A huge company like Microsoft or Apple, or even Red Hat or Novell, can afford to put on big advertising campaigns, but most distributions, even ones like Ubuntu, cannot afford to do this. Instead, they must fall back to fan-based promotion or other small budget techniques. As Canonical begins to work with OEMs to get Ubuntu Netbook Remix pre-installed on UMPCs, there is something they can do that would provide great promotion at little to no cost, just by supplying some generic promotional material.

Quite often, the only indication of what operating system a UMPC uses is some small logo or something, potentially leaving buyers confused. To solve this problem, all Canonical needs to do is provide some generic text and screenshots that explain what Ubuntu is and why you might want to choose it over the Windows version, if there is one. For example, a sample paragraph provided might look something like this:

This netbook comes with Ubuntu Netbook Remix, an operating system designed specifically for netbooks. In addition to a customized interface, with Ubuntu Netbook Remix, you will not have to worry about spyware and viruses. Plus, common applications such as a web browser and an office suite come pre-installed for free.

Text like this could be printed, possibly alongside an Ubuntu logo or a screenshot, on the front or side of the box. This would be cheap to produce and could do wonders for increasing the number of people that choose Linux over Windows on netbooks/UMPCs/MIDs/can’t-we-just-use-one-name.

Warning: The following post contains comedy. Some people are allergic to it. Symptoms include posting angry comments.

It is interesting to look at the differences in the styles of different distributions. This is often best represented in looking at the art proposals for upcoming versions of various distributions. For example, a typical theme proposal for Fedora looks something like this:

“I was laying in my hammock one night gazing up at the infinite stars when suddenly an idea occurred to me. Gazing out at the vastness of the stars, it seemed to be that those stars perfectly represented Fedora, since Fedora 9 was called “Sulfur” and there has got to be some sulfur out there somewhere.”

A typical Ubuntu art submission, on the other hand, looks more like this:

“ubuntu rulz!!! see my awesum desktop: ubuntu should totally look like dis”

In contrast to both of these styles, OpenSuSe selects its artwork based an automatic algorithm that picks the wallpaper with the most green in it. Given a tie, which happens quite a lot, another script kicks in and posts the hex codes for the most used shade of green in each wallpaper. OpenSuSe contributors then vote on their favorite color (of green.)

I don’t even want to know what Gentoo’s process looks like.

Anyway, today I want to discuss some of the best Fedora art submissions judged, appropriately enough, not by the art but by the concept. I will even go so far as to rank them. First place goes to…

1. Dice - To quote directly from the excellent concept description, “dice like a symbol of the variability.” I could not possibly agree more. In fact, I believe that Fedora should change its slogan to “Fedora. It’s just a crap shoot.”
2. Eden - The Eden theme goes back to the fundamental parts of a flowering tree, each representing a part of Fedora. I believe that placing a big tree on the desktop of many young and incompetent Fedora users would help remind them that they must remember to water their keyboards at least once a week. Every time I see another Fedora user complain about system problems on some forum, I sigh and prepare to repost my standard response - “Dear Generic Fedora User. You forgot to water your keyboard, you idiot. Have a nice day.”
3. Solar - The author of this theme recognizes the simple truth that many miss: the only truly prefect system in the whole universe is the solar system. Based on this knowledge, it is easy to see how Fedora should strive to be as perfect as the solar system its self. The analogy fits perfectly! My only question is: if the sun is the kernel, what is space junk?

Less than a year ago, although it seems like it has been much longer, the gPC raised a lot of attention for being a $200 desktop that ran Linux and had the potential to gain mainstream recognition, since it had already convinced Wal-Mart to stock it. The operating system for the gPC was/is called gOS. It was, at the time, an only slightly modified version of Ubuntu. Overtime, the the gPC first got some scathing reviews, then Wal-Mart removed it from stores, and so on. Gradually, the gPC disappeared. gOS did not.

Each time a new version of gOS appears, the press sees it and writes about it. Over time, gOS has done some new and innovative things (using Mozilla Prism and integrating web applications so closely with the desktop) and has implemented some features that were shamelessly copied from Apple (stacks.)

While the hardware, which was initially the focal point, faded after its initial burst of publicity, the software is still very much around and well today. I see two interesting points here.

First, while I would never have recommended this when gOS first appeared, gOS might now be an option worthy of consideration when picking a distribution. Its proven base (Ubuntu) combined with interesting features that are not yet offered in other distributions make it possibly one of the most unique distros out there.

Second, to me gOS’s transformation from an OS for the gPC to just an OS really emphasizes that there are two sides to Linux UMPCs - the hardware and the software. This may seem obvious, but I think the emphasis is often put on the hardware, possibly because the software included with popular UMPCs, such as the Eee PC, is, from what I have heard, less than stunning. Now with options like the Ubuntu Netbook Remix and gOS, which is in part designed for UMPCs or netbooks, I think more focus will have to be put on the software.

Is anyone out there using gOS as your primary operating system on the gPC or just on your own hardware? I would love to know what you think.

With Lenovo’s recent announcement that they will be launching their own UMPC, running either Linux or Windows, a potential opportunity for Linux’s UMPC success to vastly expand has just appeared.

When I read about Lenovo’s announcement, I basically ignored it. By this point, I am quite used to seeing some new UMPC announced or launched every other day. As far as I can tell, this UMPC does not even have some “cool” new feature. The only thing that makes this UMPC interesting to me is that Lenovo makes it. Why is that so important? The ThinkPad reputation.

Unlike most large computer companies, Lenovo is, in my opinion, know and respected almost entirely for their ThinkPad line (which they bought from IBM), which consists of all very business-oriented machines.

This is all a long way of saying that Lenovo has a good reputation with businesses, for the most part, and that, unlike their competitors, their home computers are far less well-known than their business computers. All of this puts them in a good position to push inexpensive UMPCs to large businesses, an important market for Linux. With Lenovo’s current position, they might be able to sell huge numbers of UMPCs and, hopefully, promote Linux in the enterprise while they are at it.

All of this comes with one major “but.” That is that the Linux version of Lenovo’s new UMPC is only available in “certain overseas markets.” As for how that affects the situation, we will, unfortunately, have to wait for more details.

Back in March, I tried to find as many Linux-based UMPCs as I could. At the time, I found 18, which was expanded to 20 with the help of commenters. After many more Linux-based UMPC releases, I decided to see how many more I could find. The first 20 on the list below are from the previous list.

1. Eee PC
2. CloudBook
3. OLPC
4. Noahpad
5. HP 2133
6. Elonex One
7. Gecko Laptop
8. Intel’s MID(s) - Yeah, yeah, I know it is a “MID” not a “UMPC.” Who really cares?
9. BPETD H9
10. EB MIMD
11. eo TufTab v7112XT
12. Pepper Pad
13. Lime PC
14. Simple PC
15. ECS G10IL
16. WING
17. Unnamed Acer UMPC - Linux on this device is not confirmed, but quite possible It is now called the Aspire One and it does run Linux.
    
18. Gigabyte M528 MID
19. Nokia N810, N800, N770
20. Zaurus
21. Bestlink Alpha 400
22. MSI Wind
23. Aware A-Pad
24. 3K RazorBook
25. Sylvania G
26. Gigabyte M912V
27. Unnamed GeCube
28. VIA OpenBook
29. Ink Mobile
30. VDL Jisus
31. Lenovo IdeaPad S10
32. Dell E
33. Gdium
34. Elonex Webbook
35. Pandora

Wow! 32 32+ Linux-based UMPCs! Here is my question: many people, including myself, consider the Eee PC to be the product that caused so many new UMPCs to appear. Sort of like a spark for the UMPC business, but is that true? How may of these UMPCs would exist if the Eee PC had never appeared. My guess is not many.

Brilliant Brainstorms is a weekly summary of some of the best/most interesting brainstorms from the Ubuntu Brainstorm site.

While you can already carry around a USB drive installed with an entire Linux distro, including applications, system files, and your documents, it would make a lot more sense to let users create a USB drive with just their settings and files so that they could take the drive to any other Ubuntu PC and have their own environment.

It is quite easy to hit the shutdown button without remembering to save a file or something like that, so it is very important that this sort of situation is handled well by the OS. In addition to the suggestions in this idea, I would also favor having a countdown where the computer will shutdown automatically after the countdown, or you can press “shut down” or “cancel” to immediately shut down or cancel the shutdown.

The reality is that it is very hard to impossible to please everyone with one color scheme, so no matter what Ubuntu does with its default color scheme, people will still complain. A good solution, though, would be to include multiple themes with different looks and colors.

Right now file archives act very static and almost read-only. It would be much more natural if they acted like regular folders.

In a recent article discussing the possibility of the open-source phone groups collaborating, it was mentioned that some people are nervous about relying on open-source. To quote from the article:

The concern is that open-source initiatives “are a rattly ship, [where] there’s no control over where these platforms are going,” Burden says.

I have to disagree. With a piece of closed-source software, if the developers decide to abandon the project or the supporting company goes out of business or the developers decide to take a different direction, you are stuck. The best thing you can do is find a new solution or stick with the current version for as long as you can. These situations are not just theoretical, they really happen. Plenty of work has been lost into applications that stopped being developed. The work put into those applications could have been continued if the code had been open, but it was not.

With open-source software, on the other hand, you have complete control over what happens to the project. If the developers move on or change direction, the code is right there for you or someone else to pick up. That way, even if one company or group decides that a particular project is not worth pursuing, others who do think the project is worthwhile can continue it.

Getting back to the quote, if the exact same thing had been said about closed-source software, it would have been completely true. With open-source software, though, it is simply not the case.

If you a looking for an alternative to OpenOffice, web applications are becoming an extremely good option. Of course. Most people know about Google Docs, but there are many other alternatives. In order to help you narrow your search, below is a list of some of your options as well as a short description.

• Google Docs - Most people probably already know about this, but I just have to mention it. This is pretty much the standard for online word processors, and it is what I use. The interface is the standard minimalist Google design and, of course, it exports to all sorts of formats, including Microsoft Word (.doc, not .docx) and HTML. Not surprisingly, Google Docs supports Google Gears, allowing you to do your word processing offline.
• Adobe Buzzword - Now part of Acrobat.com, Buzzword is another very well known one. I would say the main difference between Google Docs and Buzzword is that Buzzword’s interface feels much richer and more visually interesting. The formatting options for Buzzword are also quite extensive. Finally, the change tracking is great, allowing you to easy revert back to just about any point in time.
• Zoho Writer - Zoho Writer is something of a mix between Buzzword and Google Docs. It has elements of Google’s minimalist style, while also having many of the formatting options of Buzzword. It also lets you have tabs with a document in each tab and supports Google Gears.
• Peepel - Peepel’s interface has two interesting aspects to it. First, it gives you windows inside of your browser window. This means you can open up multiple documents or open up a web browser (don’t ask me why you would use a web browser to open a web browser) or a calculator. Personally, I am not a fan of this, but you might disagree. The second interesting aspect of it is that it mimics Microsoft Office 2007. Now, I do think that the Office 2007 interface is nice, but Peepel lacks the only feature of Office that I think is really cool - the ability to highlight text and have instant access to basic formatting. Still, if you are familiar with Office 2007, you might want to give this one a try.
• WriteBoard - WriteBoard is really different from other online editors. You create a board and then insert some text. Formatting options appear to be very limited and there are no buttons to apply them. Instead, you do something like this to make text bold: *text*. The idea is sort of an online whiteboard for a few people to collaborate on. This is probably not your best option for day to day tasks, but I can certainly see this coming in handy in the occasional situation.

Hopefully this will give you some new web applications to try, and you might just like one of them more than what you have now.

Recently, Intel announced that they have sold around 500,000 Classmate PCs to Portugal (these are a competitor to the XO). The part of the story that caught my attention, though, was the decision to let the parents of the children who will be receiving these laptops choose what operating system they want installed, Windows or Linux. At first, this idea strikes me as a bad idea, for two reasons.

First, the likelihood that parents will be able to make an informed decision is almost zero. Most parents are likely to know almost nothing about computers and so they will have to base their decision on pre-exisiting biases, if they have any, and any information provided as a guide to them. The information given to them is almost guaranteed to be lacking at best and biased at worst.

Second, if every parent gets to decide what OS their kid gets, then schools have a mixed set of Linux and Windows laptops. This is likely to create compatibility issues and all sorts of problems. Sure, mixed environments can and are done, but why create one unnecessarily?

Letting the parents choose does not have to be a bad idea, though. Another way to interpret letting the parents choose is that each school chooses based on the input of the parents. This would actually be smart, because (a) the whole school uses one OS or the other and (b) only the parents who care (have some idea about the options) will get involved in the OS decision.

It is hard to say what Intel and Portugal will decide, so I guess we will just have to wait and see.

You may remember that just a few days ago I wrote about the apparent incompatibility between some Foxconn motherboards and Linux. I concluded:

My belief is that these issues are not at all malicious, just a mistake that no one bothered to look for. The good news is that developers will probably learn soon that these mistakes lead to bad situations.

More recently, it seems that more light has been shed on the situation. A ZDNet blog post says that Foxconn has said that the problem seems to be in the BIOS software they purchased from American Megatrends and that they will be releasing a fix very soon.

I told you so.

If you think I wrote this post just to say “I told you so,” though, you are mistaken. There is a lesson to be learned here for PR people.

Let’s look at three cases where Linux users were blocked out of something: Citibank’s website, Foxconn’s motherboards, and the Fox News website. In the case of Citibank and Foxconn, the story turned into a huge anti-Citibank/Foxconn story. On the other hand, the Fox News story, at least eventually, turned into what could easily be seen as a positive story for Fox. Why? Really the only way in which these cases are different is that in the case of Citibank and Foxconn, the customer support essentially blamed the user. In the Fox case, however, Fox not only promptly fixed the problem but was also very transparent about the process.

The lesson for customer support people: don’t blame the user.