Could the eeePC end up being Microsoft's trojan horse?

By Sam Varghese
Monday, 02 June 2008 22:33

Opinion and Analysis

It is rarely that one finds a hardware device, or for that matter a software package, about which it is extremely difficult to find a negative word. The eeePC fits neatly into this bracket.
Right from the time the 7-inch model made its debut, there have been any number of positive reviews. With the emergence of the 9-inch model, the praise has grown even louder with the Linux fanatics among the crowd of yea-sayers seeing the device as the one that finally gives the operating system a chance to gain its comeuppance against Microsoft.

In truth, the eeePC has many things going for it. The size and weight are major plus factors - it would win over a businessman on those counts alone.

The little gadget performs its limited range of functions competently. The wireless set-up works flawlessly, the speed at which it discharges its duties is fine and it doesn't generate that much heat.

For the nerdy, of course, the eeePC is manna from heaven. It can accommodate each nerd's favourite Linux distribution and can be loaded with all the software that one likes.

There is, however, one factor which nobody has bothered about, a factor that could well prove to be the one that makes the eeePC some kind of a trojan horse for Microsoft.

And that is the fact that it runs a modified version of the Xandros Linux distribution.

In the excitement of the moment, everyone seems to have forgotten that Xandros is one of the companies that lined up meekly in June 2007 to sign a patent deal with Microsoft.