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Hardware Vendors Will Follow Money To Open Source
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:38 AM
from the penguins-on-the-move dept.
from the penguins-on-the-move dept.
Stony Stevenson writes "Dirk Hohndel, Intel's chief technologist for open source, believes the installed base of Linux-based desktops could potentially double this year, based just on Eee PC sales. Speaking at open source conference Linux.conf.au in Melbourne, Hohndel said commercial pressure will be the incentive for traditionally Windows-centric hardware vendors to begin offering open source drivers and Linux-based systems to their customers. 'Open source has made the most inroads in the server market, where Linux-based servers represent roughly a quarter of the total market. But in other segments, such as mobile phones and desktops where open source hasn't had as much of an impact, vendors were less interested, Hohndel said. Linux penetration of the desktop environment is currently at around 0.8 percent, but Hohndel said consumer behavior is changing this.'"
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Potentially? Come on. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Potentially? Come on. (Score:5, Insightful)
He said something different though: "The Eee PC is expected to hit 3 and a half million in 2008. There's a single computer that's going to double this figure this year". It seems the cop-out is in the summary rather than in Hohndel's statement.
Parent
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You mean they had them in stock all the time before you told Slashdot where to get one?
Re:Potentially? Come on. (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
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Re:Potentially? Come on. (Score:4, Interesting)
asus is winning because they are competing where Microsoft CANT. They cant fit a fully functional OS and app suite in that small of a place that runs that swiftly.
This is where Linux is shining. it's kicking the crap out of the big guys because it's far more scalable. Everyone else is interested in bigger and badder, while Linux and BSD both have sat there making sure it runs fine on tiny spaces.
Parent
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Yeah, now TWO people will use it!
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So lomg as an assteroid [wikipedia.org] doesn't hit me I guess it's ok.
Cool! A new year! (Score:2)
Though they're a little late on this aren't they? It's the end of January...they usually start this talk in the first 1 or 2 weeks of the year. But it's good to see they're consistent.
Also, not trolling here, I really hope Linux does explode and gain market share...it's just I've heard this year after year after year. But I suppose that one year it's actually going to happen.
Re:Cool! A new year! (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
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On the contrary, it is a lack of support on the side of Linux developers. In order to compete, and finally see the oft-mentioned "year of the Linux desktop", it is up to the developers to put in the effort to make Linux run as well as possible.
So Windows should be held to the same standards perhaps? Hate to break it to you, but Linux developers have already done it. Most standard hardware works out of the box with no added drivers needed. The more unusual stuff does need some careful choices, but the same could be said of any hardware that needs a manufacturer's driver disk.
Last time I installed Windows was last August, pretty standard hardware, a copy of XP home SP2... And a driver disk for the network card, the sound card, the TV tuner card, T
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I think your average user would be better served by other applications [koffice.org]. And for all the times I hear "but they won't have Photoshop", I have to wonder how many people actually use PS in the first place. Outside a handful of graphic designers, no one I know has it installed.
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I did wonder why I saw this chunk of code creep into ubuntu CVS as well;
if [ parttype.sda1 = "NTFS" && parttype.sda2 = "EvilLinuxFilesystem" ]
sda1.wipedrive
print "pwned by teh Ballmer!"
exit
Fortunatele for me, it wasn't written in any exploitable programming language as gcc doesn't understand ba
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Make a general purpose PC at about the same pricepoint
as the AppleTV and let the customer load whatever
software they want on it. It will beat the crap out of
network DVD players, be more flexible than the iTV and
be cheaper than the mini.
Make it cheap (like a walmart DVD) so that the consumers
end up spending more on computers than they would if
they had to spend the same money all at once.
An EEE hooked up to every TV and stereo in America and Europe.
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Re:Cool! A new year! (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
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Integration is key (Score:5, Insightful)
Just the ability to sync your mobile phone with a Linux platform (which I assume it will provide) will be a huge boost for Linux on the desktop, when it comes to small and medium business.
Actually, the slashdot "does it run linux" meme is very much appropriate here. If the devices you want run Linux and are compatible with other Linux devices, it only makes sense to adopt an all-Linux home/shop/business, etc...
Re:Integration is key (Score:5, Insightful)
On Linux, we get a bad rap for poor hardware support. It's not really the case. We have good or, in many cases, excellent hardware support for a wide swath of popular hardware. But you have to do the necessary research to know what to buy and what not to buy when it comes to buying hardware for your Linux machine. In the Windows world, you stick with the big names -- they're guaranteed to work. In the Linux world, one scanner model from a vendor might be supported by SANE and another from the same vendor might not be.
A bright, enterprising individual would do well to come up with an online and -- even better -- a brick and mortar store that specializes in selling hardware that works well on Linux. Sure, it's been tried before and failed -- but that was then and this now and Linux has gotten much better support for hardware in recent years.
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If you call it a desktop (Score:3, Insightful)
Horse Bones beaten with sticks (Score:2)
"Linux just needs some popular commercial games. Then we will see it take off on the home desktop."
Linux is set to take off this year for real this time!
I'm not trying to troll, but honestly, how often do we have to here these same soundbites?
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The opportunity is open to move laterally into Vista territory. Vista is "better" than XP, but not better "enough" to throw away XP and spend twice as much money on a Vista compatible computer.... since Microsoft spent the entire XP era shooting PC gaming in the foot (with XBOX) the number of people that care abo
2000^h1^h2^h3^h4^h5^h6^h7^h8 (Score:4, Funny)
The obligatory Star Trek quote (Score:3, Interesting)
Twice nothing is still nothing.
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As it is frequently pointed out in this site... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Let X be a small number greater than 0.
A: Under the assumption that double of a small number is a small number we have: Y is small => 2Y is small
B: Thus for all n > 0 we have (2^(n-1)) * X is small => (2^n)X is small
C: Thus by the principle of mathematical induction we have that (2^n) * X is small for all n > 0 and X > 0.
D: However, if X > 0 , then the sequence a(n) = (2^n) * X has no upper bound and is strictly increasing. Hence it diverges
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A: Under the assumption that double of a small number is a small number we have: Y is small => 2Y is small
B: Thus for all n > 0 we have (2^(n-1)) * X is small => (2^n)X is small
C: Thus by the principle of mathematical induction we have that (2^n) * X is small for all n > 0 and X > 0.
D: However, if X > 0 , then the sequence a(n) = (2^n) * X has no upper bound and is strictly increasing. Hence it diverges towards infinity.
E: So either double of a small
After 2006 and 2007 (Score:2)
2003 was the year of the Linux desktop (Score:2)
Godwin's Law in under 40 posts... (Score:2)
"eee" - a good intro to Linux for the masses (Score:2, Insightful)
All they'll know is they can surf and do email, and maybe listen to some music. Next they'll want to know if they can open a spreadsheet or write a document. Eventually
Year of the Linux Desktop (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, though, I'm starting to think it might actually have some weight. You've got Dell, Asus and other vendors shipping hardware with Linux on it. Hell, even Tesco here in the UK sell Ubuntu PCs [tesco.com].
Anything that wipes that smug look off Ballmer's face is good enough for me
0.8 percent? (Score:5, Insightful)
I gave copies of Mandriva to several people last year. None of these copies of that OS is counted as a desktop OS; they are counted as Windows, since they were either added to Windows machines as dual boot or replaced Windows completely.
A lot of GNU desktops MUST be being counted as Windows. Nobody asked ME how many copies of Linux I gave away!
Someone (Clemons?) once said there are three kinds of lies - lies, damned lies, and statistics.
-mcgrew
(don't bother with today's journal)
Linux yes, open source, no (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem is today most computer gear is commodity chips with the software/firmware/driver making it a unique product with a value proposition for the consumer. The hardware is easy to replicate - China has built a large part of their enconomy doing just that. The software is more difficult - so much more difficult that successful companies in the hardware space may be taking advantage of Far East production of the hardware device but keeping the firmware and drivers close to the vest. Failure to do that invites theft and results in a cheap knock-off with the R&D provided for them.
What this means is a printer where the driver does most of the work is cheap to design and cheap to produce. Anyone can copy the printer. Copying the driver - unless the hardware is 100% identical - isn't going to work. But if the source were available, it could easily be adapted to slightly different hardware by a junior programmer. Instant windfall for someone.
Same goes for a next-generation gigabit network card that has firmware downloaded into it or just about any software-based device you can think of.
Patent protection is meaningless in a global environment where one party doesn't respect any patents. Look at the DVD player situation today - $29 retail DVD players are not paying the $6 DVD Forum licensing fee. There isn't enough room in there for $6 to anyone. But the US Customs folks allow these in all day long even though they are violating US patents. To block them would uselessly create trade problems and would prevent US consumers from getting cheap DVD players. This happens with every other sort of device you can imagine.
World Domination 201 (Score:3, Informative)
Nice, but where's the build quality? (Score:4, Insightful)
As for the China Problem, once there is someone brave enough to say "no" to them(and to those who step in their place) and enforce patent controls to where we can control quality with our borders.
Education (Score:3, Insightful)
Let me back up. The majority of educational software is now web-based. 90% of middle and high school computer usage is either web based or using a dedicated word processor. It's not the Asus specifically that has us interested, but the concept. If you've seen the Asus, it's really more like a web appliance. The average person would look at it the same way they look at the iPhone or an ATM machine... they don't know or care what the OS is underneath.
So for education, this could be huge. As competition increases and these devices get down to $199, the previously expensive idea of "one laptop per child" does not seem so expensive any more. There are three groups of people who need to be paying close attention to this: Microsoft, Apple, and Textbook makers.
Put this together with education's interest in "Web 2.0," aka "The Read/Write Web" where all your school books and files are available to you online anywhere, and you're brewing up the perfect storm. Apple should be working on a device of their own right now, if they're smart, and Microsoft.... Microsoft should be praying.
Mobility did it for me (Score:3, Interesting)
With devices like the XO laptop and the eeePC, I have the low-cost option for a second machine to run linux. Now I feel like I can outlay a relatively small amount, keep using my mission-critical windows apps, and learn to use linux properly without a down side. The option of adding an OS to my routine, rather than switching completely, makes linux a lot more inviting.
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Until your ATM running Windows Embedded crashes.