I would tend to agree with Maximilian Jackson on this. From the stand point of the vendor & reseller, this is a low-margin item. Competition in the netbook market is fierce. A big part of the projected cost of the product is probably support. Preventing inexperienced users from touching the command line limits their ability to modify the system. This should have the effect of reducing support calls that are in the category "loose nut on the keyboard", as we referred to it back in my days of end-user service and support. (8->
I also agree with you, Soh Kam Yung - this is another indicator of the growing acceptance of GNU/Linux. In particular, it demonstrates vividly the power it gives the vendor to do exactly what it wants with the software. FOSS began as the most demanding software environment possible, accessible only to specialists.Will it bring us to the point of ubiquitous, appliance-like computing for the non-technical user faster than the proprietary systems? I like to think so. As a plus, If you're comfortable at the command line and you like the hardware, you can probably run anything on it that you want. It's a win-win proposition. CDR On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 9:24 AM, Maximilian Jackson < [email protected]> wrote: > hmmm, maybe their target market is for noobs to the linux world or even for > the computing world for that fact. > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Soh Kam Yung <[email protected]> > *To:* slugnet <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Friday, 9 January 2009 9:19:39 > *Subject:* [Slugnet] ArsTechnica: Linux-based HP Mini Mi ships with > command line disabled > > [ > http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2009/01/08/hp-introduces-command-line-free-linux-netbook > ] > > ===== > Linux-based HP Mini Mi ships with command line disabled > By Erica Sadun | Published: January 08, 2009 - 03:47PM CT > > Yesterday, while looking through the Comdex news feeds, I stumbled > across a Mini Mi 1000 HP product announcement from HP. The Mini Mi > retails from just $329.99 and ships with Mobile Internet, a > "user-friendly, all-inclusive interface built on Linux". What caught > my eye on the product page wasn't the description of the GUI, it was > what followed on the next line. Preceded by "Please note" in bold, the > HP page states "the Linux command line interface is disabled on this > edition." > > [...] > > I write from a very particular viewpoint: I am, at least as far as > Linux is concerned, almost exclusively a command-line user. For me, > the notion that there could be a Linux distribution without > command-line access sounded strangely like Heresy. And yet, could > there be a greater vote of confidence in the consumer power of Linux > distributions than HP's decision to move forward with this version of > Mobile Internet? > > [...] > ===== > -- > Soh Kam Yung > my Google Reader Shared links: > (http://www.google.com/reader/shared/16851815156817689753) > my Google Reader Shared SFAS links: > (http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/16851815156817689753/label/sfas) > > _______________________________________________ > Slugnet mailing list > [email protected] > http://wiki.lugs.org.sg/LugsMailingListFaq > http://www.lugs.org.sg/mailman/listinfo/slugnet > > ------------------------------ > Importing contacts has never been > easier..<http://sg.rd.yahoo.com/sg/mail/trueswitch/mailtagline/*http://www.trueswitch.com/yahoo-sg//> > Bring your friends over to Yahoo! Mail today! > > _______________________________________________ > Slugnet mailing list > [email protected] > http://wiki.lugs.org.sg/LugsMailingListFaq > http://www.lugs.org.sg/mailman/listinfo/slugnet > >
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