Microsoft steps in to prevent surge of Linux-enabled ULPCs
May 13, 2008
Asus took itself and the rest of the laptop manufacturing industry by surprise when it launched the Eee PC to the unsuspecting world. These cheap, lightweight machines - known as Utra Low-cost PCs - don’t have a lot of power under the hood, but have enough to get the job done and are easy enough on the arms and wallet to be more than worthwhile.
As a fad in the West they are doing just fine, but for emerging markets where affordability is key, they have a far more important role to play.
They pose a serious problem for Microsoft though. Even though most models are technically capable of running Windows XP, one way costs can be reduced quite significantly is to lose Windows entirely. Linux was once a daunting prospect for lifelong Windows users but the Eee PC went a long way towards proving that Linux can be made user friendly after all.
So not only are these machines paving the way for competition from Linux, they aren’t even powerful enough to run Vista, which makes Microsoft angry and confused.
Well, now it has an answer - cheaper copies of XP. Under a new deal with manufacturers (leaked by IDG News Service) Microsoft will be selling XP Home for emerging markets at $26 per copy and in the developed world for $32 per copy.
There’s a catch though. In return for this incredible generosity (pfft) the manufacturers have to promise to make certain concessions to the hardware specs of these machines. They may not have a screen larger than 10.2″, they may not not have a processor faster than 1GHz, they may not have more than 1GB RAM (not sure about expandability though) and they may only have up to 80GB of storage. So sayeth the Redmond overseer.
It’s easy to focus on the negatives here: that Microsoft is dictating how manufacturers should make their machines in order to secure its Operating System. It is a clear sign that the software giant is worried and is getting desperate to plug this influx of OpenSource OSs from eating into its massive cash cow.
“[Low-cost PC makers] have made some good inroads with open-source, and Microsoft wants to put a stop to it,” one Microsoft official said off the record.
On the other hand, so far the most powerful Eee PC and other ULPCs haven’t reached the limitations set by Microsoft, and it gives more people a chance to get cheaper hardware if they are only comfortable with XP, which in turn will give the manufacturers more power when it comes to negotiating the specs upward in future.
The main fear is that manufacturers will start building their hardware to Microsoft’s specifications rather than striving to bring as much power as they can for the price. I hope Asus will stick to its guns, pushing the Linux alternative and striving to continue to reduce the cost of mobile computing and increase the power.
via PC World
Written by Ilinx · Filed Under Gadgets
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