** Reply to message from Tracy R Reed <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:02:32 -0700
> > Don't forget the EEE PC and the OLPC and a couple new ultra-portable > laptops that are coming out with Linux pre-installed. There have been > around half a million each of EEE PC and OLPX deployed. is this what Andrew was talking about? People buying Eee PCs and OLPC XO's and putting illegal copies of Windows on them? I hope not because once again, the average mom/dad/grandma/kid etc is not buying the Eee PC and installing Windows on it. There's no way they are putting Windows on the XO since it's taken Microsoft over a year to do it themselves and they still have not released it. > That's a million > desktop Linux users right there. In fact check out this article which I > read just this morning: > > http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/04/1746237&from=rss I do agree that these devices are probably going to be the breakout devices for common use Linux systems but it's only going to be after the geeks purchase them and hand them to spouses/kids/etc. Not because of usage issues but because retail outlets don't like selling them. I've read a number of stories of retail clerks saying the Eee PC was out of stock only to find that same day from another clerk that there were dozens just inside the storage. It'll take a while longer for them to have been on the market and probably for another year or so. I had just read that Acer is not only doing Linux on a new UMP but also going to be putting Linux on more standard desktop type computers. The CEO publicly stated the reason was Microsoft's control over the OEM and pricing of Windows. That's from the #2 laptop maker, or so the article stated. I think we are on the same page in that Linux is not for everyone but it is ready for a very large portion of the population and what they use computers for, should OEM's back it like they do Windows. Because I don't care to see someone mention games, AutoCAD, etc again I will also restate that Linux is NOT FOR EVERYONE and we know this. The heading of that /. article is not surprising since Microsoft is purely a reactionary company and a fairly poor technology company. It still blows me away that they came out with Vista and didn't build it modular enough to scale down. Microsoft had to work at pulling XP apart to fight off embedded Linux's meteoric rise and produced Windows XPe. And don't forget, that started years ago. Windows CE is a piece of crap and can't stand on it's own without billions dumped into it year after year to keep it afloat and used. It's kinda amusing seeing them have to extend XP and then only XP Home to attempt to fight off Linux on these low end devices. But it was just dumb not building Vista as a modular and scalable OS. Doug -- KPLUG-List@kernel-panic.org http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
