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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.'"

11 of 644 comments (clear)

  1. Meh by SchizoStatic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Meh. I'll just install linux over the windows install as usual.

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  2. Can you say "Bought by Microsoft"? by Terje+Mathisen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This might actually make sense economically for ASUS:

    _Maybe_ less support calls.

    _Very deep_ discounts/kickbacks from Microsoft.

    Personally I am very glad that I got the Linux version of my Eee PC 901: More flash disk and more ram, for a little less money.
    Currently I run the latest Ubuntu Netbook remix, and I'm very happy with it. The last time I booted it into XP must have been during Easter, to debug a Windows problem.

    Terje

    --
    "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
  3. Re:How much money changed hands? by Shrike82 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ok, from there if you google Arbitron Asus [google.com] and Arbitron Microsoft [google.com] you come up with two very juicy powerpoints from Microsoft on Arbitron's site.

    Errr, where exactly? I see a couple of Powerpoint links on Google. Newsflash - all Powerpoint files linked on Google say "Microsoft" next to them because that's who made Powerpoint. Neither of the presentations actually seem to be from, to or about Microsoft.

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  4. Re:That's a damn shame by al3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This website is such a hack-job. I can't believe MS or Asus was involved. The video player is FlowPlayer, the tracking uses Google Analytics, the fonts are all wrong for a MS job. There's no copyright, disclaimer, contact. Nothing. I call bullshit.

    That, and I don't believe MS would be encouraging people to use XP with Vista taking so much heat and Windows 7 just on the horizon.

  5. Re:hey Asus by yanyan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I love Asus motherboards and hardware. That said, the site looks very fishy to me. It doesn't look "professional" at all. The Asus and Micro$hit websites look really polished and complex. Itsbetterwithwindoze looks like an attempt to start a new flamewar between the M$ and OSS camps while putting Asus in the middle of the crossfire.

  6. Re:That's a damn shame by alienunknown · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I just looked at the sites registration details and it looks even more sus. Microsoft and Asus register a domain name with godaddy to an individual and not a company?

    I agree with you, I think its bullshit.

  7. Re:hey Asus by harryandthehenderson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are some people that would like to take an organization's word for what the words mean.

    And those people are incredibly naive.

  8. Re:hey Asus by Meneguzzi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why was this guy tagged as a troll? I mean, despite his borderline vitriol about Microsoft, his concerns about the legitimacy of the website seem pretty sensible to me, if one bothers reading the article and following the link to said website.

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  9. Re:hey Asus by zergl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why was this guy tagged as a troll? I mean, despite his borderline vitriol about Microsoft, his concerns about the legitimacy of the website seem pretty sensible to me, if one bothers reading the article and following the link to said website.

    Hell yes. Seriously, the site looks like it was designed by a 5 year old downs victim and while I don't like the Microsoft and Asus sites, none of those two are made nearly as bad.

    +1 to the questioning legitimacy crew.

    Until MS/Asus confirm or deny a participation in this, I will treat is as non-existant.

    Nothing to see here, move along.

    PS: And if I had mod points atm, I wouldn't have bothered to post this but instead just modded up the grandparent.

  10. Re:hey Asus by clodney · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Have you somehow missed the last 100+ years of corporations lying, cheating and doing whatever it takes to make a buck? Based on what history should anyone think that a corporation isn't going to do anything it takes to inflate the bottom line?

    Have you really never worked for a company that actually practiced what it preached when it comes to ethics and responsibility?

    I've had bad bosses and good bosses, but only once have I had a scumbag boss. Outside of the scumbag, everyone wanted to treat our customers fairly and be able to sleep nights. To a certain extent that is self serving because we wanted to keep our customers, but we often spent many hours trying to resolve a problem for a customer, or implement a feature they wanted. If a customer was unhappy we tried to make them happy. If they felt we had let them down we tried to fix that.

    That behavior goes up the chain. If you are not a scumbag chances are you don't want to work for a scumbag, and that is a recursive relationship.

    Now, every place I have ever worked has tried to figure out how we could get our hands on more money, and that includes charging whatever the traffic will bear for our products. But that is not lying or cheating. We set a price upfront, and if what we produced was worth it to our customers, they paid it and felt like they got value for their money.

    I can't believe my experience in business is that different from most peoples. What makes you think that if you work for a corporation (which most people do) you suddenly turn into a scumbag?

  11. Re:hey Asus by Rary · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not only that, but:

    • the page doesn't contain a single link to either the Asus or Microsoft websites
    • there's no copyright notice or any other legal advisories anywhere on the page
    • neither the Asus nor Microsoft logos appear anywhere on the page
    • hell, it doesn't even mention the name Asus, and only once mentions Microsoft
    • as others have stated, the visual quality of the site is far worse than horrible

    You'd have to be pretty naive (or blinded by Microsoft-hatred) to actually think either of these companies had anything to do with this site.

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