How Moore's law is stalling Microsoft and promoting Linux (Asus eee)

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
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The surprise success of the Asus Eee could mark a change in how people view open source — and cause problems for Windows

It seems that the £200 ultraportable Asus Eee PC can do no wrong. The size of a paperback, weighing less than a kilogram, with built-in Wi-Fi and using Flash memory instead of a hard drive for storage, the Eee PC has been winning positive comments not just from hyperventilating hardware reviewers, but also from ordinary people who have actually bought it.

According to an (admittedly biased, because it was self-selecting) online survey of 1,000 users on the independent Eee PC site eeeuser.com, around 4% were dissatisfied with their purchase, 33% found the system pretty much what they expected and 62% thought it was even better than they had hoped.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/06/opensource.olpc
 
I don't own one (yet) but I think this is a huge step in the right direction. Not everyone needs the bulk or feature set Vista or XP offers, and I think a lot of people really don't need the 'living' cost of M$ stuff.

It's a very fair price for what you get, it's quite a capable toy, and certainly a great learning companion.

Competition and options for the win!
 
our microsoft representative came to visit yesterday, and asked us if we were selling eeepc's...of course i told him yes, and that i owned one nd was delighted.

we got on to the subject of the one with xp on it, just announced...well, i cant say too much, but ms are doing a hardware locked version of xp for the eeepc, as xp itself is end of life.

so the two-tongue bastards are saying "xp is no more....erm....but we gonna still carry on sticking on the eeepc, because every eeepc sold with windows is one less eeepc sold with linux"

they really are worried.

the first half of the meeting he was telling me how cr@p the eeepc was, how limited it is etc (all bollocks naturally) and the second half he was telling me they are gonna put xp on it and sell millions.

i was gonna tw@t him with a baseball bat.
 
Good to see the Eee PC have a good following.

IMO a 800MHz CPU with Linux is good enough for basic wordprocessing/emails and the odd game or two - you don't need a fancy laptop with all the bells and whistles just to type a letter to your dear aunt Martha... :D
 
bekdik said:
I wonder whether they have gotten past the limited number of writes which can take place on flash, or are the drives going to start failing after a year or so?
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The newest flash drives have a better lifecycle than the earlier ones.

But if you want to maximize flash drive live, then you can use USB memory sticks for your swap space and workspace instead of the main flash drive.
 
BiteMe said:
our microsoft representative came to visit yesterday, and asked us if we were selling eeepc's...of course i told him yes, and that i owned one nd was delighted.

we got on to the subject of the one with xp on it, just announced...well, i cant say too much, but ms are doing a hardware locked version of xp for the eeepc, as xp itself is end of life.

so the two-tongue bastards are saying "xp is no more....erm....but we gonna still carry on sticking on the eeepc, because every eeepc sold with windows is one less eeepc sold with linux"

they really are worried.

the first half of the meeting he was telling me how cr@p the eeepc was, how limited it is etc (all bollocks naturally) and the second half he was telling me they are gonna put xp on it and sell millions.

i was gonna tw@t him with a baseball bat.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:

Of course not everybody needs the resource hog they call Vista.

Also, IMHO, the Eee is more functional than those dinky toys laptops sold by Verimark - and I rather get a low-level model, install a couple of educational games on it, and give it to the kiddies to play with :)

It is good that M$ are getting worried - because it means they're taking note, and competition is and will always be a good thing. For too long windows have had the lion's share of computers, and it's time things are shaken (not stirred) up in the OS market.
 
I agree that MS should start to get a weee (pun intended) worried. As the linux community is steadily growing and recent advances have reduced the learning curve significantly.

I have a few clients that saved quite a few bucks by going the linux route, and since they don't play games it suits them perfectly.
 
Pity that XP runs perfectly on even the base model and the Linux it comes with, well, doesn't :(
 
The eeepc with OS is cheaper than some copies of Vista by itself.

h2jk_x: have you tried installing ubuntu onto your eeepc?
 
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