Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 11 February 2008 11:28
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Despite Linux’s growing maturity, the fact is that most of us still live in a Windows world, where most hardware and software has been designed to work with Windows first, and other operating systems second.
The order is usually Windows, followed by Mac OS X, and then Linux – if we’re lucky. Of course, this is changing as Linux becomes ever more popular. But as already noted, and as you already know, no matter what computer and OS you are currently using to read this article, it’s a Windows world we live in, for better or worse.
The fact that even before a Windows Eee PC has been released outside of Japan, some east Asian markets are selling the ASUS Eee running
doctored versions of XP, showing that the demand is strong. In Thailand, I hear tell they’re selling the Asus Eee PC loaded with Windows 2006!
But it’s because of Windows’ popularity that ASUS have made it easy for anyone wanting to run Windows XP on their Eee PC to do so. They’ve made a disc of XP drivers available to download from their website to download and burn onto a CD.
As you probably already know, the Eee PC doesn’t come with a CD or DVD burner, but these are less than $100 to buy in stores and easily connects via USB, and this is the easiest way to install Windows XP onto the Eee and install the drivers.
ASUS have also made allowances for the fact that the Eee’s screen resolution is 800x480 by offering an 800x600 mode that shrinks the screen to fit in the 800x480 dimensions. This is very handy if you have boxes on screen which normally stretch beyond the 480 lines on screen, as is common with most programs today.
Installing XP onto the Eee makes sense for those that must use specific Windows software, or hardware that only has Windows drivers, or better drivers under Windows than Linux.
But installing XP then means your computer is much more vulnerable to Windows threats. Installing an anti-virus package, a good firewall, anti-malware software and more is essential.
Thankfully there are versions of all of these programs that are available to download free of charge and don’t place an enormous overhead onto your computer, such as AVG’s free anti-virus software, the free Zonealarm firewall and anti-malware software such as Spybot’s Search and Destroy 1.5.
I’m not saying that you don’t need these types of programs for Linux too, but the number of viruses, malware and attacks against Linux machines are far fewer than the typical Windows PC will experience on a daily basis.
So, installing Windows XP onto the Eee PC is easy, but should you bother? Please read onto page 3.
