Google and Microsoft Both Want To Stop Dual-Boot Windows/Android Device 153
An anonymous reader writes "The laptop has undergone many changes over the past decade. At various times, netbooks, ultrabooks, and Chromebooks have been en vogue. Over the past several months, we've seen signs of the next step in the laptop's evolution: Android/Windows dual-boot laptops. Several companies have built these machines already, including Asus and its upcoming Transformer Book Duet TD300. However, neither Google nor Microsoft seem to want such an unholy marriage of operating systems, and they've both pressured Asus to kill off the dual-boot product lines. Asus has now complied. 'Google has little incentive to approve dual-OS models, since that could help Microsoft move into mobile devices where Android is dominant. ... Microsoft has its own reasons for not wanting to share space on computers with Google, particularly on business-oriented desktop and laptop PCs that could give the Internet giant an entry point into a Microsoft stronghold. Computer makers that make dual-OS machines risk jeopardizing a flow of marketing funds from Microsoft that are an important economic force in the low-margin PC business.'"
Forget the customer (Score:5, Insightful)
So neither perspective or any reason has the customers interests in mind.
Okay, now I can say it. And be happy. (Score:2, Insightful)
Fuck Google AND Microsoft.
Re:Forget the customer (Score:5, Insightful)
Quite the contrary, if the customer didn't want this, they wouldn't care about it.
All at your expense (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't make any mistake about it anymore. Google has been falling into the old footsteps of 1990s Microsoft for some time. They're moving to close source anything of value, they're moving to prevent anyone who isn't on board with Google from making decent Android devices, and they're moving to prevent multi-boot.
Welcome to 1999. Google is evil.
Re:Forget the customer (Score:5, Insightful)
Whether it's a niche market or not makes no difference. Many of us dual boot systems because our jobs require us to have knowledge of numerous operating systems, and to stay abreast dual booting has been a cheap way of using hardware I purchased to learn and grow in knowledge. I know many people who use dual boot for the same reason. Whether it's a phone or a PC makes no difference. It's "my" hardware that "I" purchased with "my" money. In my case, my company also purchases hardware and dual boots for the same reason that I do.
Neither Google or Microsoft give away the hardware, so they should not be able to force customers to use their operating system. Obviously they should not be at risk of a device gets bricked by someone setting up dual boot or a 2nd OS, but that's not the same thing.
Re:Forget the customer (Score:5, Insightful)
I really don't care about dual booting - in my experience the machine spends most of its time in one environment, and the one time you do switch its got a months worth of patches to install.
Re:Forget the customer (Score:5, Insightful)
How is it "an otherwise legal use of the product"? The Windows operating system and the Google Play Store application are copyrighted.
ASUS wasn't installing illegal copies of the product, they had licenses for both. As such, unless the license states you can't install on a system with any other OS, which it does not, then how was it illegal? I can buy an ASUS with Windows 8 and I can buy one with Android. Evidently, I can't buy one that lets me choose Windows 8 or Android at boot time.
ASUS conceded, not because of legality, but because of business relationships with the two software giants. If they were dual booting debian and fedora and were told to stop, they would have flipped them a bird because debian and fedora don't heavily influence their bottom line. Microsoft and Google, however, do, and used their vast market power to force ASUS into submission or face the consequences. It's bad enough for one company too big to fail to do it, but for two of them to gang up and do it, seems like the US Justice department should be investigating what happened. Oh, wait, Microsoft and Google already control the USJ department.