Comments on: Will Linux Dominate Ultra-Portable Market?

By: jmmx

jmmx — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:02:13 +0000

Apple will come out with a 6 – 8 inch Touch that will take huge market share. Linux will always have a price advantage and will dominate the price-conscious crowd. Windows will be way marginalized to the Gates-is-god fanatics and those too slow to adapt.

By: TCO

TCO — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:33:50 +0000

How it will likely breakdown:
Linux on most emerging world UMPCs.
Linux or Windows on most European and Japanese UMPCs.
Windows on most North American UMPCs. (unfortunately)

By: Fred

Fred — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:18:34 +0000

In response to penguin.

Linux already has 100% of the eeePC market. Now windows is playing catch up in that market. So much so that Microsoft is GIVING AWAY XP Home edition.

The real question is Microsoft Office. If people want to edit documents on an eeePC. They can get it with Linux all ready to go at $400.00 Or they can get it with XP Home and still have to buy Microsoft Office.

If you were going to install OpenOffice on an eeePC, you just as well get the Linux offering with more flash memory for the same price.

There was also an article Dutch UMPC runs Ubuntu Linux http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS3257992292.html It is a Chinese CPU and it runs Linux.

Remember, you must have intel x86 compatibility to run XP Home. There are a lot more ways to cut costs on these things by going with a different CPU architecture. Linux will run on those systems. XP will not.

This market is a race to the bottom. People are already lining up to buy the eeePC with Linux on it when there is on Windows version available for $350 to $400. Anyone has a chance to outsell the eeePC by making a unit that does as much or more hardware wise for $250 to $350 if they ditch Windows compatibility.

Remember, it is Linux’s market to lose and not all the players are going to be laptop makers who have had deals with MicroSoft in the past.

By: asim

asim — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:58:45 +0000

who’s care about the OS in UMPC ???

By: Volker Hett

Volker Hett — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:03:40 +0000

@penguin, what Sofware would that be? Photoshop? MS Office? SAP?

Remember, we’re talking a small screen and very limited ressources for todays standards.

By: penguin

penguin — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:27:11 +0000

No, Linux cannot even get close to 50% market share in UMPCs.

No body f***ing cares about linux, even though it’s a lot better & cheaper than Windows.

There is a lot of software which runs only in windows and people are used to those applications and don’t want to switch to Linux just because it’s less expensive. I’d be surprised if linux can get around 10-20% market share.

By: fsdaily.com

fsdaily.com — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:18:43 +0000

Story added…

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http://www.fsdaily.com/Industry/Will_Linux_Dominate_Ultra_Portable_Market...

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:31:37 +0000

I think the most interesting thing about these ulra portables is that for years we have discussed the so called “year of the desktop” and it looks like Linux is going to skip that entirely and go straight to the “year of the portable”. Who would of imagined that happening a few years back?

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:19:14 +0000

I think that Linux will take it over in time, I think that we are looking at this thing from a slightly wrong angle. We are thinking in terms of a general purpose desktop computer but reduced. This is not how it should be looked at, it is not how many manufacturers are looking at it.
You need to consider these things more in terms of mission specific devices. So, users only need to use the same thinking that they need to use mobile phones to access these new devices. they don’t necessarily need to be exposed directly to any Linuxy goodness. They may never know what Gnome or KDE is. However they may be using GTK. The real victims of this market is Symbian OS (Remember that?) and brethren. What the end user will see is a skype button, or an application-x button. On a carefully crafted interface. The idea, is that the manufacturer isn’t providing the user with a computer but a bunch of services via a thingy that they are selling.
Its more of a tool for a manufacturer to sell kit. Think of them as more of an embedded device than a small PC. Open Source software has just provided them with a good enough tool kit so that they can keep their development cost down.
Anyway, that’s what I think.

By: Boycott Novell » Links 11/04/2008: Mobile/UM PC GNU/Linux; New RMS Interview in New Scientist

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:05:54 +0000

[...] Will Linux Dominate Ultra-Portable Market? [...]

By: Karl O. Pinc

Karl O. Pinc — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:16:17 +0000

You would be right if there were lots of device makers, but they’re not AFICT. There’s only 3 laptop manufacturers that I know of, everybody else OEMs them. That’s what I hear, please correct me if I’m wrong.

Three device makers is few enough for Microsoft to either/or/both pay off and threaten, because these device makers sell a lot of devices that run Microsoft Windows. I’d bet Microsoft is willing to spend a lot to make sure that Linux never undersells Microsoft Windows. Unless the price is lower the consumer just won’t bite, not in a big way, even if the Linux box is sold with extra hardware to compensate for the higher price.

Rumor has it that the new Asus eee will have the same price for the MS or Linux versions, but the Linux box will have more storage. (The hardware add-on with the least bling, IMO.) Raising the price is silly when you’re, well, competing on price. My bet would be that Microsoft is trying to put a floor on the race to the bottom, and that they’ll succeed — temporarily.

By: jr

jr — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:27:32 +0000

@Joe: I hane no idea. Probably the same way they monetize InterNet Explorer.