They said that it was a business decision to lessen the models with Linux on their netbooks. Other manufacturers like HP and Dell were said to have triggered the change. The Asus notebooks with smaller hard drives paled in comparison thus losing marketshare. I hope that they won’t totally eradicate Linux. After all, they have helped create a community around their EEE PC and they have created ways for us netbook users to use Linux without much trouble.

Sad to say decisions like that are based on business and income. It’s not a matter of advocacy. I’d like to hope that there will be companies that will really have their decisions considering the principles of free and open source software.

Post from: New Linux User

Linux was good enough for you at the launch of your Eee PC models two years ago, and it’s even better now. How quickly you changed your allegiance when the hardware caught up with the requirements of Windows. We now know who our real friends are. Maybe you never really were our friend, maybe you just used us to steal a march on the competition. If that’s the case then you suck.

As much I’d rather have Asus sell their laptops and netbooks with Linux pre-installed, the reality is that not everyone in the market would like that. Even if the numbers are probably growing in terms of their Linux sales (not sure of this, just stating a possibility), as a manufacturer, they have probably seen that they have different markets out there. They have the crowd that wants Windows and they have the crowd that wants Linux.

Linux & Windows

Do I expect manufacturers to be totally supportive of all things open source? I am pessimistic by nature and I have to admit that I cannot say yes. Taking into consideration that businesses need to profit, it will be difficult at this time. Maybe some day but I don’t see it now. For now, at least there are manufacturers like Asus and Acer who give us choices. That’s a first step, I think.

Post from: New Linux User