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A Windows CE Shell For Netbooks

Posted by timothy on from the why-why-why-why-would-anyone-want-that dept.

nerdyH writes "Netbooks such as the Acer Aspire One and Lenovo Ideapad S9 usually ship with SSD storage and the Linux operating system in low-end configurations, or else with hard drives and Windows XP Home at the higher end of the market. Therefore, customers who want a "Windows experience" have no choice but to shell out for extra RAM and disk storage, potentially impacting battery life. Perhaps not for long. Quarta Mobile says its open-source (yes, open source) "MID-Shell for Windows Embedded CE 6.0" provides a Microsoft-based alternative to Linux for low-end devices with SSDs (solid state disks)."

2 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Who would want that? by JamesP · · Score: 1, Troll

    There is one very important detail

    Windows CE for desktop PCs SUCK.

    Case in point, the AMD "lunchbox" that came out a couple of years ago. The thing was AWFUL.

    And why is that??

    Windows CE only allow full-screen windows. There is no concept of overlapping windows / resizing / moving.

    For a mobile phone it's quite OK. But for a PC...

    --
    how long until /. fixes commenting on Chrome?
  2. Re:Limits by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Yes.. but you can't have the entire functionality. As you've said, it can _read_ Office 2007. So you would have a good argument if it was true.

    Actually, you end up with **FAR BETTER** functionality.

    OpenOffice 3 can:
    - read and write OpenDocument (ODF) format.
    - read and write legacy MS Office binary formats.
    - read and write PDF format, and
    - read only Office 2007 format (not OOXML, but Office 2007).

    MS Office 2007 can:
    - read and write MS Office legacy binary formats, with some compatibility issues.
    - read and write Office 2007 format (not OOXML, but Office 2007).

    So you are far better off functionality-wise with OpenOffice 2003.

    The real kicker comes of course when you look at the price. Choosing OpenOffice 3 over MS Office 2007 is a slam dunk, no brainer decision. Anyone with even half a brain absolutely would go with OpenOffice 3.

    BTW, that is on a desktop ... on a netbook it is even more so the obvious choice to go with OpenOffice 3. You can run it natively under Linux ... you can't do that with Office 2007.

    Not to mention the other obvious advantages of running Linux ... e.g. better security, no need to install perfomance-robbing subscripion-ware anti-virus anti-malware software.

    Finally, BTW ... using Linux on your netbook is better for connectivity with a business network. The Windows variant netbooks come with only XP Home ... which only works with workgroups and not Windows domains.

    Every which way you examine it ... you end up being far better off if you run a decent Linux distribution (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Mandriva or SuSe if you must) on a netbook.