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36 Comments
- raydeen, on 05/22/2009, -1/+12I got an EEE 900 last week with a 16 GB SSD and XP. It had a few annoying bugs like the SSD locking up every now and then while it wrote a bunch of cached data to the drive and Firefox not properly acknowledging the multi-touch gestures from the trackpad. I went out and bought an 8 GB SD card and loaded Ubuntu 9.04 on it and the performance difference was night and day compared to Windows and all the hardware was detected right out of the box, webcam included. I haven't booted into Windows since.
- theOster, on 05/22/2009, -1/+9are you sure the pills have kicked in completely?
- inactive, on 05/22/2009, -12/+19"Novell is adopting Moblin"
Did they remember to ask Microsoft for permission? - theOster, on 05/22/2009, -0/+6not that anyone uses floppies, but do you still have to drag your disk to the trash to eject it?
- theOster, on 05/22/2009, -2/+7Windows 7 vs. Windows XP. are you that thick?
- FreeBooteR69, on 05/22/2009, -1/+6I don't believe the return rate disinfo. It's pure BS.
- Frostek, on 05/22/2009, -2/+6Linux's design makes it inherently good for netbooks, and although I'm not particularly familiar with Moblin, it does look like it's had a lot of thought put into it, and it looks great, which is important for buyers.
Also, the cheap shots at Novell are kind of tiresome to be honest. I know it's very fashionable to say such things in Linux circles, but it's not a black and white issue - Novell have done and continue to do a hell of a lot for Linux. - elementop, on 05/22/2009, -0/+3We picked up a couple of Dell Mini 9's running Ubuntu to try at work. I've already told the purchasing department to bill me for it, 'cause they aren't getting it back. It's been very, very stable, reasonably quick, picks up any wireless hotspot I've tried to use and battery life is excellent (I used it in a class for two weeks, and if I plugged it in over lunch to recharge, the battery would last all day -- way better than the D820 I've got that only gets 1 1/2 - 2 hours battery life). The only bug I've seen is that there were one or two times it wouldn't return from suspend, and the only other gripe is that the keyboard is a little awkward -- but I was still able get used to it in a couple of days.
- Acronym, on 05/22/2009, -0/+3It took your 3 whole minutes?
- whuddafugger, on 05/22/2009, -0/+3linux netbooks = cool!
computerworld = LAME. - Paranoidmarvin, on 05/22/2009, -0/+2Moblin is fantastic. Yes, it's still buggy, and many features are incomplete.
It's more of a technical preview than a beta... but by the stable release, it will be fantastic - DAC1138, on 05/22/2009, -0/+2It's not that it's still in beta, it's the fact that carrying a proprietary driver like that violates the GPL license.
Hopefully they will overcome this and work something out with the manufacturer, much like Ubuntu did. - EtherGnat, on 05/24/2009, -0/+1Well, here's the statement directly from Canonical:
“We don’t know what the XP return rates are. But I will say that the return rate is above normal for netbooks that offer open-source operating systems,” Carr echoed. Carr highlighted a few reasons why Ubuntu-running netbooks are returned more often. “Unclear selling is happening, typically online. The customer will get their netbook sent to their home and they imagine to find something like a Microsoft desktop, but they see a brown Ubuntu version. They are unwilling to learn it and they were expecting to have Windows.” http://www.osnews.com/story/20362/Canonical_Confir ...
From your quote it sounds like they're comparing return rates of the best Linux netbooks to the market as a whole. I'd imagine the return rates for the best engineered Windows netbooks have a low return rate as well. Buyers of expensive "well engineered" netbooks are probably likely to be more informed shoppers. "Similar" return rates could still be higher anyway.
"As we noted at the time, the MSI claim was interesting in that MSI had not actually shipped the Linux version of the Wind."
MSI never claimed it was their Linux netbooks that were returned at 4x the rate of Windows netbooks, they were referring to market research they had done on the market as a whole. I have no idea if 4x is accurate (and it sounds high to me) but I'm pretty sure it is higher, and even Canonical agrees with me.
"the NPD numbers only cover U.S. sales, where Windows predominates, while Linux is more popular in Europe and elsewhere."
Yeah, and? If you read through the entire article you linked they talk about how Linux marketshare is in decline on netbooks. You actually proved my point. From your link: "Despite the limitations of the NPD report, other anecdotal evidence, as well as a new study by Ovum, appears to suggest a slippage in Linux netbook market share."
At best all you proved are that Linux return rates aren't 4x that of Windows, and Windows netbooks aren't 96% of the market but neither of those are claims I made (and the rebuttals are pretty weak). In some quick research, I couldn't find reliable info on worldwide sales. I did find scattered info though which supports Windows sales being much higher. Asus sells Windows over Ubuntu 19-to-1 in Australia, for example.
Don't be so damned touchy. I really like Linux, particularly Ubuntu. I'm anxious to try the new netbook remix which looks pretty hot as soon as I get done playing with OS X. What I said *IS* true though. If you can provide any actual evidence that returns of Linux notebooks worldwide are the same or lower than Windows returns I will publicly kiss your ass. It's mostly not the fault of Linux, people just dislike change. Better luck refuting me next time. - Barackalypse, on 05/23/2009, -1/+2Fantastic, hopefully this will further drive down the price of ones I can install Windows 7 or XP on.
- hawk196, on 05/22/2009, -1/+2gOs for the win
- EtherGnat, on 05/22/2009, -4/+5After an early strong showing on netbooks Linux has been in decline. Support costs and return rates have proven significantly higher for the OS, leaving vendors to push Windows XP. With Windows 7 looking good on netbooks I think it's only going to get more difficult for Linux to gain market share.
On the other hand the OS is a good fit for netbooks, due to great performance and minimal tasks a netbook is typically used for (minimizing Windows software advantage). - spikeb, on 05/23/2009, -0/+1dell might be playing with android, but they SHIP ubuntu on their netbooks and have for a long time.
- DAC1138, on 05/22/2009, -0/+1Moblin is pretty awesome. It boots in about 5 seconds and has a great interface.
However, it has one drawback. Most netbooks use the broadcom wireless chipset, and moblin does not include support for those devices since the drivers are proprietary. So users are forced to connect to a hardwired ethernet connection and compile their own drivers. Forcing one to connect with a hardwired connection sort of defeats the purpose of a netbook. - svensko, on 05/22/2009, -0/+1Let's not forget that it's still BETA! Give them a break!
- mrBitch, on 05/25/2009, -0/+1@ EtherGnat, RE: " ... Don't be so damned touchy. I really like Linux, particularly Ubuntu. I'm anxious to try the new netbook remix which looks pretty hot as soon as I get done playing with OS X. What I said *IS* true though. "
This is what I am "touchy" about, what you said is NOT true.
RE: The number of Linux netbooks and their return rates Vs the return rates of netbooks with Windows pre-installed on them :
" ... Asus has noted equal return rates for Linux netbooks versus those running Windows."
" ... ABI's surveys show U.S. consumers clearly stating their preference for Windows netbooks, Solis said that isn't true around the world."
( Philip Solis, an analyst at ABI Research )
Also :
" ... Dell: 33% of Inspiron Mini 9 netbooks sold run Linux "
" ... Dell believes pricing plays a big part in the Linux systems' popularity, and interestingly, it says return rates for Windows and Linux netbooks are "comparable."
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16469 - anonymousmedic, on 05/23/2009, -1/+1Well, I guess 2009 will turn out to be the year of the consumer linux laptop(nettop) /sarcasm
- EtherGnat, on 05/22/2009, -1/+1Wow, I'd love to know what part of that comment I'm getting dugg down for. All of what I said is true.
- mrBitch, on 05/24/2009, -1/+1RE: ".. All of what I said is true."
No, it's not.
RE: "... Support costs and return rates have proven significantly higher for the OS, leaving vendors to push Windows XP."
That info was proven false :
"... The really big news for the industry is that well-engineered Linux netbooks have similar return rates to XP."
http://blog.canonical.com/?p=151
Also :
... claim on return rates appears to be based on an October Laptop Magazine story that quoted an MSI executive as saying that returns of its Linux-based MSI Wind netbooks were more than four times higher than those of Windows XP netbooks.
As we noted at the time, the MSI claim was interesting in that MSI had not actually shipped the Linux version of the Wind. "
Also :
"... LeBlanc's claim that Microsoft Windows products, primarily Windows XP, run on 96 percent of netbooks...
...cited by the NPD Retail Tracking Service.
... the NPD numbers only cover U.S. sales, where Windows predominates, while Linux is more popular in Europe and elsewhere."
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3469282186.html - deansaluti, on 05/22/2009, -1/+0Netbooks are really making an impact with those who frequently travel for business. Any word on a possible Apple Netbook (tablet)?
- doubad, on 05/22/2009, -6/+4So Dell pushes away from Microsoft by choosing Intel's Moblin which is being adopted by Novell who are in bed with Microsoft....
Take that Microsoft? - inactive, on 05/23/2009, -5/+2You're trolling on Digg again. Did you get your parents permission?
(PS, stay off the Acid) - computershack, on 05/22/2009, -5/+1And as has happened since netbooks came out, they'll either end up with XP on them or returned to the vendor.
- allnone, on 05/22/2009, -8/+4This is the year of Linux!!!!!!!!
- Coonlab, on 05/22/2009, -8/+3Ubuntu detected everything out the box for my aspire one as well, too bad it was slow as hell.
Boot time was terrible, hibernate and suspend barely functioned, slow to respond.
I haven't looked back, it was the same as every other time I've tried linux, underwhelming, unimpressive and left me thinking "So... why is this better than windows? Oh... it isn't. Better apt-get a million dependencies to get movies playing" - inactive, on 05/22/2009, -6/+1The apocalypse is near! God loves Linux! You will all be judged you Linux hating squirrel eating antichrists!!
- inactive, on 05/22/2009, -7/+2That's what Osama Bin Laden did too. Same result and he loved it too..
- devnullDood, on 05/22/2009, -8/+1This was lame! I just wasted 3 minutes of my time reading this ***** article.
- inactive, on 05/22/2009, -10/+2I would like to argue why my computer is better than your computer, but I think I'm going to go have sex with my girlfriend instead.
- Sentinel, on 05/22/2009, -10/+1Does anyone really care? I mean, really?
- sickbag69, on 05/22/2009, -12/+4Your EEE must suck then. I got an Acer One and Windows 7 works perfect
- MadLeper, on 05/22/2009, -13/+3Again with the "Linux will dominate on Netbooks" predictions ? Didn't we hear the same thing back when netbooks first appeared ?
Didn't happen then and won't happen now. If I want something other than Windows on my netbook, I'd sooner install OSX than anything else...
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