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Asus Slaps Linux In the Face
vigmeister writes "From Techgeist, 'Linux just got a major slap in the face today from Asus. One of the highlights of Linux going mainstream was the wildly popular Asus Eee PC preinstalled with a customized Linux distro geared towards web applications. While I personally never got what the big deal was, I was still happy for all the Linux people out there waiting for this day, but it looks like the cause for celebration won't be lasting much longer.
Asus and Microsoft have teamed up and have made a site called 'It's Better With Windows.' The page touts how easy it is to get up and ready with Windows on an Asus Eee PC, while slyly stating that you won't have to deal with an 'unfamiliar environment' and 'major compatibility issues.' While it is silly to state such a thing since Asus built the Linux distribution specifically for the Eee PC, I give Microsoft two points for snarky comments.'"
And make sure you demand your Windows Tax Refund - however little you manage to claw back from them, it'll still cost Asus extra to process the refund.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
It is difficult to believe that Asus did this out of love for Redmond. I wonder how much MS paid for this special treatment, or did they threaten Asus with higher prices?
I still don't see any conclusive evidence thi was Asus' work. I think your anger should be directed at Microsoft. I can't prove it for sure but the whois of this domain itsbetterwithwindows.com reads:
And so we put it in the same state as Washington. Now, I'm guessing this is a PR company and we have a perfect match of Arbirtron Ad agency listing Michael Sharp as Manager, Agency & Advertiser Services for several different regions of the US.
Ok, from there if you google Arbitron Asus and Arbitron Microsoft you come up with two very juicy powerpoints from Microsoft on Arbitron's site.
I would put my guess at 95% that this is a Microsoft run and funded site with little to do with Asus other than get their permission.
My work here is dung.
They definitely lost sales from me... and I regularly buy motherboards from them.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
And so we put it in the same state as Washington. Now, I'm guessing this is a PR company and we have a perfect match of Arbitron Ad agency listing Michael Sharp as Manager, Agency & Advertiser Services for several different regions of the US. Ok, from there if you google Arbitron Asus and Arbitron Microsoft you come up with two very juicy powerpoints from Microsoft on Arbitron's site.
I just noticed those two powerpoints only come up because they're Microsoft Powerpoints so that's not a very strong link.
But that linking is probably unnecessary considering I just found this bio on Microsoft of a Michael Sharp as Director with the Information Security Team. Yes, it's a pretty common name but I'm pretty sure this ad work reeks of Microsoft and not Asus.
My work here is dung.
Without this kind of investigation, you "knowing" who's behind the campaign is nothing more than zealous speculation to non-fanboys. Backing it up with a simple trail from the real world means it can be added to the list of MS's anti-linux propaganda campaigns, and increase the awareness of the companies doing their dirty work.
I can't imagine why it would be sponsored by Asus but they certainly link to it: http://www.asus.co.uk/eeepc/1008HA/features.html
It's linked from Asus's own website.
"It's better with Windows®
The Eee PC(TM) 1008HA comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows XP Home and Microsoft Works. With Windows® XP, you can be sure that your Eee PC(TM) will be compatible with your existing Windows applications and devices. Windows® XP is also easy to use and delivers a dependable experience that Microsoft and a worldwide community of partners stand behind. Visit www.ItsBetterwithWindows.com to find out more."
I agree. This is from 123 Fake St.
Fail.
Squirrel!
http://who.godaddy.com/whoischeck.aspx?Domain=ITSBETTERWITHWINDOWS.COM
Check out the owner's Expert-Exchange profile
http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_1301691.html
"I am an independant web and application developer, specializing in Content Management and Collaboration. My company, CollaborationPeople, Inc. serves clients in Seattle, Washington and the greater Puget Sound Region, although I have clients as far away as Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, CA and Portland, Or."
Registrant:
Michael Sharp
12932 SE Kent-Kangley Rd.
Box 238
Kent, Washington 98030
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: ITSBETTERWITHWINDOWS.COM
Created on: 05-Dec-08
Expires on: 05-Dec-09
Last Updated on: 05-Dec-08
Administrative Contact:
Sharp, Michael rdcpro@hotmail.com
12932 SE Kent-Kangley Rd.
Box 238
Kent, Washington 98030
United States
(877) 788-8066
Technical Contact:
Sharp, Michael rdcpro@hotmail.com
12932 SE Kent-Kangley Rd.
Box 238
Kent, Washington 98030
United States
(877) 788-8066
Domain servers in listed order:
NS61.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS62.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Registry Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Status: clientRenewProhibited
Registry Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Status: clientUpdateProhibited
I've got an Eee that I ordered with Linux. Their version came off in about an hour. I tried Easy Peasy for a few hours till I found Ubuntu Netbook Remix. (I've been a Gentoo fan for years, so I haven't followed that really closely.) Everything about UNR is fantastic except for one thing: browsers crash on it very frequently. And by "very frequently," I mean every time I use it. Unfortunately, running a browser is the single biggest use case for a netbook. I've read the forums; I've tried the suggestions; nothing works for me. I can't even get gdb to give me any useful info. At this point, I'm hoping that a big update comes out that magically fixes it. Until then, I keep looking for something else to try. Maybe Moblin? Maybe Win7? (Yeah, yeah, I know, but I have 9 computers at home. I just want the thing to WORK.) I'd put Gentoo on it, but I don't want to thrash the SSD, and I can't figure out how to get a cross-compiler going on my workstation. (Well, that, and I know I'd spend a MONTH tweaking everything to get it to the same level of functionality -- laptop-wise -- that UNR has out of the box.)
Acts 17:28, "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being."
Well I maybe a prick, but I just canceled the order I did yesterday. It's a matter of principle for me. They won't go bankrupt due to my action but I really don't like being ridiculed for using Linux. There are other companies out there that also offer nice netbooks.
Yes, it looks like a troll, nothing to do with Microsoft or ASUS whatsoever.
If you google rdcpro@hotmail.com email address from the WHOIS record of that domain, you'll find this:
"I am an independant web and application developer, specializing in Content Management and Collaboration. My company, CollaborationPeople, Inc. serves clients in Seattle, Washington and the greater Puget Sound Region, although I have clients as far away as Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, CA and Portland, Or." ...
Regards,
Mike Sharp
rdcpro@hotmail.com"
http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_1301691.html
And also this site:
http://rdcpro.com/
It doesn't seem legitimate to me...
Yeah, cause Asus would be linking to the site if it wasn't legitimate, right?
The Eee PCâ 1008HA comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows XP Home and Microsoft Works. With Windows® XP, you can be sure that your Eee PCâ will be compatible with your existing Windows applications and devices. Windows® XP is also easy to use and delivers a dependable experience that Microsoft and a worldwide community of partners stand behind. Visit www.ItsBetterwithWindows.com  to find out more.
http://www.asus.co.uk/eeepc/1008HA/features.html
Has anybody checked whois database? Guys, it's fake, somebody made a website (hosted on godaddy) just to stir a hornets' nest.
Have fun being played...
"an experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often, quite often, picturesque liar" - Mark Twain
I can. Vista wouldn't run on a machine like that. For MS, it's better if people are stuck with XP than if they get introduced/used to Linux.
weinersmith
It's hosted by godaddy.
Remove Flash completely! Then try it in safe mode. If it stops crashing, try it without safe mode, but still without flash. Chance of non-crashing: 99%.
I found Flash to be the problem for those 99% of all my Firefox problems. Plugins like that should run decoupled from Firefox, in a separate process, or a virtual machine.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Although parent is modded Troll, just a quick whois reveals that the domain was registered by some guy with a hotmail address using godaddy as a registrar (and likely the host as well.. It also uses godaddy DNS. I would also question the authenticity of this website. A whois to the IP shows that it's hosted by hopone.net. Also, there is nothing on ASUS's website to indicate that they had anything to do with this.
Except it's linked from the Asus website in the UK.
The link to the site is on the Asus website.
http://www.asus.co.uk/eeepc/1008HA/features.html
Or somebody in Asus UK is having a big laugh.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Also, there is nothing on ASUS's website to indicate that they had anything to do with this.
Actually, this page on asus.co.uk links to itsbetterwithwindows.com, although I can't find any such links on asus.com.
need4mospd deserves the credit for finding that link.
I appreciate your observations regarding the domain registration for this site, but the site is directly linked from the ASUS website .
So there is no question of this being a fake site.
Except that you may have been fooled.
The site looks like a joke. The register address is a drop box at a UPS store in Kent Washington and if you want you can even find out the guys name with a little looking on whois
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Sadly, this is the norm I run into, and far too oft from people who are strongly OS-aligned; they can't keep their computer from breaking no matter what they run.
Some of us forget, computers are hard... Especially for the untrained. We didn't get "Computer Fun" degrees, after all. Although, that would be pretty sweet!
Too many people expect a "toaster" or "television" experience from a rather complicated piece of equipment. Heck, some of the folk I help with PC issues have toaster and television issues!
End the FUD
I mistakenly ordered a laptop with Vista and the new Microsoft Office installed. Both present a new user environment. I am a power user with Excel, and found it very difficult to use the new Excel. They replaced all of the menus with icon panels, with beautifully redrawn icons, and scrambled the locations up. I'm playing a game of guessing what the icon does, hovering, and reading the "tool tip" to be sure. Talk about an "unfamiliar environemnt".
My entreprenurial landlord teaches classes for small businesses on how to switch to Open Office instead of the new Microsoft Office. If they're going to have to retrain anyway, why not go to something that is free?
(Alternatively, it could just be that I am getting "old". When I was a teenager I shifted from WordPerfect to Emacs with less difficulty.)
Except that site links to www.asus.co.uk Asus's real UK website is uk.asus.com
Your ad here. Ask me how!
I highly doubt that ASUS hosts there website on 1and1.co.uk. Nor would they use 1and1 for their registrar. Especially when asus.com is registered with Network Solutions.
Not to mention that page seems to be the only page that the domain has on it and if try to snoop around it just redirects to uk.asus.com which is where asus.com sends you when you choose the UK for your country. If you check other countries on the asus.com landing page you will see that Asus puts there country sites on subdomains.
nic.uk asus.co.uk whois
Result of WHOIS query:
Domain name:
asus.co.uk
Registrant:
Asustek Computer Inc
Trading as:
Asus
Registrant type:
UK Individual
Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.
Registrar:
1 & 1 Internet AG [Tag = SCHLUND]
URL: http://registrar.1und1.info/
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 23-May-1997
Renewal date: 23-May-2011
Last updated: 22-May-2009
Registration status:
Renewal request being processed.
Name servers:
ns59.1and1.co.uk
ns60.1and1.co.uk
WHOIS lookup made at 16:22:49 28-May-2009
--
Yes, I am quite aware that the website in question is linked on a single page on a single division website of the company. Allow me to step through the evidence again:
Look, I'm not at all saying that this is for sure not an official website partnership. Seriously though, use your brain. None of this seems to be right, so practice some healthy skepticism instead of just gargling whatever excretion someone forces upon you.
It's a logic fail to assume that a link on a single web page means official endorsement. For example, at the organization I work for, I have access to all web servers. I could easily place links on very public websites to all sorts of stuff that directly counteracts the stated goals of the organization (backed up by their actions) and to you that would be "official enough?" Come on.
If you're costing your hobby time, it's time to find a new hobby.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Which has been repeatedly proven to NOT be asus's web site, but is yet again a fake. The correct Asus UK site is uk.asus.com
Which has been repeatedly proven to NOT be asus's web site, but is yet again a fake. The correct Asus UK site is uk.asus.com
Which has been shown to NOT be asus's UK web site, but is yet again a fake. The correct Asus UK site is uk.asus.com. Do a whois on asus.co.uk.
Domain name:
asus.co.uk
Registrant:
Asustek Computer Inc
Trading as:
Asus
Registrant type:
UK Individual
Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.
Registrar:
1 & 1 Internet AG [Tag = SCHLUND] URL: http://registrar.1und1.info/
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 23-May-1997 Renewal date: 23-May-2011 Last updated: 22-May-2009
Registration status:
Renewal request being processed.
Name servers:
ns59.1and1.co.uk ns60.1and1.co.uk
I'm sure that Asus registered it as an individual and is hosting it through 1and1.co.uk. Instead of, ya know, hosting it on their own servers like all their other sites.
Most likely this was a microsite that a small marketing company pitched to either ASUS or Microsoft. Marketing companies frequently get little ideas like this and approach someone that isn't currently their client with them. Because of their low cost they get approved pretty often and you end up with a bunch of little non-uniform sites representing the end-client all around the interspace.
Fake marketing page
Fake UK Asus website you linked to
Real UK Asus website
Yup. Scam site. It's registered to "Asustek Computer Inc" (asus.com is registered to "Asus Computer International") via a German 1&1 reseller/brand. It seems someone is trying to damage Asus' reputation.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
So far as I can tell, asus.co.uk is not Asus' UK website. If you go to asus.com and select the United Kingdom, you are sent to uk.asus.com.
The page you linked shows "asus.co.uk" in the address bar, yet if you go to "asus.co.uk" directly, you get redirected (as in "please wait while we redirect you") to uk.asus.com. I was unable to find this page on uk.asus.com. Furthermore, uk.asus.com is 66.238.93.162 while the page you linked (asus.co.uk) is hosted at 87.106.102.168.
A lookup on asus.co.uk shows that it is registered to Asustek, but it was updated very recently (May 22, 2009) and the nameservers are now at 1and1.co.uk (never heard of them).
Is it possible that someone has intercepted the domain in order to provide "proof" that the site in the summary is legitimate?
They must really really needed for the ASUS Linux experiment to fail. I just wonder what really went on behind closed doors, and what it cost MS in monetary value to squelch the deal.
"In order to compete more effectively against Linux and other providers on these deals, we can now leverage the Education and Government Incentive [EDGI] program to help tip the scales to MS in the deal. After engaging the regional team. the region may use funds to provide services and/or rebates to the customer with the following limitation:
"Not to exceed the estimated Windows royalties recognized by MS from the OEM selling the PC's to the customer (in the example, 50,000 PC's at approx. $100/PC for OEM Windows XP Professional would result in a maximum of $5M for the individual deal)"
It is essential, therefore, that we use this in only in deals we would lose otherwise
"Bottom line do our best to show the great value of our software to these customers and ensure we get paid for it under NO circumstances lose against Linux before ensuring we have used this program actively and in a smart way
davecb5620@gmail.com
http://www.asus.co.uk/ is not Asus UK website. Check out http://uk.asus.com./ Also check whois info for both.
For asus.com:
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com/
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Expiration Date: 2011-10-24
Creation Date: 1995-10-25
Last Update Date: 2007-03-29
Name Servers:
dns3.asus.com
dns7.asus.com
For asus.co.uk:
Domain name:
asus.co.uk
Registrant:
Asustek Computer Inc
Trading as:
Asus
Registrant type:
UK Individual
Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.
Registrar:
1 & 1 Internet AG [Tag = SCHLUND]
URL: http://registrar.1und1.info/
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 23-May-1997
Renewal date: 23-May-2011
Last updated: 22-May-2009
Registration status:
Renewal request being processed.
Name servers:
ns59.1and1.co.uk
ns60.1and1.co.uk
Furthermore, if you look around the fake site, you'll see that it redirects to uk.asus.com for all URLs that you feed to it (thus creating the illusion that it is indeed an official Asus site), except for that one URL which opens the webpage linking to the site in TFA.