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Microsoft worried over Linux ULPCs
Author: Gareth HalfacreePublished: 12th May 2008
Devices like the Eee PC can be supplied with cheap XP Home, but not if they're bigger than 10.2".
According to an article written by an IDG writer and published over at PC World, the software giant is so worried by the rapid growth in commercial Linux distribution caused by the boom in low-cost laptop devices like the Asus Eee PC that it is willing to offer cut-price copies of Windows XP Home Edition to manufacturers that may otherwise have bundled the open-source OS on their gadgets.
In order to prevent sales of the we'll-be-killing-it-any-day-now-honest last-generation XP operating system cutting in to the Windows Vista cash-cow, Microsoft will only allow ULPC vendors to bundle XP if they agree to a certain limitations on the hardware side of things: the screen has to be 10.2” or smaller, the device is limited to 1GB of RAM and a single-core processor of 1GHz or less, the hard drive – whether mechanical or solid-state – has to store under 80GB, and there's no sneaking a touch-screen on the device either.
It's clear from the restrictions that Microsoft is concerned about sales of low-cost hardware running Window XP slowing uptake of its new Vista operating system, and that the restrictions are in place to prevent a switched-on company from offering full-scale laptops supplied with XP – the OS that wouldn't die – to home users who aren't ready for the move to Vista quite yet.
An un-named Microsoft official quoted in the original article claims that manufacturers currently offering Linux on their low-cost devices “have made some good inroads with open-source, and Microsoft wants to put a stop to it.”
At the risk of turning this article into a “woo, desktop Linux is on its way!” piece, it's hard to interpret Microsoft's move as anything other than a panicked attempt to prevent the open-source operating system from stealing any more ground in a market the company barely knew existed. While Linux may have a way to go before it's quite ready for mainstream use as the primary desktop OS for most, it's clearly at the point where it's more than adequate for a second computer – and that little fact clearly has Microsoft worried.
If given the option, what would you buy: a Windows XP ULPC, knowing that the hardware has been deliberately limited in order to appease the guys in Redmond; or a Linux-based unit, which is only limited by the budgetary constraints of its makers but that might take someone used to Windows a little while to get used to? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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Comments (88)
Andy
But having Linux on a laptop, or a file-storage server for that matter, would be jolly good. Mostly because it's free and secondly because there are millions of guides to help you install and configure it for just those situations. Brilliant. So yes, I'll take the (cheaper) Linux laptop and let XP rot in a dungeon full of spikes and maggots.
Can't say i'm surprised at ms its exactly the same rubbish they do to any tech control or kill. Admittedly much like any other large company its just that ms position is much stronger than most.
True, but, back when I fooled around with Linux, VLC was the only player, that would play any and all of my videos. From AVI to WMV and further on to RealMedia-thingies and with everything else in between.
Again, true... The developers won't make games for Linux, until a sizable portion of the market uses Linux, but they won't change their OS until more games show up for it. The question is who has the brass to make the first move.
Agreed, when it runs, it's better and can be made 100% compatible with your Windows machines. And I have a Dual Xeon 2 GHz machine waiting to be converted into a glorified external harddrive...
http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/04/09/Linux_has_game/1
(Not trying to be an ass. ;) )
In all fairness to Microsoft. This is just business. They did it in a dumb way by putting in the hardware restrictions and thus alienating alot of potential buyers. (And the fact that it has to be XP kind of proves how bloated Vista is. Ubuntu has as much flash and more function then Vista as far as I can tell, and it runs on these machines.) But despite this gimped attempt it is still just business. They saw a market, they went for that market.
Heh, my computer can barely manage 30 fps, no matter what game a play, so that's not really an issue. What is an issue though, is that there are more games available for Windows, than for Linux.
Well, I have a Dual Xeon lying around, but not a P3 600 Mhz. Overkill? Sure, but you use what you have at your disposal.
EDIT: Damn, beaten to it... 2nd dibs tough ;)
PS: Point me in the direction of a decent Games for Linux review site and I'll see what I can do about throwing Vista in the same dungeon as XP.
Well, I'm not an avid gamer (most people don't consider a MUD to be a game), but *cough*
Nvidia, Microsoft. Who next?!
You had confidence in either of them to start with? You must be new here :D
Glider, that P3 looks like its from hell!
and as for linux on an ultra portable.... HELL YEAH!!!
Oblivion plays fantastic too, as Civ 4.
And nearly 90% of the games run. Don't expect SM3.0 yet, but the rest are nice and smooth.
When we have SM3.0 support, even Crysis will run faster under linux!
of course, it is a devlish frequency..... :p
Is their a way to install an OS (specificly some version of linux) on an ancient rig that had its keyboard cotroller fry on the motherboard?
(ie: I can't use a freaking keyboard on this computer anymore, but nothing else is wrong and i wouldn't mind remotely controlling it if I could get a distro on board.)
I feel like we're right on the verge of the emergence of linux into the market. There is not going to be a single, massive switch, but rather an accelerating movementuntil one day "Which OS" becomes a significant question in buying a computer.
@faulk Wulf, can you use a USB keyboard?
Most Distro's allow to boot a (sometimes custom) CD that automatically starts an SSH server... If you got an Linux environment + SSH server you are set... Debootstrap, emerge, ... as you please :D
EDIT: well i don't want to be harsh on devs. sometimes it isn't their fault, its the fault of the financial directors, which simply are dumb and say "it brings no money! don't do it! also, leave work at 6pm because paying extra hours isn't lucrative!" damn ass lame financial directors!
I did honestly have a-lot of respect for Microsoft for their work in other fields than Operating Systems. The other products the create are fantastic! But when it comes too there UTTER monopoly of the OS market and how much they try to manipulate it, then they are a I-wish-I-could-no-go area.
The great news is that now there might be an option of a limited unit running XP or a better unit running Linux - for the same cost. The only things keeping me with Windows are familiarity and games. A UMPC is great for casual games and there are tons of those free for Linux.
The EeePC and others like it have shown the general public the way forward in low cost computing. It's only MS that wants us to take a step backwards to support their failing business model.
Andy