It seems more and more people are looking at Linux as a real alternative to Microsoft’s desktop operating systems. Both Russia and Cuba have announced that they will be developing their own national Linux distributions for internal use as an alternative to Microsoft products.
However, it’s more than just former comrades from the Soviet block who are showing interest in finding new uses and functions for Linux. In recent news, Dell announced that it would be releasing one of the world’s first Linux/Microsoft dual boot commercial products with its new hybrid range.
Currently there are two Dell laptops that come with an “instant boot” Linux interface, the Dell E4200 and E4300. The concept behind this design is to give users instant access to email without booting up the operating system and extend battery life by running Linux on a very low-power ARM processor.
Dell is not the only hardware manufacturer to go this route.
Just a short time ago Asus led the pack with its Splashtop operating system. Splashtop is a small Linux OS that comes embedded on the Asus motherboard. It’s a pretty basic system that would allow a user to browse the web with Firefox or to use a VoIP service such as Skype. Asus have long term plans to embed Splashtop into all their motherboards but the option is currently now only available in their high end products.
Hewlett-Packard is also making sure it doesn’t fall behind in its Linux development. With the birth of the netbook, Linux is finding a new home with all the major manufacturers, and Hewlett-Packard are no exception. Not only has the company realised the importance and practicality of using Linux on netbooks, it has customised the Ubuntu graphical user interface for its new HP Mini 1000 Mi Edition.
The new interface looks nothing like Ubuntu and it also looks nothing like the netbook-specific distribution of Ubuntu known as Ubuntu Netbook Remix. The new Mi Edition interface is sleek, silky and user-friendly with applications nicely presented for the user in a very professional way. All in all, Hewlett-Packard have created one of the most well thought out interfaces for netbooks.
Exciting events are unfolding in Linux world with the desktop and netbook versions of this ever evolving operating becoming more popular. While Microsoft will still dominate the desktop market for a while yet, it has definitely lost ground to Linux in embedded applications and low-power processing computer systems.
With the advent of cloud computing, the desktop and netbook market is set to change again in a few more years. Pretty soon it wont really matter what type of operating system you run but more importantly how good your browser is. From my perspective. I cant wait.
Sourcing and further reading:
http://www.reuters.com/article/techn...51A77S20090211
http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3968.html
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/20...-based-on.html
http://www.hp.com/united-states/camp...i1000_mie.html