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81 Comments
- rolf, on 07/09/2009, -3/+13*****. I can't even get any of the newer models eeePCs I want for Linux. All Windows XP.
Yeah, I could install Linux on one of them but I still be supporting MS by paying their tax and also all the drivers will likely work but not nearly guaranteed as if were a factory install.
I want Asus to know that it has delayed my netbook purchase at least 6 months, one they would have been previously guaranteed to have when they still supported Linux, to me looking around harder, and getting something like an Always Innovating netbook instead. - IndigoMoss, on 07/09/2009, -9/+18 I have an Aspire One with 1GB RAM, 1.6Ghz N270 Atom, and 160GB HDD. I've had Windows 7 installed since the 2nd day I had it. It's an absolutely amazing little, portable machine. I have no problems with it's power or functionality in Windows 7, so that will probably be my OS of choice for any other netbooks I come across. The best part of it all, is that I only payed $176 dollars for it, which is barely anything for a fully-functioning computer with webcam and mic.
- virtualmode, on 07/09/2009, -2/+11the only thing Ubuntu Netbook Remix lacks to win is marketing
- rabidgoose, on 07/09/2009, -0/+8I respectfully disagree. I have a laptop that weighs ~6 lbs. and a netbook that weighs ~2. The laptop cost ~1100USD. The netbook cost ~300USD. I like the laptop, it is basically now taken the place of a desktop which is now being used as a fileserver for all the portable devices. But the netbook is the one I grab when I'm going out the door.
Just my two pence. - oenoneablaze, on 07/09/2009, -0/+8How will Linux users win a war that you claim will never end?
- koinek, on 07/09/2009, -0/+7Google OS will beat out every other OS just like Chrome beat out every other browser!!!
Oh wait... - Myztry, on 07/09/2009, -5/+11Familiar? You mean like a web interface?
- nadadingsda, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5I'm skeptical about the google chrome OS and have a hard time understanding all the hype...
<rant>
- First, google appears to be doing something similar the did with android, that is creating a new "window manager" that is not based or or compatible with X11. If they are not happy with the current state of xorg, why don't they put some resources into making it better? As a long time linux user this bothers me, what if I want to run another GUI application.. oh wait, look at the next point.
- The chrome OS will only run the a web browser, all applications are web based (aka gmail etc.). Who the hell wants something like that?
- In my opinion google has in general a bad track record of supporting linux; where is my gmail video chat plugin for linux, for example. Well, they will probably create a video chat plugin and include it in chrome OS.. but don't expect you will be able to use the plugin on another linux platform, as it probably won't be open source and uses their X11 replacement.
- If it is anything similar to android it probably sucks. Android has been a big disappointment for me so far. When google announced android they talked about an open operating system etc. But then we had to realize that open really means open for the manufacturers, as they can put it on their devices with no licensing charges and are free to modify the source code. For the consumer it is generally not possible to update or modify the OS on their phones, as they are used to from the PC's. At the end there is really no big difference to having any other OS on the device from an openness point of view.
</rant> - FairDinkumMate, on 07/09/2009, -1/+6I think familiarity in applications running on the netbook is more important to most users than familiarity with the OS, which raises a major point that is ignored in all of the articles I've read about netbook OS's - The 'average' user that is continually referred to as being more comfortable with Windows wants to run what?
1) A web browser - most can be made to run on any OS & most 'average' users I've met hardly notice the difference between IE & Firefox anyway, as long as YouTube, Facebook & Twitter all work
2) Email client - similar to browsers, although obviously it's easier to setup Thunderbird across platforms than Outlook
3) An 'Office' program - this is what gets missed! There's no point squeezing a huge Windows OS onto a netbook to provide familiarity when MS Office won't function well enough to be practical on there anyway. Open Office isn't much better. Personally I'm not a fan of GoogleDocs but if they manage to get average users comfortable enough with it I think this could be the real driver for them(or Ubuntu Netbook Remix)
My boss is 62 years old & travels a lot. He has a blackberry, netbook(Ubunutu remix) & a laptop(Vista). His major requirement is that he can turn on any device & have his email & documents current. To achieve this, all of our email is accessed via Gmail. On the Blackberry, the Gmail client uses IMAP. On the netbook & laptop, he has Thunderbird which also uses IMAP. Each device is always current & all email(including sent & drafts) are accessible on all 3 devices. For documents, dropbox works perfectly for the netbook & laptop & as he uses OpenOffice anyway there aren't any compatibility issues. Now to just work out an easy way to make these accessible on the Blackberry.... - jscnet, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4Why must everything be labeled or titled "War". War on drugs, OS Wars, Browser Wars, Price Wars, A War of Wits, Diplomatic Warfare. WTF peeps! Somewhere some dumbass dramatized the words "Capitalism", "Competition" or "Disagreement" into a catchall -- "War" and now every moron includes it in their titles or catch phrases, including some dictionaries which (now) define these meanings under their definition of "War". I'm declaring War on "War".
- Myztry, on 07/09/2009, -0/+43. And thanks to the 'ribbon' Microsoft Office just doesn't function like Microsoft Office... If people have to learn something, it may as well be something new.
- gr00vy, on 07/09/2009, -1/+5There is no way chrome is the favorite over windows. This article is fanboy wishful thinking. Sure there will be some, but Windows will own the category both by customers, and in true functionality. If chrome was 4:1 and windows 3:2 at least I would think the author is somewhat clueful, as it is, it should just be burie.
- digitalpencil, on 07/09/2009, -1/+5i thought the 3 app limit in starter was stripped.. that said they're still preventing users using custom wallpapers, colours, sound schemes etc.
i like Win7 but this multi-ver rollout with unnecessarily tiered crippled functionality seems retarded. - jcronkhite, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4IT'S NOT A WAR! Why does every competing product or service in technology have to be considered a war? The Vietnam WAR, the WAR in Iraq, the Korean WAR, World WAR 1 & 2; these are examples of wars.
I know, this is petty. But is anyone else annoyed by the lame headlines fed to us be a very small group of tech journalists, or Digg submitters over selling the insignificant?
Regardless, everyone wins when real competition exists in any consumer market. - dig1x, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4Google's adopted the Reality Distortion Field that Apple currently uses.
Google releasing a linux distro that ties you into their browser to be a kind of "internet dumb terminal"? What the ***** do I want with that?
You know what I want? An Archos 9 -- a whole market of touch tablets. Netbooks with *full* and useful operating systems. Not some ad-network supported web-only device.
Didnt we *already* see this fail with the Net Appliance rage?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_appliance - FutureGuy, on 07/09/2009, -1/+5Google is trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. By the time they are ready to ship their "Cloud OS" netbooks would pack the power of today's notebook, screen sizes with inch bigger and Win 7 SP1 will be out. I would rather fire up a browser and get to my "cloud" app and have the option to run some real apps if needed. What Google is offering sounds like the old "net appliances", totally useless off the net. This move seems real desperate, Google desperately wants to figure out a way to make money that doesn’t involve search advertisement cause I guessing they know their market share could only go downhill from here, slowly but surely (if you are under the impression that competition is not bridging the gap with Google you need to wake up). The most that might happen is MS will reduce the price for netbooks.
Anyone remember Google Gears and the claims that it would make the OS irrelevant and desktop apps obsolete, well still waiting. - rgersmrk, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3All this speculation over an OS no one has seen. I remember this same hype when Android was announced and how it was going to take down the iPhone. Didn't happen.
- Kabloink, on 07/09/2009, -1/+4Your forgetting on important point. I can use a netbook without an expensive data plan. I can simply use my home, school network or other access points. Sure, I still have to pay for internet at home, but it can also be used for multiple computers and isn't limited by some ridiculously low cap like 5gig.
The other thing is that a netbook will allow you to do real work on it if needed. Even if you could, I couldn't imagine trying to write a report on a cell phone. - thisthatwhat, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3Google is obviously winning over all the hype. Nothing original about the OS but since it comes from Google, it must be cool.
- CressCrowbits, on 07/09/2009, -1/+4Depends what you mean by 'win'.
If you mean 'Linux users won't be forced to use Windows', then yes I suppose that will always be the case. - MWeather, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3If OSX actually gave back 100% of the code, it'd be very useful. If there were only a license that mandated that...
- MWeather, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3Smart phones suck for anything that requires typing anything loner than a phone number.
- geoken, on 07/09/2009, -2/+5If by win you mean Google will use the Linux kernel but make everything above it so dissimilar to linux that it will be as unusable to Ubuntu users as OSX's improvements are to BSD users then yes, Linux users will win.
- rabidgoose, on 07/09/2009, -4/+7There are no winners in this game, only losers.
I have an HP Mini 11xx that came with XP SP3 pre-installed. Perrhaps I have un-naturally lowered expectations about microshaft platforms, but so far I've no complaints about the OS' performance on it, but HP loaded it down with ~2GB of crapware I'll never use. After an hour or two of tweaking I claim one battle down in the war....
There was another thread on netbooks where someone else wrote about buying a different netbook model with a linux distro pre-installed - but it was an "altered" (read crippled and de-stabilized) OEM install by the manufacturer that wrecked up the joint. For the love of God, why? - EtherGnat, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3I have a desktop, notebook, smartphone, and netbook at home. While I wouldn't give up the others, the netbook gets used more than any of them. It's perfect for lounging around on the couch browsing the web or IM'ing. Sure, I could easily substitute my other devices, but for under $300 fully equipped it was money well spent.
- dig1x, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3MS is well ahead with it's Azure platform for enabling developers to deploying their real applications.
Compuware's Covisint group also has a pretty cool solution in that space;
http://www.covisint.com/industries/appCloud/index. ... - dig1x, on 07/09/2009, -1/+4> HP loaded it down with ~2GB of crapware I'll never use
I'm really tired of hearing this "crapware/bloatware" talk. If you *didnt* know how to install software, you'd be *very* happy to see your machine come "with all that software". Some people dont know what Nero is. They dont know how to uninstall or install software, and they are happy that HP installs these things for them.
Sure, you might have your own set of favorite-apps, but for newbies, that stuff is essentail -- it's already installed for them. - MWeather, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3The one thing OEMS are contractually prevented from doing unless they want to pay full price for windows licenses.
- brister, on 07/09/2009, -3/+5I really think people are over hyping the netbook. If you have an iphone, blackberry, pre or whatever and a laptop (which increasing amounts of people do) then there is no need for a netbook. Its going to remain a small market. So the real question is not who will win the netbook war but if google's os will be good enough to eventually compete in the laptop/desktop market.
- paulsmith288, on 07/09/2009, -6/+8Linux or Chrome OS or another that doesn't cost $$$
$100 netbook hardware - you cannot put a $150 OS on it.
Consumers will chose Chrome when price is a major factor - other things like marketing , boot speed etc will have a factor. - krisrm, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2No - those things are no good for typing quickly on, their screens are tiny, they're outperformed multiple times by Atom processors, and they're expensive. The netbook is the crescent wrench of electronics: it scales well to do big things (typing lots of stuff, I use mine for coding all the time, a few simple 3D games) and little things (web browsing, checking email...) better than other wrenches, but it's got it's limits, and doesn't work as well as a wrench of any single size.
- dragossh, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2Yes, but now people like internet appliances apparently.
- inactive, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3predatory anti competitive practices you mean?
- mathyu21, on 07/09/2009, -3/+5I think the migration of the desktop to the web is an exciting step in tech. The new revolution is cloud computing and web applications and that revolution brings on the convenience of the netbook. Google is definitely ahead of the curve here.
- krisrm, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2@Dig1x : yes, but the point was that smartphones are more expensive than any netbook... you either buy it with a plan that you don't use and get raped, or buy it unlocked and get raped by the cost of the device itself. They're also tons better for typing on than any smartphone, iPod, what have you. And they run a *real* operating system, not some miniature "I can play Tetris!" OS (Windows Mobile, Blackberry, I'm looking at you).
- inactive, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3Linux users get the advantage of gaining code support, investment and expanded technical support. The war will never be over..
So Linux users win, Mac gets nothing, M$ gets nothing - douche bags!
(I don't understand the statement, digg him down anyway...digg is full of retards.) - Leviathan433, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2So, the revolution will not be televised?
Will it be on Hulu? - cenobyte40k, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2Honestly MS with windows 7 works the best. I have seen people try all kinds of OSs on these things (Dells, Acers, HPs, etc) and in the end almost all of them end up on windows 7. It runs well and it gives them something they are used to. The linux versions most of these come with are pretty good, but until they have a nice standard GUI they can't leverage the market of one version to help another. As long as MS keeps making operating systems that are good enough and they keep a high market share people will not switch.
The real worry MS should have in the rise of the super smart phone. the iphone is really just a taste of what you will see phone able to do in the near future. People are not going to want much more than what there 'phone' can do (augmented reality/VR, multi-media, communcation, games, file storage, data processing) and whoever is the big name on all the phones when that happens will be the big winner. (Apple has a big lead in market name and penitration right now).
The other big story is the living room/bedroom entertainment centers. MS is making big roads into that and if they just consolidate and push hard with the next versions of the Xbox with Natal plus things like DVR, cable cards, blueray, and mass storage, they can take the living room market from Tivo, Sony and Nintendo in one big push.
But that's just my opinion, we will see how it plays out. - MWeather, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3Get a dell mini 9 with Ubuntu netbook remix.
- directrix13, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2Linux works great on portable devices. Desktop Linux distros don't though.
- JQP123, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3"The new revolution is cloud computing..."
What's old is new again.
"Cloud" computing was the norm *before* the PC era. The basic problem with this model is that power, control and functionality is focused and concentrated. By comparison, what we have now is highly distributed.
Most folks here probably weren't around in the "bad old days" ... or else they've forgotten. - dig1x, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2What is this "$150" OS of which you speak?
W7 OEM for netbooks is certainly far far closer to $20 than $100. - Swivelstick, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2Trying to follow the car industry example..
- TheMachine1, on 07/09/2009, -7/+9The porn based OS I am working on?
- JQP123, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2"Who wins the war?"
Who says there will be a winner? I think a standoff is more likely.
Some standalone apps and functionality will always be required ... or at least desirable. I say everything will ultimately meet/merge somewhere in the middle. Cloud computing or standalone or some combination thereof ... your choice. - DangerCollie, on 07/09/2009, -4/+6I every head to head review I've seen Windows 7 comes in third or fourth. Behind Ubuntu Remix and XP. Just don't see MSFT being able to slim it down enough to make it a Netbook OS.
Ubuntu Remix gets the top reviews, Android and Chrome OS will likely be better positioned both in terms of speed and applications in the future.
I'd don't buy the familiarity argument. People use smart phones of different stripes and seem to get by just fine. Maybe the people heavily invested in MS products are hoping. But Windows Mobile is the Zune of small device operating systems and pretty much showcases the desktop mentality still entrenched in Redmond. - esc27, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2I still have serious doubts about "the cloud." It is certainly useful for a lot of things (like email, which has been available as an online webapp for years,) but it is hardly trustworthy or reliable. Take the recent Kodak fiasco when many users lost their pictures because the online service changed its policies. Nearly every web service has a line in its ToS/ToU that they can change rules/policies at will without warning.
There has been a lot of work recently to move toward open standards for office documents, largely because of vendor lockin. With cloud computing you are stuck with whatever vendor you chose. If it goes out of business, changes, policies, etc. tough luck. (Yes many make it possible to get your data out, but few make it easy, especially when you start considering businesses and large amounts of data.) To be reliable, you either need to keep a copy of every document on your machine (so much for eliminating the need for local storage and increasing data portablility) or use multiple cloud based solutions to back each other up (and I really don't see Microsoft and Google sharing your data...)
Then there is privacy. Do you really want Google, microsoft, or some other company to be able to read your documents? Maybe as an individual you don't care, but what about a company? To be safe, we are better off encrypting our data on the client side before uploading it to the cloud, but then the data becomes useless to the "free" cloud computing companies. Why would google give free storage space unless it gets to read your files to strengthen its advertising. - phyx726, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2There is no war.
- dig1x, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3Care to produce one of these head-to-head reviews that puts W7 "third or forth"? And, no, postings from linux-advocacy newsgroups dont count.
Google Linux isnt going to magically be better than what is on offer, not unless they intend to create whole new environment -- then, are you really interested in an ad-supported OS? No thanks. - Leviathan433, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1Hasta la victoria siempre!
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