Linux toast as Apricot gets in a netbook jam

Davey Winder
Thursday, 23 October 2008 18:33

Business IT - Open Source

One of the reasons why netbooks have proved so successful is the inclusion of Linux to lower resource requirements and cost alike. So why has Apricot decided to drop Linux and only offer a Windows XP powered netbook instead?

Earlier this week we were reporting on how one of the best known British computer brands had risen phoenix-like from the ashes of 1999 to launch a very 2008 product: a netbook.

Apricot Computers has repositioned itself as a manufacturer of "ultra mobile personal computers" and launched the Picobook Pro. At the time I found it hard to bring myself to be excited by just another netbook to land in an already crowded market.

What a netbook needs to succeed these days is something different, something that makes it stand out from the crowd, something that gives it that 'X' factor no less. It seems that I spoke too soon regarding the Picobook Pro for it now has that something: no Linux.

Yes, in a move that provides more of a 'What The XXXX' factor than anything else, it would appear that
the SuSE Linux powered version of the netbook is axed already. The Register suggests that the reason is, rather incredibly, that Linux is "too complicated."

An Apricot mouthpiece told El Reg that "The Linux version proved too complicated with initial testers, who would opt to purchase and install XP any way." Surely some mistake, as users of just about every other Linux driven netbook on the market have managed OK.

The clue lies in something else the Apricot man said, namely that it has decided to offer just Windows XP because "as soon as it is switched on, it is ready for use." Aha, all becomes clear. What Apricot means is that it could not manage to get the Picobook Pro out to customers with Linux ready to roll in any usable fashion.

Surely that is more of an Apricot failing than a Linux one? It is hard not to accept that a modicum of work at the Apricot end would have resulted in a Linux OS that is just as user friendly as a Windows XP one out of the box. After all, every other netbook manufacturer that I can think of has a Linux version and the Internet is not awash with complaints about installation.

Of course, choosing SuSE Linux Enterprise Edition might have had something to do with it, what's wrong with a Ubuntu variant or one of the many dumbed-down-distros just crying out for netbook use?

The only good news, for Windows XP fans, is that the Apricot netbook with XP will now cost UKP £29 less. Mind you, that's still a whole £20 more than the Linux version would have been...