For Linux hardware to become popular to anyone accept the geeks trying to support is it will need need to find a niche, it will need to do something that Windows or OSX does not. There are many places where Linux could outshine Windows, but the first one that come to mind is low resource computers. This could mean loading Linux on old computers that Vista would not run on, but it is not easy to make money selling used equipment. You could have a new Linux laptop or desktop that is far from state of the art hardware, but why would you do that? A couple of interesting answers to that question have recently appeared.
The first is the One Laptop Per Child project or OLPD, they have come up with the XO computer. Their goal is not profit, but it is more altruistic. They have this amazing idea that if we can provide computers to children in third world countries, they will not be left behind in the information age. Unfortunately for Microsoft the XO runs a modified version of Red Hat, and this scares the hell out of Microsoft. It scares them so much that they came out with a low resource version of XP to use on the Intel version of the OLPC and the story is here. They are very aware that for the majority of people, once they become comfortable with an operating system, they need a very good reason to change. This has worked well for Microsoft, they sell discounted versions of Windows and MS Office to many school districts in the US and in other countries and when the students graduate and buy a computer, they will buy what they know. A very bad analogy is a drug dealer giving dope to someone until they are hooked, then charging them for their product. I am not comparing Microsoft to a drug dealer, it is a wise business move for them to get their products into schools.
There are three pieces of Linux hardware that are currently available that I think will start the mass acceptance of Linux as the operating system of choice. The first one is, as stated above, the OLPC XO computer.
The next is the commercial version of the OLPC laptop. It is called the Asus Eee laptop. The laptop has 900 mhz Intel micro processor, 512 mb of ram, and no hard drive but 4 gig of solid state storage. It has a speakers, microphone, a .3 mega pixel web cam, a seven inch screen, wifi, and 3.5 hours of battery life. The design of the Eee is a little more adult than the brightly colored XO. It is a little bit bigger than a hard cover book, although not as thick. I have seen black and white versions, I prefer the black.
The laptop runs a modified version of Xandros Linux, the interface is extremely simple compared to a normal Linux desktop, however you can install the KDE desktop, but it takes some doing.
I was at Micro Center in St Louis Park Minnesota and I noticed that the had an Eee on display so I was able to play with it for a while. Of course the first thing that I did was power it down and time how long it took to beet once I booted it up again. I read that the boot time was fifteen seconds and it was very close to that, maybe a little faster. My second thought was I bet OpenOffice is really a dog on the Eee". Again I was pleasantly surprised, I did not time it but it did not take any longer to load that the OpenOffice on my 2 giga hz Sony laptop. I did not bother seeing how much memory was allocated to OpenOffice, but I kind of with I had. I launched Firefox and checked out hoe the world wide web looked through the seven inch window. Unfortunately Micro Center has Safe Surf on their network so my surfing was limited, but page loads were reasonably fast and played You Tube videos.
What I liked about the Eee:
It is the perfect size to take just about anywhere, yet it is not too small to do some serious surfing.
I have a Nokia 770 that I use as a PDA, I have a few minor issues with it, but for the most part it does everything I need it to do and more. I think at some point the Eee could substitute for my 770 and laptop. The Eee will do everything the 770 will do and more (accept built in bluetooth). I also think most days I could leave my laptop at home and just haul around the Eee. I have already been wondering if I will be able to run my PowerPoints on it and I believe it has a video out so I should be able to connect it to a LCD projector if I can change the output resolution. Hmmm it just may work...
It definitely seems to have enough horse power to do everything I need. I like that the OS is Linux, I should be able to apt-get any programs that I need.
I like that it has video out, and three usb ports. Heck my old two thousand dollar Sony only two usb ports.
Dislikes:
Most of the dislikes are inherent to the size of the device. The keyboard is cramped, but if you want a small laptop you have to have a small keyboard.
I was disappointed with the display. The display on my 770 is very sharp, it is probably the nicest thing about the unit. The resolution on the Eee, I believe is 800 x 480 and it is not bad, but compared to today's standards the cursor and icons are a little large and not crisp like the 770. I have read that Asus is going to come out with an Eee that has a ten inch screen. The first laptop that I had was a ThinkPad that had a 9 inch screen and the old pencil eraser instead of a touch pad and I would have a hard time stepping back in time and buying a laptop that has a smaller screen than my old ThinkPad.
Neither the keyboard or the screen (I would prefer the 10 inch model) are a deal breaker. The keyboard is as good as it can be for its size and the screen is functional, you probably would not want to spend hours without a break using it, but it is adequate.
I think 2008 will be the year that Linux will find its niche on the laptop/desktop. It is going to be a long time before Linux overthrows Windows on the corporate desktop, if it ever does, or becomes the standard home or soho OS. The dynamics of computing is memory is fast and cheap, processor speed doubles every eighteen months, Moore's law, and Microsoft will build an OS that needs all of the computer's power and more. This is a plus for Linux,
No comments:
Post a Comment