Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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?'"

12 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 je+ne+sais+quoi · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, if you read the latest Distrowatch Weekly, they say that Linux on the Eee PC is almost a thing of the past.
      Which is especially strange since the linux version of every model of the eeePC is outselling the windows version on Amazon. I would say it's the larger hard drive, but the older model linux version is selling better too and it has a slower clock speed than the XP one. I don't know, I don't pay attention to this stuff.
      --
      Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the war room!
    2. Re:ASUS Eee PC by notdotcom.com · · Score: 5, Informative

      ..but if you read Linux Format, the cover story this month is the Eee PC and the Eee 900. From (Linux Format's TFA: "A current poll of Eee users shows that only 29 percent are running MS Windows."

      --
      Grandpa: My Homer is not a communist. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but he is not a porn star.
    3. 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. If ya think about it.. by TheDarkener · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:If ya think about it.. by Locklin · · Score: 5, Funny

      Funny, I write graphics accelerated visuo-motor psychology experiments and collect data using Python, do data analysis in R, and write papers/presentations in LaTeX, all using less of a computer than those netbooks (when I don't feel like being chained to my workstation).

      Maybe you are the one who needs to *grow up* and get over the *clickety clickety* toy software.

      see how fun pointless insults are?

      Oh yeah, get off my lawn!

      --
      "Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns" -Journal of Political Econom
    2. Re:If ya think about it.. by Nulifier · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think you'll be running Photoshop, Matlab, video games, and Maya on a subnotebook. Subnotbooks are more geared towards the things that Linux does really well and it doesn't do any differently from Windows, like surfing the internet, reading email and word processing. The way that you can get people to be open to trying Linux on their main computer is showing them that it is not just a command line (every non-tech person I talk to thinks it is) and that it is as capable of being the full-fledged OS that we all know it is.

  3. Re:Stop the mind control by TheDarkener · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe a new name would be best?

    How about "Tux & Friends" ? :p

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  4. what does this have to do with ubuntu? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

    1. Re:what does this have to do with ubuntu? by khellendros1984 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think in the case of Apple, it's the lingering mindset that they're the ailing underdog (which was true for a number of years). I think that as they become larger and stronger, they're losing some of the underdog image, and some people (such as yourself) are beginning to notice that they're just a company, and worse in some ways than the companies we love to ridicule for their success (Microsoft). People as a whole aren't logical. Expecting them to be consistent is further straining credulity, haha.

      --
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  5. Re:Stop the mind control by Provocateur · · Score: 5, Funny

    GNU/Linux is the new term to use over a bad breakup. Instead of the tired ol'

    I faked every one of them!

    you can say

    And it's GNU/Linux!

    then you storm out and slam the door. Can be used with soon-to-be ex-girlfriends and/or soon-to-be ex-bosses. Can be preceded with the phrase "And another thing:", which is more effective when spoken quite emphatically.

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  6. 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).