster and basically looked and felt like a clean XP install.... Then, yeah, I think people would enjoy their Linux time and want to use the OS again in the future. In it's current implementation, it was much better than sugar, but I'd only rate it somewhere in between windows 98 and mac os 9 in it's feel and speed and look. Not a very high mark on my scale.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.