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Asus To Phase Out Sub-10" Eee PCs

Posted by Soulskill on from the taking-the-sub-out-of-subnotebook dept.

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?"

30 of 497 comments (clear)

  1. Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by pembo13 · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

    --
    "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
    1. Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by frieko · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is absurd. Isn't the whole point of a netbook that it's small, light and efficient? Why would you get rid of the smallest model and the most efficient OS? This smells of a backdoor M$ deal. If they offered both OS's on the same hardware I'm sure the picture would be much different.

      Rolling two stories into one post, my friend bought an Asus Aspire with linux. The other day she asked me what the NewEgg return policy was. It took me a while to pry it out of her that she couldn't get on her university's VPN in Linux. I installed the linux client for her. Point is, her first impulse was to return it rather than attempt the learning curve.

    2. Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by pembo13 · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

      --
      "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
    3. Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by Kamokazi · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Small, light and efficient, eh?

      I decided to revitilize my grandparent's old Celeron 500 w/ 128MB of RAM with Xubuntu. I couldn't install it with the live CD, but I got it on there. And it ran like crap. Very, very slow and sluggish...I was kind of suprised So I was about to throw it out, and figured, what the hell, and put XP on it. I turned off the Fisher Price UI, and it ran a HELL of a lot better than Xubuntu. Enough that it turned from unusuable to usable. I was stunned.

      So I see no reason for XP to be any slower than a modern version of desktop Linux, unless the UI is REALLY stripped down. But any Atom-based computer will handle XP as well as Linux without a sweat.

      And MS did do a deal..but it was very front door, not back door. They slashed the cost of XP for netbooks to something like $30-$40. Linux was used first because of cost, but the cost advantage is much smaller now. And the manufacturers and retailers believe that XP will produce fewer support calls and reduce return rates (whether or not they are correct is up for debate), justifying the extra cost. I'm sorry, there is no secret MS conspiracy here for you to be paranoid about. They did their normal thing...they saw Linux gaining marketshare, figured out why (cost), and they compensated.

      Also, it's Acer Aspire. Asus's netbook line is the Eee.

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      As our way of thanking you for your positive contributions to Slashdot, you are eligible to disable Slashdot 2.0.
    4. Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by westlake · · Score: 4, Insightful
      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.

    5. Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by TheModelEskimo · · Score: 4, Informative

      >I decided to revitilize my grandparent's old Celeron 500 w/ 128MB of RAM with Xubuntu.

      Ouch. I have a machine with those exact specs here, and there's no way on earth I would try Xubuntu on it. In my experience, Xubuntu is faster and lighter than the "normal" Ubuntu desktop, but it's not really a "legacy PC" distro to me. My normal choice for legacy PCs has been Puppy Linux, and it has *never,* *ever* let me down in that capacity. It's always fast, does a wonderful job supporting dialup modems, old video cards, and has "wizards" included that help you do common setup tasks.

      It works well on modern machines, too; When I couldn't get Renoise working without JACK on my Ubuntu laptop due to high CPU use, I booted into Puppy and it ran fine.

      In my experience, Xubuntu gets mentioned here a lot by people who have just heard of it, and not tried it.

      With that said, the web is a different place now, with high demands. An afternoon's worth of footwork should net you a *much* better used machine for grandma and grandpa, for free or $10. Try Craigslist, local mailing lists, doctor's offices, etc.

    6. Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by Jorophose · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    7. Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by jlarocco · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Maybe not
    8. Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by timeOday · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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."

    9. Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me by arth1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There's a very large gap in usability between:
      1. Googling on how to install language support, the most pertinent results all being forum posts, and having to enter in incantations on the command line to do it, and after spending several hours, still having it not work.
      2. Going to Control Panel, selecting locality, add language and choosing my languages.

      Don't forget:

      3. Being told that to get foreign language support, you need to purchase yet another package called "Microsoft Office Proofing Tools" and/or "Microsoft Office Multilanguage Pack", depending on what version of Microsoft Office you have. If you have a mix between different office versions, you may need both. And if you want the UI language changed too and not just the ability to use the language in your documents, you need Single Language packs in addition to the multilanguage pack.
      Language Packs (Office 2007+) are $25 for single languages or $200 for the multilanguage pack.
      Proofing Tools (Office 2003-) are $30 for single languages or $120 for the multilanguage pack.
      Per user.

      Not only is it costly, but it's a jungle to figure out exactly what you need.

  2. Or... by wren337 · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

  3. Linux on Netbooks by ArkiMage · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Linux on Netbooks by Yst · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, in the Aspire One community, this has similarly become a common piece of advice: buy the XP model for its better battery; install Ubuntu.

      I bought the Linux version partly for the sake of supporting the Linux product, and partly for the sake of the slightly lower price. But now I'm starting to kick myself, wishing I bought the XP version and installed Linux. It's kind of a Catch-22. The best Linux netbooks available have XP installed on them.

      --
      Karma: Chameleon (comes and goes)
    2. Re:Linux on Netbooks by westlake · · Score: 4, Insightful
      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.

  4. news not contrary by Khashishi · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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?

  5. Good idea by HalAtWork · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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!

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
  6. XP outsells Linux, guess why by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Informative

    I sat posting this on my XP-equipped EeePC 901. Why XP? Because I can't find the Linux version at any store around my area. Whenever I ask whether they'll offer the Linux versions, store managers invariably answer "we won't offer them, they won't sell, people are afraid of non-Windows machine". Can you say chicken and egg?

    Oh and yes, and another thing, the Linux GUIs offered on netbooks are designed for retards. That's also perhaps geeks don't buy them. When I have a minute, I'll install Debian on mine, but even if I had managed to find the Linux Eee, I'd have zapped the original distro.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:XP outsells Linux, guess why by Masa · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Oh and yes, and another thing, the Linux GUIs offered on netbooks are designed for retards. That's also perhaps geeks don't buy them.

      I have an eee PC 901 with Linux. First, the 20 GB SSD is a sweet deal compared to 12 GB with Win XP. Second, the Asus has made excellent job with Xandros Linux to provide easy-to-use, usable-with-everyday-tasks operating system. When I bought my eee PC, I was confident that I'll install Unbuntu eee immediately to it, but now, after a week of use, I actually like the preinstalled Linux. It provides everything I need - and I consider myself a geek - and it has a terminal, which is great, because I don't necessarily need any fancy GUI systems, the shell is enough for most "geek stuff" for me.

      So, in my opinion, the preinstalled Linux is fine for non-geeks. And that's the target audience. But I enjoy it also, and if I some day find it "retarded", I can always install some other Linux distribution and be happy with it. And so can any one geek, who don't like the default installation. So, I don't get your complaint actually at all.

  7. XP outsells Linux because... by The+Famous+Druid · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...it's so hard to find a Linux one.

    I searched the computer retailers of Melbourne for 3 weeks before I found one that had a Linux 901 in stock, and bought their last one.

    Memo to the geniuses of retail: customers can't buy if you don't have stock.

    --
    Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
    1. Re:XP outsells Linux because... by baileydau · · Score: 4, Interesting

      He wasn't alone.

      There was a large number of people trying to find Linux 901's on Whirlpool. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1011353

      Many ended up doing what he did, and got the XP one even though it wasn't really what they wanted.

      Part of the reason for lack of stock was thought to be that the Linux version was supposed to have a larger SSD (to make up for the cost of the XP license). But they were allegedly in short supply.

      --
      Ever stop to think ... and forget to start again?
  8. Re:cheap PC by dotancohen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't work for free. I never will - I rather become an electrician than consider becoming a linux developer. My 2c worth! I worked very hard for this career - you don't like it, then sell your computer and watch TV.

    Who says Linux devs work for free? Do you know what we pay for LabView on Linux? Or what I am willing to pay for Photoshop?

    --
    It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  9. I prefer the smaller sized netbooks by gameguy1957 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Looks like their going to lose sales then. The schools I'm in charge of find the smaller ones better for the students. It's used as an appliance to type, print and for some web browsing. If we wanted a larger sized machine with a hard drive and XP then we'll just buy standard notebooks. If they give us no options in the size we want then we'll just buy several hundred of them from another manufacturer. -JM

  10. It's about Europe, not just UK by BhaKi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are Brits more open-minded than the rest of the world when it comes to choosing an OS?

    Microsoft's Lock-In strategies have stopped working in Europe, thanks to European Commission's efforts to make Microsoft play by fair rules.

    --
    The largest prime factor of my UID is 263267.
  11. Linux versions are hard to get in some countries by Peter+H.S. · · Score: 4, Informative

    Where I live the Linux versions of the eeepc 901 are impossible to get, Asus simply refuses to release them. They give no reasons, but it is well known that MS have been very active in negotiating with vendors like Asus in trying to curb Linux version sales. It is interesting to note in this regard how MS has backed down on their "maximum 80GB hdd" for using MS-XP, since Asus are selling 120GB XP version of their eeepc's.

    Anyway, I find it impressive that Linux sales amounts to a whopping 30% of the eeepc's.

    --
    Regards

  12. So no more small PCs? by Microlith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  13. Re:XP is closer to "just works" for most by badpazzword · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Windows XP installs quickly,

    1. Does it matter for Joe Sixpack how much time does XP take to install if Joe Sixpack doesn't do the install himself?

    runs that software

    2. If Joe Sixpack uses Internet Exporer because he doesn't know there is another browser, why should he care about using Firefox instead? Same could be said for the rest.

    doesn't crash much, and with newer security measures is unlikely to get infected.

    3. With the right drivers you mean. But Joe Sixpack didn't install Windows so he doesn't care about that does he? ;)

    and with newer security measures is unlikely to get infected.

    4. I would be surprised to learn about netbooks shipping with SP3. If they aren't then they are unlikely to get infected if 'getting infected' means the stock Norton antivirus tells you so.

    For Linux to compete, it should aim at producing distributions that support as much hardware as XP, have similar friendly installations, and possibly -- dear god did I say it -- run XP software, because win32 is the biggest software base in the world and it's what users want.

    5. Ubuntu 7.10 supported my computer's driver infinitely better than the stock Windows XP version. I had to download the drivers using Ubuntu and move them onto the Windows partition.

    6. The setup is as friendly if not friendlier.

    7. Wine anybody?

    8. Have you actually tried Ubuntu 8.04?

    --
    When ideas fail, words become very handy.
  14. ubuntu-eee.com by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

    Oh and yes, and another thing, the Linux GUIs offered on netbooks are designed for retards. That's also perhaps geeks don't buy them. When I have a minute, I'll install Debian on mine, but even if I had managed to find the Linux Eee, I'd have zapped the original distro.

    Have you considered Ubuntu Eee, based on Ubuntu Netbook Remix?

  15. Re:Linux versions are hard to get in some countrie by spyowl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  16. Not a stunt; easy to use by Frankenbuffer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Disclaimer: I'm the product marketing manager for the Xandros desktop that runs on the Eee PC.

    I can assure you that this is not an MS stunt. At Xandros we've worked hard with Asus to make the Eee PC easy to use by non-techies. The simplified interface is easy to navigate on a small screen, apps downloaded through the Eee Download capability "just work" in a few clicks without enduring long download times or frequent updates, and there's good interop with Windows. Kids especially find the Eee PC fun and intuitive to use.

    Obviously there's a strong techie interest in the platform as well, so I'm interested in the discussion here. Got some constructive suggestions about how you'd like to use your netbook? I'd love to hear them. You can email me at jordan.smith(at)xandros.com.

    Thanks!

    Jordan

  17. Insightful? Bull shit. by Petersko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "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".

    Moderators: Please don't drink and moderate.