Asus Eee PC - breakthrough Linux product faces threat

By Stan Beer
Friday, 23 November 2007 11:15

Opinion and Analysis

The market has spoken and it clearly wants a consumer Linux computer. The sub-notebook Asus Eee PC has not been able to meet demand and is predicted to sell up to 5 million units worldwide next year. If that comes true a single product will have on its own shifted consumer Linux market share upwards a notch or two. However, there is a threat on the horizon for this break-through Linux product - and it comes from Asus itself. Taiwan-based Asus has promised to bring a Windowsversion of the Eee PC out before the end of 2007. Why could that be athreat to the Linux version already on the market? The answer isobvious.

Consumers are not interested in what operating system a computer isrunning. Unfortunately, they don't even care all that much about whichoperating system offers the best security. All  they're interested inis what a computer can do. And without a doubt they'll have moreapplications at their disposal with Windows. In many instances,applications common to both platforms, such as Skype, are more advancedon Windows.

This is not the fault of the Linux development community. There areplenty of good products developed specifically for the Linux platform.Unfortunately, however, many of the most popular  software products forPCs have simply not been developed for Linux.

Many well-known software companies have only just got round todeveloping versions of their product for the Mac, which has aconsiderably larger market share on the consumer desktop than  Linux.

It's doubtful whether Asus Eee PC owners will care that they can't getQuicken for their new computer. However, one application in particularcould be a Linux deal breaker for a consumer  faced with a choicebetween a Linux and Windows version of the Asus box. And the big ironyis that this particular software product is free. While it may be free,however, it is anything but trivial. CONTINUED