This will end in tears for Acer. Linux is just not even close to ready for use on anything but servers. And they are no doubt starting to piss Microsoft off with their aggressive anti-Redmond stance.

There is a massive drive to optimize all kernel functions from a power standpoint. With my D620 and tweaking the power profile, I already get about 45 minutes more than my colleages on the same D620 laptop (they run XP, it can’t run Vista). As for being nowhere near ready, Pablo, you haven’t read the Xandros reviews of the EEE have you. Pre-installed and pre-configured, inux is what MS always wanted to be, easy to use and reliable.

I see the ONLY roadblock being iTunes support. (iPod support is already there). As long as the owner doesn’t have an iPod (to a MUCH MUCH lesser worry is them owning a Zune) and have DRM infected music, Linux is a completely viable option. There is a reason Red Flag Linux, and other Asian local varieties are beating the $3 crippleXP being offered.

Forgot to say, the instant I can get my hands on their Bright Blue mini-note, it will be ordered. Windows (until Windows 7?), even XP with it’s increased requirements, will be MS’s downfall in the UMPC. They hate having to (amazing isn’t it, compete, not dictate) even consider the ultra low margin market.

TripleII

OK, as for the “extend battery life by five hours” part, you misquoted them, they actually said from 5 hours of battery life (Windows) to 7 hours (Linux), which really isn’t a shock, Linux power management is incredibly efficient already, then there’s the tickless kernel, etc, but it also doesn’t keep the processor busy all the time like Windows does, if I use my laptop til the 1 hour 20 minute mark, which is usually around the time the battery is dead with Windows XP anyway (1 hour or so with Vista), it’s red hot.

Compared to Ubuntu, where it doesn’t run out of battery power til nearly 2 hours, and the case is still cool to the touch, Windows has just gotten to the point where it’s too hard on a system, and that becomes painfully obvious on a laptop, so I suspect Acer has been getting complaints from customers about why they can’t get decent battery life, and so Acer is responding by pushing Linux, because it doesn’t dog the system.

As for the guy that says you can’t use Linux on the desktop, that’s rubbish, Shuttle and Dell are two big OEM’s that will preinstall Ubuntu for you, and then there’s Everex pushing gOS Linux (Their systems are pretty low end, but it drives the cost of their computers down to not have the Windows licensing crapfest), and System76 makes a business entirely out of desktops and laptops with Ubuntu preinstalled.

Plus I’m using it on my Gateway system without a hitch, I use tons of digitized music, you’re actually not getting a very good deal on iTunes, you can buy CD’s for the same price (new) or at as little as 1/10th the price (used), not violate any laws, and rip them into the format of your choosing, including mp3, aac, vorbis, flac, or wma, betwen those formats, you’ve got Zune and iPod compatible music, you don’t need to burn it to a CD cause you already have one, nifty thought that, working with digital photos you have the GIMP for free, you can still run Photoshop if you really need it (in Wine), and a good deal of games (Several gems like Sauerbraten, NexUIZ, Battle for Wesnoth are free/libre, id Software makes all their games as native Linux versions, Bioware does sometimes, as does Epic games, there’s still Loki installers floating around, and Valve is porting Steam to Linux, it runs many Windows games like Elder Scrolls Morrowind and Oblivion, most stuff on Steam (through Wine, Crossover Games, Cedega), for office work you have OpenOffice.org for free (Microsoft compatible), or you can run Microsoft Office (Wine, Crossover Office)

In my experience, the effort to convert the system over to Ubuntu Linux was paid back to my triple vs. having to deal with Windows Vista’s overall slow/heaviness, it’s built-in defects (DRM, WGA when replacing parts, broadcast flag from NBC cancelling my DVR recordings in Media Center just like MythTV on Ubuntu doesn’t), and then the other design bugs that they never bothered working out in SP1 such as the incessantly infernal UAC prompts, the 1.3 million different pieces of malware (figure from the last time I looked at Avira’s definitions update log), I could easily go on, but suffice it to say, I think Vista showed Microsoft’s true colors, and may have been enough of a pitcher of cold ice water dumped on enough users to get the Linux option some serious consideration, and anyone who hasn’t at least tried a modern Linux desktop (I prefer Ubuntu, it’s also easiest for newcomers), and badmouths it, pretty much has no room to talk or is affiliated to some extent with Microsoft, they have their shills roaming around trying to scare people into staying with them.

Linux I believe is going to be the future number 1 OS and #1 programs of Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, Australia, Canada and Mexico unless Microsoft becomes much more friendly towards open source, lowers their prices, and leads rather then follow the OS and programming technology. Microsoft is falling behind in innovation and Linux is finally becoming user friendly and has some cutting edge capabilities which get better each month, so its only a matter of time. Eventually Linux will become the dominate OS in the United States as well but I believe that is a long way off but it will soon I believe be on a quarter of US machines. I think Linux in the US will be especially popular with schools, non profits, and computer programmers and enthusiast. I also think if gaming improves on Linux it will become very popular with kids and young people because Linux is the most customizable OS on the planet; they can make it how they want it. Senior citizens and even aging middle agers will also appreciate Linux because of the Accessibility features, powerful but simpler to use programs then Microsoft (ex. Open Office is way simpler to use then MS Office 2007), No cost which is important for those on a fixed income, and finally all the software you could ever need or want free to download and use. I admit I still use Vista on my PC because all my online computer science classes are all Windows, MS Office, and Windows programing based and I enjoy gaming which Linux is not currently great at but on my notebook its only Linux, Ubuntu to be precise.