Citigroup predicts that [Asustek] will sell at least 3 million Eee PCs next year but could easily tally 6 million. By comparison, Apple has sold 4.3 million laptops in the last four quarters.
if the analysts at Citigroup are right, and the majority of the Eee PCs sold continue to run the pre-installed linux/icewm/kde/firefox/OOo combo ... that's a heck of a lot of new users of kde software coming next year.
3-6 million of them.
only question left: who's sending the invite to Jonney Shih's team to our 4.0 release event in January?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
After hearing about the Eee Pc so much recently I may consider getting one, if they release the full spec one. However it isn't yet released in the UK and the damm price injections they do over-inflate the price even despite our $2 for every pound.
Will ever be that or a Zonbu, and hopefully will run kde nicely...
Eee Pc?
But does it run Linux?
I have one - in the UK it's been available from Research Machines for 10 days or so.
It's a really nice little package - the software selection has been well thought out and integrated. Everything on it seems to Just Work - wireless, printing to my CUPS server, fish:// works in the file manager..., media plays fine.
I'd have liked to have seen a more recent KDE used as a base (it's based on 3.4.2).... For more advanced stuff it's pretty trivial to get to a terminal.
Well worth the inflated UK price. £230 or so from RM.
The most interesting part of the whole article is the part where they decided against using Windows:
"Asustek decided that the Windows operating system was out of the question. The licensing costs would have been the most expensive part of the computer......Meanwhile, the prospect of millions of new PC users buying the Eee PC without Windows seemed to worry Microsoft......it agreed to give Eee PC buyers the option of getting Windows for under $40, more than a third off the standard price."
Rumours are abound on the internet, if you want to look (look up 'Joachim Kempin' for some interesting stories), about how OEM deals are carved up and who gets to pay what, but clearly on a device this cheap Microsoft simply can't do this for everyone if their Windows division is to keep pace at all. It greatly amused me that the shoe was on the other foot here. This is why I have always been exceptionally sceptical about Microsoft putting Windows on to smaller, cheaper form factors such as flat panels, TVs and tables. It just doesn't scale.
Devices like these just don't need Windows because they're designed for a market and for people who don't need specific applications - they want to do specific things. Even if you did install Windows, you're not going to get an office suite, Skype or any of the other pre-installed applications which are part of the appeal.
I love what they've done with the interface:
http://eeepc.asus.com/en/product.htm
Internet, Work, Learn, Play....... Great. Ideas for Plasma perhaps?
It's sold by RM in the UK, who used to make and now sell computers for schools and education.
It's the way I always thought things would happen for free desktops if it was going to happen. People just going out, using it and carving a market out for themselves without worrying too much about software compatibility and making big enterprise deals to replace Windows.
@luke parry: i feel your pain on the currency thing. the CAD has gone from ~.7USD four years ago to 1.06 today, going as high as 1.10 this week. it's crazy, insane and prices haven't been adjusted really (aside from gas) to reflect this new fact of life for us here in Canada.
@anonymous: hehe.. not only does it run linux, it comes preinstalled with linux!
@segendum: "It's the way I always thought things would happen for free desktops if it was going to happen. People just going out, using it and carving a market out for themselves without worrying too much about software compatibility and making big enterprise deals to replace Windows."
agreed; pundits can flap their gums all day, it's not going to stop this process (and others) that you just described =))
@aaron: great, this will be awesome for linux :D
if i get the money i will get one for sure
gas price being adjusted? maybe in Calgary, Alberta but not for the rest of us.
your oil production is increasing polution and killing businesses here.
Post a Comment