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The Ubuntu Eee project has just announced they will be selling SD cards pre-loaded with the latest version of Eee Ubuntu. This SD card can then be inserted into the Eee PC and you can run Eee Ubuntu right off of it. This is a great idea, but it would be even better if the cards were sold in stores along with the Eee PC. Imagine this scenario:
A user walks into a store (or goes to an online store) to buy an Eee PC. They look at the options available and choose the model they want and then see that they can get either Windows or Linux on it. Familiar with Windows, and having never heard of Linux, they decide to go the “safe” way and pay the extra money for the Windows version. One more potential Linux user never gets to try Linux.
Now imagine that before that user walked out of the store with their new Windows Eee PC, they noticed a $40-50 little card that would let them easily switch between Windows and Linux on their new Eee PC. There might even be a discount if you bought both the Eee and the card together. Now a user who is curious about Linux, but does not want to risk trying something new can easily try Linux and decide which OS they prefer.
With this card, anyone can now try out Linux on their Eee PCs without any technical knowledge. I just hope that some company recognizes this good idea and helps get these cards on store shelves.
A few days ago I wrote a post titled “Will the EBOX have a chance?” (The Eee Box is an inexpensive Linux or Windows desktop made by Asus.) In that article, I said this:
There may be a lot less Linux desktop competition than Windows desktop competition, but there are still a surprising number of inexpensive Linux desktops, such as the gPC. Unfortunately, none of those cheap Linux desktops have done particularly well, so how is the EBOX going to be different?
At the time I noted a few things that the Eee Box had going for it:
- The Eee PC has done very well, so its momentum may push the EBOX forward
- The EBOX looks very nice
- Asus may be able to do the software better than other companies have done it. For example, many people complained about bugs in the gOS that shipped with the gPC.
Still, I was not entirely convinced that the EBOX would succeed. Now that the Eee Box specifications are out, I can add another point to the list above, one that may make a big difference:
- Can be configured to have enough RAM (1-2GB) to compete with modern desktops
Why is this point such a big deal? If you look at the previous attempts such as the gPC, they tried too hard to target the price-concious market. Because of this, the gPC and other earlier attempts at a cheap Linux desktop did not appeal to tech-savvy people. The Eee Box, however, between its looks and better specs will appeal to a larger audience. That is the answer to my question “how is the EBOX going to be different?” I will be very interested to see if this is enough to make the Eee Box successful.