Asus To Phase Out Sub-10" Eee PCs

jeevesbond writes "The Register reports that Asus president Jerry Shen has revealed his company will be phasing out all sub-10" Eee PCs. According to Shen, the 'standard' netbook next year will be a 10" model with a hard drive running XP. Shen also said XP is outselling GNU/Linux on netbooks by a ratio of 7:3. This is somewhat contrary to news from the UK earlier in the year that GNU/Linux units were out of stock while XP machines sat unsold. Are Brits more open-minded than the rest of the world when it comes to choosing an OS?"

Comments

Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[pembo13]

So I'll be going with the netbook with the most features when I am purchasing.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[pembo13]

Thus is the power of Microsoft... the invisible power over the minds of its users.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[Nursie]

Yeah, it's really weird. The whole net book thing was appealing to me because of the tiny form factor. The 8.9 is perfectly useable as a travel machine. Any bigger and you may as well buy a standard notebook.

Not least because you can get one with better specs for not much more cash. The size is a major selling point.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[westlake]

Why would you get rid of the smallest model and the most efficient OS? This smells of a backdoor M$ deal.

.

It could never be because the screen is too small, the keyboard is too small, and the Linux OS is unfamiliar and unwanted.

I installed the linux client for her. Point is, her first impulse was to return it rather than attempt the learning curve.

Of course it was.

Most of us don't have an all-knowing geek to call on for free, on-site, support. The Google search that returns 15,000 hits is of little help to the novice.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[Jorophose]

Xubuntu is a joke of a lightweight distro. It's Ubuntu with Xfce and Gnome. (yes, effectively both)

What you needed is something like a Debian install designed for it (think LXDE) or something like Ubuntu-lite. I think PCLinuxOS has an LXDE-based edition.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[jlarocco]

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you can't get Linux to run on a legacy PC, it's almost certainly a lack of effort on your part.

People seem to get confused by the fact that it's technically possible (and IMO relatively easy) to strip down Linux and make it run on old crap hardware. They seem to get the idea that Linux distros are aiming for that old crap hardware, so Linux will run on them out of the box. That's not true, and with few exceptions all of the popular distros are aiming for the relatively new PC market. So yes, you CAN strip them down to run on a given machine, but it's not likely to work well out of the box. You're going to have to do a little work. There are distros where the base install is meant for old hardware, but Xubuntu isn't one of them.

Trying to run Ubuntu or Xubuntu on an ancient crap machine is like trying to run the latest greatest version of Vista on it. I'm sure you can do it, but you'll need to spend some time tweaking things. The advantage of using Linux for old machines is that Linux makes that tweaking easy and offers more tuning knobs than Windows.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[jlarocco]

You're right, I'm sure if I poured a few hundred hours into it, I could become extremely comfortable in Linux. However, I just wasn't (and am not) willing to attempt the learning curve, not when it's this steep.

Then what the hell is your point? Here's a clue: Linux isn't Windows. It's never going to be Windows. If you don't want to learn something new, stick with Windows and stop whining.

Your entire complaint basically boils down to, "I don't know Linux, and I don't want to, but now I know it's not Windows." Good fucking job! I just always figured Linux and Windows were exactly the same, but now, thanks to your incredible insight, I'm aware that Linux and Windows are in fact different! Wow!

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[timeOday]

Unless I'm misreading the article, Asus will continue to sell Linux netbooks - it's just the smaller screens that are disappearing. I can't believe people consider a 70/30 split in favor of XP to be a disaster for Linux, I think 30% is a pretty huge share for Linux! Heck, if Linux captured 30% of the general market, most hardware would have to support Linux and I'd call it "mission accomplished."

Or...

[wren337]

... did they overship Linux pcs by a ratio of 6:4?

Linux on Netbooks

[ArkiMage]

How many people buy the XP models and subsequently install Ubuntu or some other Linux distro though? For reasons of better RAM or Drive or battery option availability in the XP bundled version of the machine.

Re:Linux on Netbooks

[westlake]

How many people buy the XP models and subsequently install Ubuntu or some other Linux distro though?

.

Not enough to make a difference.

Never enough to make a difference.

The OEM system install has been the gold standard in the home and SOHO markets for thirty years.

You have a warranty.

You have a service contract.

If anything goes wrong, it is someone else's problem.

The geek thinks like a hobbyist. Everyone else is simply out buying a small appliance - and no more interested in installing an OS than in building a bread machine from a kit of parts.

news not contrary

[Khashishi]

The news that XP models outsell GNU/Linux models 7:3 is not contrary to the news that GNU/Linux models are out of stock, if the ratio of XP models to GNU/Linux models stocked is greater than 7:3.

Who'da thunk the ratio would be so close?

Re:news not contrary

[ToasterMonkey]

Lets be real here, all a ratio better than 1/10 Linux to Windows says is the devices are attractive to geeks. That's cute and all - give Asus a cookie, but it doesn't speak for consumer acceptance of Linux.

Good idea

[HalAtWork]

And since only a few percentage of computers ship with high-end graphics cards, we should just eliminate them altogether. Makes sense now that we're living in the twilight zone. 30% of your userbase asks for something? Who cares!

Contrary to what?

[ToasterMonkey]

Contrary, huh? Out of stock could mean the supply was low. Who in their right mind would _overestimate_ sales of Linux clients?
Sitting on shelves could mean they shipped more than enough. Without knowing how much of each shipped, WTF is the point? Guaranteed, they shipped assloads more with XP than Linux. We just throw supply out the window and pretend demand for Linux is uber high here??

Look, Linux needs to take off on its own merits, not with silly twisted theories on Slashdot where things are cheerier than they really are. Linux & OSS are going to start getting some black eyes if you all keep pretending it's something it's not.

Re:30% is not bad market share at all

[thetoadwarrior]

It's much higher than what than on the desktop market. In fact it's larger than Mac & Linux combined on desktops so I would call it a success. The only reason it's not larger is companies wussed out and started offering XP. However, as far as I can remember the EEE wasn't exactly unpopular before XP came out on it.

I think it's a case of companies not wanting to pay for support (with XP they probably go to MS for help) and they lack confidence to keep at it.

What do people do with netbooks that really need Windows? Gaming is pretty much out of the question and let's face it the system is too small to be a main system so how many apps do you really need on it and that can't be found on Linux?

So no more small PCs?

[Microlith]

I thought half the draw of the Eee PC wasn't just the price but the size. Why are they going closer and closer to the size of regular laptops and away from the 8" size?

If they had released a 7" model without the huge bezel around the scree I might have picked one up. Looks like I'll be looking to one of their competitors.

Re:So no more small PCs?

[ignavus]

Sadly, it is like cars.

A manufacturer brings out a small car. Next year, they increase the engine from 1200cc or 1300c to 1500cc. And they switch from 2-door or 3-door to 4-door or 5 door. And so on.

In a few years, they have to bring out a *new* smaller model, as their "small" model is now too big.

It is all because people want a "small" model that has "added bigness".

Come to think of it, the same thing happens with programming languages. We start with a simple, easy-to-use scripting language. Then people say, "But we need this or that feature that more sophisticated languages have". Before you know it, the simple easy-to-use language has grown into yet another complex, high-powered language which only a full time professional can use.

So someone invents a new simple-to-use language....

Re:Linux versions are hard to get in some countrie

[spyowl]

Here's what I think happened:

Several years ago:

Asus: Hey, MS - we are making 8-9" netbook PCs that are going to be small, hip and cheap; wanna give us a good rate on XP - say $X?
MS: Hmmphhh... dream on - you guys pay what everyone else pays - $Y! No exceptions! Oh, and by the way, we'll be phasing out the XP, so plan on running and paying for Vista - $Z!
Asus: OK then, we'll use Linux.
MS: We've heard that before, good luck!

Later:

MS: Hey Asus, your netbook thingies really took off - they have to run XP - we want you to phase out your Linux version.
Asus: Ummm, can't really do that, sorry.
MS: We are giving you (and everyone else) XP licensing deal for $X for netbooks! You'd better do it, or we'll screw with your other products - you know how that goes.
Asus: OK, master, you are the boss, will do.
MS: Good boy.

Insightful? Bull shit.

[Petersko]

"Your entire complaint basically boils down to, "I don't know Linux, and I don't want to, but now I know it's not Windows." Good fucking job! I just always figured Linux and Windows were exactly the same, but now, thanks to your incredible insight, I'm aware that Linux and Windows are in fact different! Wow!"

There's nothing insightful about your comment. In fact, as near as I can tell, it's completely wrong.

Allow me to summarize the original post.

1. Attempted foreign language install. Never worked.
2. Installed Blackberry charging drivers - never worked.
3. Found out customizing shell involved editing text config files.
4. Got VPN working - turned out to be unstable.
5. Old issue - installing Ubuntu on 2GB flash dive. Failed with indetermine problems.

And so, here you come with your "insightful" reply, and claim that his whole post is that linux isn't Windows, and that apparently he doesn't want to know linux.

The only way your post makes any sense is if you think he's an idiot because he wants linux to work, and that just isn't "linux".

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