Asus Says Eee PC is Most Successful Product Ever
An interesting piece of news from Asus’s press conference is that the Eee PC is their “most successful product ever,” according to Engadget. This is potentially huge news for Linux on two levels.
First, Asus is no small company. While they may not be well known to many people, if you have ever been in the market for a new motherboard, you know the name Asus. For a company of this size, saying a product is the most successful product ever is no small statement. Granted, motherboards are rarely “successful,” but they sell other products too. Hopefully, the huge success of the Eee PC will cause Asus to try using Linux on more devices. It already appears that they are open to this, since they have put a technology called Splashtop (or ExpressGate), which is a fast-booting Linux system, on some of their motherboards, but this success should make them even more anxious to try out Linux on more devices.
(Note: I am sure someone is going to say “but it was the hardware that made the Eee PC sell.” That may be true, but do you think that Windows would run as well as Linux on a device with such limited resources? Also, without Linux, the price would have been higher.)
Second, the buzz the Asus Eee PC will (or at least should) get for announcing a WiMAX equipped model and being called the most successful product ever by Asus should help it to sell even more units. See the first point again.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:19 am
[...] Linux News from Linux Loop » Blog Archive » Asus Says Eee PC is Most Successful Product Ever [...]
January 8th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Your Engadget link is broken.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Yeah, there good as one of those computers where you don’t want to take your macbook pro to the beach and get it on sand and cause damage, it’s linux but it’s not like you’re going to be playing wow on the beach, and you wouldn’t be fired up if you wrecked it because it’s a cheap but effective PC (PERSONAL COMPUTER don’t see microsoft anywhere in that word).
Thumbs up for the EEE PC!
January 8th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Dugg.
Now if only I could get Linux in my car and Garmin to drive me around.
Peace out.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Love my eee. Had it about a month now.
Enjoy.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
The most surprising part is the huge success DESPITE a HUGE hardware bug - in case you don’t know the 900 MHz Celeron inside is not actually running at its standard 100 MHz bus (and 900 MHz CPU speed) but instead at around 63 MHz bus (about 599 MHz CPU speed) - and that was NOT done to protect it from overheating but instead to cover for some massive internal component instability !!!
January 8th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
The NoahPad rocks - or at least it probably will…
http://www.noahpad.org
January 8th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Windows XP works very well on the device, without any upgrades…With Office 2003, firefox, yahoo messenger, email client…
January 8th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I installed Windows XP on it and all the owners i know did the same, linux still not handy enough
January 8th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
why would you put xp on a linux machine?
this concept is completely foreign to me…
January 8th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
[...] the Eee PC is their most successful product ever! That’s huge news from such a large company!read more | digg [...]
January 8th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
If you’re not running Windows XP on the EEE PC, you’re doing it wrong.
There aren’t many good programs for Linux. You’re missing out.
*unless* you are a linux admin or you need linux for some reason (I pity you).
DIR > LS.
January 8th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
We’ve purchased 30 (at where I work) and we’ve put XP on all of them. Everybody knows XP. People don’t like to have to learn something new. I’m a linux tech and don’t mind the Xandros interface myself (although I’m runing xUbuntu on mine), but to a general user that has used XP, it’s a huge step to “learn” to click on an icon that looks different than what their used to.
Like it or not, thats the way she goes!
January 8th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
@ all Windows XP user for the EEE:
I hope for you that you payed the 70 USD for an additional Windows license.
Or are you just some naive criminals that use a Win XP on more systems than you have licenses for?
30 x 70 USD / EUR - good for you that your company can afford this.
I would happily report you to the BSA if I were the blog owner - I am quite sure that you do not have the ncessary licenses.
January 8th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Sam-
You CAN play wow on Linux! It’s quite easy to set up too btw!
January 8th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
boblobwa said
“to a general user that has used XP, it’s a huge step to “learn” to click on an icon that looks different than what their used to.”
It is hard for old people to change habits, my grandfather always prefered to look at black and white television.
An icon with a different shape, yes for the 50+ it is hard to see the difference, especially when they forget their glasses.
January 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Amazing the number of XP users who troll … I mean BROWSE … the Linux News website. Eh Bill? Really, really amazing…
January 8th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
get real people, asus loads eepc with linux just to cut on licensing costs.
There are lots of “tutorials” on various forums to install windows xp on your eee pc.
@amd-linux:
“I would happily report you to the BSA if I were the blog owner - I am quite sure that you do not have the ncessary licenses.”
so you are threatening him …. this is why normal people fucking hate linux community
How are you so sure that he’s pirating the os ? are you even sure that you know about various types of microsoft license ? And even if he’s pirating the os, big deal ! As if no one does…. get over it !
I think sites like piratebay and btjunkie are thriving because they provide you “licensed” software
@TihSon: there are so many windows users because this article was featured on digg
Linux community should stop dreaming about linux on desktop … that aint gonna happen..ever.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
@jojo
I pity you, for you have no idea how wrong you are.
And putting Windows XP on an EEE PC is like getting a senile 90 year old to ride your new motorbike to the shops and remember what to buy, and buy it all and bring it back without something going wrong. You just wouldn’t do that. You just wouldn’t trust Microsoft to not make a mess of your new stuff, you wouldn’t subject yourself to endlessly attempting to get their software to work, and it would be irresponsible to let them within sight of such a tempting means of further self-destruction.
I rest my case.
January 8th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I want a virus for chrismas so i threu linux out and instal XP. it don run liake linux but then who care if xp is shit? i jus wanna virus like you all get with pr0n and all. so now my eee is real shit jus laike i wanna. linux will neverf be gud lika this shit XP
January 8th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Said NO NO NO to Micro$oft!
January 9th, 2008 at 12:02 am
hm. It’s true that linux will run more quickly than windows on minimal hardware, but I find that video playback in windows eats much less cpu. I’ve tried many a video player for linux and most of them required hours of tweaking to get full-screen, full frame playback. Honestly, why not just install both OS?
January 9th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Linux for masses..
January 9th, 2008 at 2:49 am
I’ve got feed up with Windows around Dec. 2007 and started tinkering with Linux (and a couple of other operating systems) about a month ago. Now… I’m a Linux “newbie” but in a months time I’ve legally downloaded, burned, and booted 10 different Linux Distro’s, 1 Open Solaris Distro & 1 Free BSD Distro at no cost to me. Many were booted from live disks and a couple were full installs. I’ve never installed Windows on a machine in my life and I’m not a full time techie.
Linux is different - the icons are in different places and the interface can vary from distro to distro. BUT IT IS NOT HARD. If your afraid to try something new, then perhaps Windows is for you. If you want full and complete control of your system, then I suggest giving Linux a serious look.
I have plans to start a new business this year, and I can’t tell you how happy I am to not have to pay a dime for any new Windows licenses! Plus… to that person who said there are no programs for Linux, just because you don’t see alot of Linux programs at the store doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Many Linux programs are available online to download FREE OF CHARGE. They are easy as pie to install / uninstall with the repository and just as easy to update. But I suppose if you WANT TO spend your hard earned cash on MS programs, that’s up to you and your pocket book.
PS. My favorites Linux Distro’s were: Mandriva 2008 & Ubuntu 7.10
January 9th, 2008 at 3:20 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
January 9th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Compare to other UMPC on markets, like Fujitsu or even Kohjinsha, Asus eeePC got the potential to lead the crowd. However they should take some serious attention to the upcoming UMPC from Intel, Classmate. It seems like Asus eee will do better if targeted on UMPC markets rather than the OLPC-book markets.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
[...] ASUS la vió primero, y tiene su producto más exitoso de una compañia que ya era exitosa (ayer anunciaron una amplicación necesaria en su eeepc). Y MSI también quiere [...]
January 9th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Well, all you people who put XP on the EEE PC, how is it like paying for Linux and then uninstalling it, in order to have familiar icons?
Frankly, there is a lot of people swarming here who wouldn’t touch Linux with a 10 feet pole, I wonder why?
January 9th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Got the EEE for New Years. Unlocked it so I can run in full desktop mode. I’m a unix programmer but a newbie system admin. This thing rocks! I’m running LAMP, I can customize the hell out of any app and the system restore feature means I can do it without fear of borking up the whole thing irreparably. Which makes it a great machine to learn linux on. Plus the community over at eeeuser.com is away (not affiliated with them). It really makes it much easier to learn and run an operating system with you have support like that.
When my aunt who was good at Windows but know nothing about computers in general had my cousing install Pardus (Linux) on her Dell that’s when I really knew that it was going to hit critical mass.
Go for it. It’s running at 633mhz. Makes me wonder how long ago I was running windows at 630mhz and how many system upgrades I’ve done since and how much money spent on it. It’s snappy at that speed and I think MS has been pushing hardware upgrades on us for too long. Save yourself some money and some megahertz and go linux.
BTW: MS is a great operating system and it’s sad to see that Gates futhest accomplishment ends with Vista. Vista’s great, I use it on my Lenovo X60 Tablet and it rocks, but Linux has it’s place in the world.
PS. You trolls are a riot! Especially the guy who said install Windows on it because there are no programs for linux. Are you kidding? There are more programs for linux than there are stars in the sky. Sure, maybe not the programs that you know and are used to. But you need to pick your words more carefully. It’s not even close to comparison. Oh and the “I’d report you to the BSA guy is hilarious too.” Just don’t argue with the trolls.
-Netting since before the Internet. Fidonet ROCKS.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:08 am
[...] setzt auf virales Marketing statt auf plumpe PR. Jedenfalls ist der Eee PC schon jetzt angeblich das erfolgreichtse Produkt von ASUS aller [...]
January 11th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I just recently tried Kubuntu and was so impressed my wife and now one of my friends use it instead of XP. Reading the comments here it appears to be very political which OS you like.
To me, my wife and friend it’s just a simple choice. Kubuntu is like watching TV compared with XP. Your TV does not get virus’ or spyware. You dont have to restart it all the time and when you finish watching it you don’t have to defrag it.
I don’t personally care what OS you like but if you are a friend I would recommend Kubuntu.
I still use XP on an old machine which I use as my TV - what a hassle that is! When I upgrade that PC soon I will put Kubuntu on that too. Sick of all the maintainace XP requires.
January 12th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Windows versus Linux. Now that’s a laugh.
We should be talking about how wonderful (or terrible) the Eee PC is, yet a lof of you are bickering over the idea of “trashing” Xandros and installing Windows XP.
One respondent said “everyone knows XP”. If you’re bitter about that, blame it on Microsoft’s dominance in the operating-system industry with its highly successful (but highly imperfect) Windows operating system. Linux is a good option, mainly because one needs not purchase licenses for it. What’s more, it can be custom-tailored to the user’s preference. Most computers in our college run various incarnations of Linux, and the only thing I complained about whenever I used Linux was the inability to open Flash standalone files published as a Macromedia Projector application. But nonetheless the operating system does just about any job that Windows does. All a newbie has to do is to learn how to use the OS, which would be easy for most people.
Program compatibility is also another drag, but Google Earth and Firefox both have Linux versions, right?
Program compatibility is what Windows excels in. Because of its uber-popularity, many applications have been written for the OS. And yes, you also become vulnerable to viruses and other malicious software.
The bottom line is that operating systems have their strengths and weaknesses. You guys are bickering like immature boys over something that is not-so-related to the main topic of this blog entry.
Come on, we’re human beings.
January 14th, 2008 at 11:14 am
LINUX vs. Windows XP on the Eee PC? I find that I would primarily use it for surfing the web, 95% of the time, so I would have no real reason to switch it to XP. With Open Office I can open and edit my Office docs and use the eee for a presentation which together with web surfing would probably be 99% of my use for it. I currently have a Dell laptop running XP and a HP desktop with XP as well but for going to a coffee shop and checking up on some websites I usually use my Nokia 770 as it is so portable. The 770 runs linux and is pretty useful as it is.
The reason, I find, most people think it would be good to switch the eee to XP is because they have been influenced by the Microsoft “marketing” machine. They also foresee running into problems they cannot personally solve or needing software they can’t get or find for Linux. I’d recommend everyone try it with Linux for a month as gaining knowledge of linux could prove beneficial in the future and the larger the adoption of linux the more software and info will be available to everyone. After that first month I am pretty sure more than half the users won’t switch. Those that stay with Linux will avoid spending money on the XP license and the Office License and the other software which you might need besides avoiding the need of antivirus software that could slow down your system.
The argument that everyone is switching to Win XP makes no sense as the viability of the Eee is for personal use and most users are not going to even try to install windows themselves especially considering all you would need to do so…license, cd drive…large usb memory or SD card…as well as the hours involved in doing so.
January 14th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Funny reading all of the Windows XP hate messages about how all of the problems it has…I guess you could learn how to use XP before you throw down the hammer. No, changing your color theme and adding a driver does not qualify as knowing how to use it just as putting in a disk and installing the KDE with default options on Xandros doesn’t either.
Slipstream your own copy of Windows XP appropriately and you probably won’t recognize what operating system you are using. There’s still too wide of gap on compatibility issues for users to rely on *nix only. I believe it will one day get there but today isn’t that day.
I’d venture to say that more than 90% of mainstream Linux users do not use it exclusively anyway. I worked for a company for several years that developed the Linux based operating system that majority of the U.S. government purchased and every developer used a Windows based machine probably 30-50% of the time…
Funny how if this was a Windows based laptop by factory, most would be commending others for loading a different operating system rather than mass hate. If you only use *nix and no other operating system and are happy, that’s great and there’s no reason for you to change. That also doesn’t mean you have to force your beliefs on other’s OS preference either…
Use the best OS to get YOUR job done.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Yus, mi messidge i5 are 1N teh whit3 boX, btw, installed XP (cut-down) onto a mate’s EEE, works great.. getting mine soon
January 20th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
[...] El Asus Eee es, sin duda, uno de los ultraportátiles más atractivos del momento actual: 900 gramos de atractivo diseño con Xandros Linux y memoria de estado sólido que lo han convertido ya en el modelo más vendido en toda la historia de la marca. [...]
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:31 am
I do not know how this forum turned into a flame war on OS’s, However both Windows and *nix have their place. There are good and bad for both. The EEE is a sweet machine as is. Personally I wouldn’t mess with switching the OS. I run Linux most the time, however there are times I will run into a task I need xp for(usually for school). I think XP is one of the greatest Operating systems, however I prefer the speeds and configure ability of Linux.
For the person that stated they could not get full screen with the media players, or there isn’t any software for Linux you probably are not competent enough to use Linux anyway. You should stay with Windows, I would not want to have to read any of your posts in any Linux forums anyway.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
amd-linux you may wanna research a bit before you post. There is a VOLUME licence that allows you to install on multiple machines. You may want to read something that way you don’t sound like a COMPLETE tool.
January 27th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Hi all,
I’m new in this forum.
Well, I’m using both Linux and Windows now. I’m familiar with Windows for more than 9 years and Linux 8 years.
With me, if you choose Windows as an environment to do your only office stuffs and have budgets for that, you can go with Windows very good way. But if you budget is limited or you’re not a developer, sysadmin, researcher, … Linux is for you.
So the thing is depended on your scope of work. In EEE PC case, you can use Windows XP Mod version for your office stuffs (like ease of using Word, Excel, something else), but it’s really slow. As you see, the Asus pre-installed the Linux OS in EEE PC for better performance.
As Promix, first month (or still the 2.nd month) user can have trouble with his/her OS (if he/she had used Windows for a while), but only patient and the need to know more technology around us, they can win it. The idea is try to live with Linux for a while then you can found why more than 50,000 developer works for the development of Linux around the world. This number is more 10 times than Windows developer. Think of it!
The second is about the Windows products are always after any opensource products. Have a look of KUbuntu, or BlackBerry! They have more features than Windows Vista!!! I’m sure for it.
As well, you can found Linux uses your PC resource less than any Windows versions.
So my opinion is if you are an office worker, you had used Windows for a while and your job’s environment is only Windows, you could use EEE PC with Windows XP Mod version and you have to accept low performance of your PC and less office applications as Windows Office 2007.
But if you’re a developer and you’re not depend on your work’s environment (you can use Linux or Windows, it isn’t matter), so I suggest you can use Linux for better work and performance.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
What I find funny is the argument to install XP because people dont want to click on an unfamiliar icon, or take 15 minutes to familiarize themselves with an operating system that is unfamiliar to them. I find this funny because I know that they are taking a hell of a lot longer to install XP on an eepc. You first have to copy XP on to a usb drive or have a USB cd/dvd drive that works with the eepc then you have to go through the whole install/reboot process which would take much longer then sitting down and playing with and familiarizing yourself with the super easy to use pre-installed OS. As an added bonus it is free.
Do all cellphones these days come installed with XP or do you have to take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with thre unknown? What a silly argument, thanks for the laughs.
January 29th, 2008 at 4:29 am
The best thing about the EEE is its not locked down like hell, You can run Linux on it or you can run windows on it, if you want install DOS on the damn thing who cares, at the end of the day its the portable computer that the nerds have wanted for years, all the programmers and Linux fans can now get some sun tan and the rest of you can use XP, everyone is happy… peace…..
I’ll be sticking with vista on my laptop and Linux on my EEE.
February 10th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Gotta love my heel glitter tap shoes mmm
February 11th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
lets keep the blog on track and play nice in the cyber playground eh guys?
February 11th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
PS I want one so bad they are so asian and cutesy!!!
February 17th, 2008 at 5:27 am
In my opinion, the Eee PC is too small to get any important stuff that might require windows - if that’s normally your primary OS. My point is: the Eee PC is best for typing up a document, surfing the web, blogging, etc. You probably wont be wanting to run photoshop, blueprint software, etc.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
[...] mucha aceptación. Para que comprendan el impacto que ha tenido este gadget, Asus dijo que ha sido el producto mas exitoso de esta empresa. Otro dato interesante viene de parte de Amazon, el gigante en ventas en línea, que en la [...]
March 27th, 2008 at 2:33 am
I’m not one to judge, but it sounds like NONE of you guys no what you’re talking about!
Compatability Issues?
PC wise I’ve installed ubuntu on about 5 pc’s. No problems.
OpenOffice is a perfect substitute. I use it all the time, I’ve never had any problems with it, and saving it into a word format works perfectly well!
Secondly, Why do all you fanboys defend microsoft so viciously?
Shouldn’t you welcome a high quality alternative that is *also free*
Vista is out already and xp still costs like 300 dollars.. and it came with nothing, office is even more expensive also.
So stop bashing linux!!! It never did anything to you! :’(
May 7th, 2008 at 8:04 am
I also will never understand how someone would become a Windows or Mac “fanboi”. It just makes no sense. I’ve been using Ubuntu (no dual boot, Ubuntu *only*) on my main PC for a while now and there has literally been no area where I’ve thought “man this really works better in Windows”. Seriously.
Another thing I always wonder is, do the fanboi’s honestly enjoy paying for OS “upgrades” whenever Apple or Microsoft decide they need more money? Seriously, you have to have some very OS specific needs to claim that OSX or Vista is your *only* option. More likely, some people have tried older, less polished GNU/Linux distros and had a bad experience. My first Distro was a very early version of Slackware, and I could see where that would be too much for some people. Ubuntu 8.04 on the other hand is actually easier, more functional, and just an all around better choice for most home users.
I’m not speaking as a GNU/Linux zealot here, GNU/Linux has simply become a better choice for your home PC in my opinion.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:40 am
“# Hax Or Says:
January 8th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
If you’re not running Windows XP on the EEE PC, you’re doing it wrong.
There aren’t many good programs for Linux. You’re missing out.
DIR > LS.”
Hax Or, I see what you did there.
ls –color -alFh > dir > ls
Don’t blame the tool when you do a bad job, blame your lack of skill. GNU/Linux is a better tool but requires greater skill, that’s all. I still don’t recommend it to everybody, just when it’s practical.