OEMs Looking to Ubuntu for Netbook Market

Anon writes "Mark Shuttleworth provides much more detail today about development of the Ubuntu netbook platform, and says OEMs are calling Canonical when they want to start building netbooks. Channelweb notes: 'It's actually a big deal. For example, Dell CEO Michael Dell has been carrying around an early version of a Dell mini-notebook, and referring to it as the device for the next billion Internet users [...] Asus has become an industry rock star by using GNU Linux to power its Eee PC. HP's niche Mini note runs SLED 10 Linux. The iPhone, of course, doesn't run Microsoft software. Is anyone paying attention in Redmond?'"

They are listening

And here comes the next round from a company on it's way out the door and no longer truly innovating: litigation!

Re:They are listening

Which raises the question: What are the competition watchdogs around the world going to do about this?

Here in Australia, ASUS has somehow managed to price its Eee PC 900 with XP Home cheaper than the Linux version by about $50. They claim that it is justified by the difference in storage capacity (12 GB in the XP version versus 16 GB in the Linux one).

This reeks of anti-competitiveness, yet not a word to be heard from the ACCC (Australia's consumer and competition watchdog).

ASUS Eee PC

Actually, if you read the latest Distrowatch Weekly [distrowatch.com], they say that Linux on the Eee PC is almost a thing of the past.

Re:ASUS Eee PC

Actually, if you read the latest Distrowatch Weekly, they say that Linux on the Eee PC is almost a thing of the past.

Which is especially strange since the linux version of every model of the eeePC is outselling the windows version on Amazon [amazon.com]. I would say it's the larger hard drive, but the older model linux version is selling better too and it has a slower clock speed than the XP one. I don't know, I don't pay attention to this stuff.

Re:ASUS Eee PC

..but if you read Linux Format, the cover story this month is the Eee PC and the Eee 900. From (Linux Format's TFA: "A current poll of Eee users shows that only 29 percent are running MS Windows."

Re:ASUS Eee PC

They're losing because they're complacent and huge.

They do a good job eventually but it's the story of low-hanging fruit. Microsoft is raking is barrels of cash because they can leverage their market position. Now suddenly, BOOM! UMPCs are all the rage. Agile companies like Asus can produce one within a year and Linux is infinitely flexible, especially with Ubuntu on board. They can produce a new distro in a quarter or two.

It would take at least two years with all hands on deck to produce "XP Light" for UMPC's. They know this so they probably subsidized the hardware on the higher-powered EEE to run XP. Problem solved! Besides, they've spent a gazillion dollars gambling on Vista and the trend towards more powerful computers. They don't want to admit they were wrong.

But the price is creeping up towards $600 now. The whole point was to make a $300 'Net surfer you can use from your kitchen.

MS will do their best to not miss this boat but they'll have to subsidize the hardware somehow to bring the price down, or hope people don't mind paying more.

Re:ASUS Eee PC

Not just yet, when Intel releases the Atom it is basically designed to run Linux and not Windows. I posted about this a while back from a link on TomsHardware. Basically Intel were screwed by MS last time round with their Origami platform, so this time Intel doing things their way and partnering-but-not-really-partnering with MS.

The only Atom chip that can run Vista, apparently, is the highest end one. The one Intel is releasing with a huge price tag. The others will run a version of Linux.

I think its a good thing, the beginning of the end for MS at the moment, just like IBM or DEC before them, they got too big, too interested in vendor lock-in, and the marketplace shifted away from them.

2008 is the year

See, I told you soo; 2008 is the year of linux on the desktop. For real this time.

Re:2008 is the year

I've commented on this before in a Previous post. We are not trying to bring about the year of Linux, we are trying to prevent the LAST YEAR of Linux.

See: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=572739&cid=23648009 [slashdot.org]

Is anyone paying attention in Redmond?

"Is anyone paying attention in Redmond?"

Yes.

At least OLPC [engadget.com] and Asus [engadget.com] are.

If ya think about it..

It really is pretty simple here - there are those who want overcoded, overprotective, overhyped operating systems. And then, there are those who want to use their computer.

The eee, Netbook remix, ume-launcher and all OSS-friendly friends fit into the latter. Let's face it - the operating system is slowly melting into the background. Vista, for instance, is trying to kick and scream its way back to the front of your widescreen LCD - but sooner or later, people are going to 'ho-hum' them into oblivion, and get on their Intarwebs the easier way.

P.S. lolsauce.

Re:If ya think about it..

Funny, I write graphics accelerated visuo-motor psychology experiments and collect data using Python, do data analysis in R, and write papers/presentations in LaTeX, all using less of a computer than those netbooks (when I don't feel like being chained to my workstation).

Maybe you are the one who needs to *grow up* and get over the *clickety clickety* toy software.

see how fun pointless insults are?

Oh yeah, get off my lawn!

Re:If ya think about it..

I don't think you'll be running Photoshop, Matlab, video games, and Maya on a subnotebook. Subnotbooks are more geared towards the things that Linux does really well and it doesn't do any differently from Windows, like surfing the internet, reading email and word processing. The way that you can get people to be open to trying Linux on their main computer is showing them that it is not just a command line (every non-tech person I talk to thinks it is) and that it is as capable of being the full-fledged OS that we all know it is.

Linux critical mass

I'm sure that Microsoft and most hardware vendors are really not thrilled that customers aren't demanding exponentially faster machines with exponentially more RAM and disk space.

How do you drive customer upgrades to more bloaded OSes when customers are demanding devices with lower cpu/ram specs?

As the price of systems drops from thousands of dollars to hundreds of dollars, having to pay Microsoft hundreds of dollars for OS + Office licensing becomes a non-trivial fraction of total system cost.

Also, you can bet that the hardware manufacturer's profits on a $500 device are razor thin. If they can cut $20 to $100 or more off the cost by using Linux, it's worth it.

So, at this point, I have to wonder whether Microsoft is going to try to converge WinCE code with Vista code for Windows 7 to have a single OS that can run on phones / UMPCs / netbooks / laptops / desktops (or at least the same codebase even if CPUs aren't the same). That's probably going to be hard for Microsoft. I expect they'll try to reimplement apps in silverlight instead.

Re:Linux critical mass

So, at this point, I have to wonder whether Microsoft is going to try to converge WinCE code with Vista code for Windows 7 to have a single OS that can run on phones / UMPCs / netbooks / laptops / desktops (or at least the same codebase even if CPUs aren't the same). That's probably going to be hard for Microsoft. I expect they'll try to reimplement apps in silverlight instead.

I'm sure that's what they'll want to do, but for Microsoft the chief problem is while everyone else is concentrating on mimimalistic systems whose specs were top-notch six years ago, everything in Microsoft's code base has been going the other way. By the looks of it, they're going to try to reposition Windows XP for low-end systems, because it will run reasonably well on these systems. Vista and Windows 7 are going to be no-shows. There's simply no evidence I can see that suggests that Windows 7 is going to be any less a resource hog that Vista.

And good luck to them recoding for Silverlight. I think they're going to need it.

Stop the mind control

Just call it Linux. Calling it Gnu/Linux completely ignores the work that's gone into making Linux a household name. "Linux" is a weird enough name, throwing a little-known water buffalo that nobody knows how to pronounce is disastrous.

Re:Stop the mind control

Maybe a new name would be best?

How about "Tux & Friends" ? :p

Re:Stop the mind control

GNU/Linux is the new term to use over a bad breakup. Instead of the tired ol'

I faked every one of them!

you can say

And it's GNU/Linux!

then you storm out and slam the door. Can be used with soon-to-be ex-girlfriends and/or soon-to-be ex-bosses. Can be preceded with the phrase "And another thing:", which is more effective when spoken quite emphatically.

Re:Stop the mind control

You can call it what you want. But at least on Slashdot, you should try to be specific.

Re:Stop the mind control

Right, so I should call my system KDE/x.org/GNU/Linux? Otherwise GNU/Linux would just imply that you're just using the command-line interface.

what does this have to do with ubuntu?

The iPhone, of course, doesn't run Microsoft software. Is anyone paying attention in Redmond?'

if anyone is a bigger offender of lock-in it's apple. why do slashdotters act like it's some kind of victory? is this about a brand or about freedom as you all caw on about?

Re:what does this have to do with ubuntu?

I think in the case of Apple, it's the lingering mindset that they're the ailing underdog (which was true for a number of years). I think that as they become larger and stronger, they're losing some of the underdog image, and some people (such as yourself) are beginning to notice that they're just a company, and worse in some ways than the companies we love to ridicule for their success (Microsoft). People as a whole aren't logical. Expecting them to be consistent is further straining credulity, haha.

LIMP

OEM such as Dell and HP has always relied on MS to tell them when to upgrade hardware and drivers, but all the time half listen and looking for cheap outs, ergo the Vista flop. They've long lost the ability to innovate or motivate on their own nor understand their users. Linux companies ought to beware of established OEM as partners when they come knocking looking for help on that next sale to bail them out. As soon Ballmer slip a 'We'll give you a Windows XZ for a nickel!', the same OEMs will drop Linux on a dime. And will the same vendor offer dedicated support to help novice users upgrade the ever-evolving OS 3 times a year? To ensure long term success and real Linux traction, whoever the Linux company is supplying the netbook OS must keep up the positive user experience for years, not months.

Interface needs a make over

I've tried playing around with the Eeee PC, and while I can see the appeal, the GUI experience is a bit sucky. Gnome as is, just wasn't designed with a screen that small in mind, and it shows with the amount of real estate consumed by control buttons and what not in proportion to the data.

What's needed is a kind of minimalist mode, where contol buttons and menus don't get in the way, but can be exposed easily and intuitively as they're required. That's going to be a lot of very hard work.

anyone paying attention in Redmond you ask?

Yeah-- These guys
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=office+chairs+in+redmond,+wa&ie=UTF8&z=12 [google.com]