Stan Beer
Monday, 19 May 2008 17:15
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
First through the Eee PC and now through its PC motherboards, Asus is rapidly carving a global reputation for itself as the company which knows how to take Linux mainstream. The question is will including the minimalist cut-down version of Linux called Splashtop on a million motherboards a month finally bring on the Linux desktop age or has it made the desktop redundant?
Before we go any further, we must say hats off to
Asus for having its finger on the pulse of what consumers want instead
of trying to tell them what they need.
Following the initial success of the Eee PC 700, Asus correctly gauged
consumer sentiment that including a 9-inch screen without altering the
unit's footprint would further propel the success of this unique little
hardware and software package. And so it has. The multi-touch mousepad
Eee PC 900 coupled with Asus' customised version of Xandros Linux,
priced at around $600-650, is a winner.
Now Asus demonstrates further that it has tapped in to the strengths of
Linux by promising to embed
Splashtop (branded Express Gate by Asus) on
a million motherboards a month. However, this is no attempt to bundle a
full-blown pre-installed Linux distro like Ubuntu or Suse as an
alternative to Windows. This is something quite different. This is instant on computing.
With Express Gate, Asus aims to provide its factory set motherboards
with functionality that currently doesn't exist. The vast majority of
consumer PC sessions these days are mainly concerned with surfing the
Web and chatting with friends using instant messaging and VoIP. Asus
motherboards packing Express Gate will enable those users to be up and
running, surfing the Web with Firefox and chatting to friends on Skype
within seconds of turning on their machine.
It's a holy grail on 'instant-on' computing that Microsoft and Intel have only ever dreamed of, but have so far, failed to achieve.
CONTINUED
