Asus preloads Eee PC models with Ubuntu
Summary: Canonical, sponsor of the Ubuntu project, has announced that three Asus Eee PC netbooks will now come the Ubuntu 10.10 operating system pre-installed.
Canonical, sponsor of the Ubuntu project, has announced that three Asus Eee PC netbooks will now come the Ubuntu 10.10 operating system pre-installed.
The company said the "sleek and lightweight" hardware combined with the Linux-based Ubuntu OS makes the devices "some of the most user-friendly PCs on the market", as well as providing cost benefits for organisations.
"Many businesses are turning to Ubuntu as they look for a cost-effective, proven, and easy to use and manage operating system that can be delivered on business-quality laptops," Chris Kenyon, vice president of OEM Services at Canonical said in a statement on Thursday.
The three models that will come with Ubuntu are the Asus Eee PC 1001PXD, 1011PX, and 1015PX. The company said they went on sale through Asus' sales channels on Thursday.
Each of the models has already been offered for sale with the Microsoft Windows 7 Starter operating system as standard.
Hardware specs vary according to each device but they all come with a 10.1-inch display. The 1001PXD has an Intel Atom N455 processor, whereas the 1011PX and 1015PX each come with the higher spec Atom N570 processor.
On Monday, Asus launched the Eee PC X101 which comes with the MeeGo operating system pre-installed. Windows 7 Starter is also offered as an alternative.
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Talkback
Asus is pre-loading a version of Ubuntu which is not the greatest, easiest-to-use, "Ubuntu OS for everyone", "...so simple your mum can use it..": 11.04 WITH UNITY! ?
"The company [Canonical] said the "sleek and lightweight" hardware combined with the Linux-based Ubuntu OS makes the devices "some of the most user-friendly PCs on the market", as well as providing cost benefits for organisations."
Looks like Fearless Leader has trained Chris Kenyon well in the fine arts of prevarication and circumlocution. Fearless Leader is on record as having stated in an interview that, basically, Canonical knew that 11.04/Unity isn't ready, but that it's "...the FIRST IN A CYCLE OF IMPROVEMENTS..."(emphasis mine) to make it usable, BUT (this was just kinda slipped in there by FL): only for those who would UPGRADE THEIR HARDWARE in order to help make 11.04/U work! (Just look up the latest interviews with Mark Shuttleworth; it shouldn't be hard to find this beauty at all)
Not only has 11.04/Unity been rejected by the community in general, developers, Ubuntu community workers, and other distributions, now it's being rejected by those that really matter: hardware manufacturers who want their product to sell, to "stay sold", and to be well accepted by consumers.
Asus' rejection of 11.04/Unity is clear validation that Canonical has lost its compass.
Ben, do you want a REALLY JUICY story? It'll probably involve a great deal of investigative reporting, but should result in a real corker: find out just how many people are actually using 11.04 with Unity.
Don't you and ZDNetUK find it extremely interesting that Canonical/Mark Shuttleworth/Jane Silber have not been crowing about how well 11.04/Unity has been accepted, and backing up their (non-existent) statements with hard data?
Fortunately, you can log in Ubuntu classic - the old Gnome. And that runs ok.
On a diffrent note, time to clean the spam a little around here.