Asus to offer Eee PCs pre-loaded with Windows Astounded that Asus' tiny Eee PC will ship with Linux, Microsoft has agreed to provide the Taiwanese vendor with a version of Windows Vista that can be pre-installed on the diminutive notebook, Asus has revealed. Asus has always stressed the Eee PC's compatibility with Windows, despite the machine's limited storage space - 2- …
I'm sure the people who made 98 Lite could hacksaw Vista into this machine, although that seems more like an exploit than a functional proposition. I wonder which version of Windows had the best balance between size, speed, functionality, and security? Windows 2000? Windows for Workgroups?
I'm going to have Paris Hilton as my avator, because I believe that she has much to say about the Asus EEE that we have not yet heard.
Why ?
It would be so interesting to see an optimised version of Windows on the devices comapred to a optimised Linux build.
Also, I wonder just what percentage of the total price the Microsoft Windows licence will make up.
Even if you could load XP and Office 2003, they are both superceded and Vista with Office 2007 I'm sure will require some more solid state memory to be installed.
It will come with Windows. So far so cool. But you need to add the antivirus, defrag, some extra utilities just to make it usable.
How about limited resources on that laptop? How can it work with Vista having only 900MHz processor and 512MB of memory? And all those extra tools, Dell's computers come in mind...
That stinks - MS just tries to push Windows without even considering end user experience. Or anything at all. Typical.
What's more likely.
MS bend over backwards to release a cut down verion of "bloat ware Vista" to help one manufacturer release a new small laptop.
Or
Asus report the laptop is selling one every two seconds and it is linux based? but "can work on XP with some work." which makes MS realise they are in trouble...
You decide.
"I'm sure Asus knows that the hardware won't sell if it only runs Linux" says Don Mitchell under "OS and Value". It is presumably the same with the Nokia N-800 internet tablet, a little linux computer. It has been so unpopular because of not running windows that it has come already in third edition, N-810. And it is still waiting for its version of Windows XP.
On the little nokia N-800 it is possible to set up a whole scientific mini-workstation, for example, which one can carry in a pocket. The same will be true for Asus EEE, which certainly also will be able to do lots of serious work with photo-editing and other professional/hobbyist activities when a heavy laptop is incovenient.
For people who have nothing better to do than fix and reinstall and admire their MS-infected user-experience-centered with virus combined entertainment boxes, EEE-PC without MS-windows naturally has little value, if any.
If those people however, become finaly interested in have something really done, the value of devices "without windows" would quickly become obvious even to them.
I kind of resent the idea that devices like the N800 aren't selling as much because they don't have Windows on them. To a user there's really no difference between Linux and Windows on these handhelds. The problem with them is that they aren't that useful -- the only really functional tool of this sort is the Blackberry or similar smartphone. (The N800 is built for a minority market -- right-handed 20-something year old gadget freaks. I predict it will morph into something like the EEPc, its just a little small for many users but its a really nice device with a lot of possibilties.)
Those micro laptops are just the job for a myriad of uses -- home users who just read mail, visit websites and maybe listen to the radio, educational users who need a Ti-83 update or other classroom hardware or vertical market developers. Microsoft has realized that if it doesn't get on the band waggon then its going to get caught out so its going to need something that's got the Windows brand even if it is just knock-off of FreeBSD or something like that. Such a product would be useful even for the legacy desktop/laptop market (because, lets face it, clunky over sized, over powered and underused machines are definitely last year's technology).
What we're seeing is the next generation of personal computing appearing in front of our eyes. The 'one size fits all' general purpose PC is a nuisance, its had its day, the key to the future is true portability and connectivity. I can't wait -- I've seen the future and its definitely not Vista.
Why would anyone want Windows on one of these? Sure it can happen, but why would you bother?
For the doubters, WinXP Embedded, with most of the XP bloat removed, can fit a 512MB flash disk with room to spare. And WinCE (not the crap PocketPC or Mobile versions) is also an option that could be as small as 20MB.
But again, I ask why would you when free OS is the other option?
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