Why falling Flash prices threaten Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| Until now, the received wisdom has been that GNU/Linux will never take off
| with general users because it's too complicated. One of the signal
| achievements of the Asus Eee PC is that it has come up with a front end that
| hides the richness of the underlying GNU/Linux. It divides programs up into a
| few basic categories - Internet, Work, Learn, Play - and then provides large,
| self-explanatory icons for the main programs within each group. The result is
| that anyone can use the system without training or even handholding.
|
| This combination of good functionality and out-of-the box ease of use with a
| price so low that it's almost at the impulse-buy level could prove
| problematic for Microsoft. Until now, there has been no obvious advantage for
| the average user in choosing GNU/Linux over Windows on the desktop, and
| plenty of disadvantages.
|
| The price differential has been slight, and there has always been the problem
| of learning new ways of working. The Asus Eee PC changes all that. Because
| the form factor is so different, people don't seem to make direct comparisons
| with the desktop PC, and therefore don't expect the user experience to be
| identical.
`----
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/06/opensource.olpc
Related:
Accessories Start Plugging Into Asus' Eee PC
,----[ Quot ]
| Asus' compact laptop debuted in October, but accessories aimed at the
| ultraportable have just started to ship.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142987-c,thinandlightnotebooks/article.html
Sony leery of the Eee PC?
,----[ Quote ]
| If the Eee PC just catches on with Linux developers, enthusiasts, and the
| tech-savvy early adopter crowd, that's fine by him. "But if mainstream buyers
| buy it, then, whoa," Abary said.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9879798-7.html?tag=newsmap
Linux is about to take over the low end of PCs
,----[ Quote ]
| Opinion -- Sometimes, several unrelated changes come to a head at the same
| time, with a result no one could have predicted. The PC market is at such a
| tipping point right now and the result will be millions of Linux-powered PCs
| in users' hands.
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft will fight this trend tooth and nail. It will cut prices to the
| point where it'll be bleeding ink on some of its product lines. And Windows
| XP is going to stick around much longer than Microsoft ever wanted it to.
| Still, it won't be enough. By attacking from the bottom, where Microsoft can
| no longer successfully compete, Linux will finally cut itself a large slice
| of the desktop market pie.
`----
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS2414535067.html
Small Linux Roundup
,----[ Quote ]
| I was really blown away. Who knew you could fit so much in an old machine?
| Like DSL it had everything you need. But in addition everything worked out of
| the box, and what was really neat is SeaMonkey came with Flash9 installed. I
| could watch YouTube and even DVD’s (although some I tried didn’t work.)
|
| I ended up sticking with Puppy on a laptop install. Before I installed I used
| Puppy and the mount tool to copy all the existing files off the computer.
| These I burned onto a DVD and gave back to it’s owner. I then installed to
| hard drive and after a bit of tweaking it was a brand new computer. I could
| play music and even Super Nintendo games after I found the .pup file online.
`----
http://www.wmtoolbox.com/tools/small-linux-roundup/
|
|
