Brian Micklethwait

“There is definitely pressure” from Microsoft to get Everex to install Windows rather than the free Linux on the CloudBook, Kim said. But Everex doesn’t want to risk making the CloudBook too pricey - one of the things that has held Windows-based ultramobile PCs back.

“We need to incentivize people, so we are going very, very aggressive” on price, Kim said.

Via engadget, and Eee Site (where they call the Everex Cloudbook the Cloud “bok” – which is nice).

For “pressure” read “desperation”. For you see, what this guy Kim is talking about here is that his company is starting to make bigger tiny computers, just as cheap, working just the same way, but with bigger screens and bigger keyboards. Until now, laptops were merely smaller desktops, but that has now changed. In military terms, the Eee PC and its ilk were the bridgehead into the land of Windows, the staking out of a tiny piece of undefended territory. This is the breakout, into territory until now held by Windows.

The point always was that whenever the generic computer started remaining the same from year to year, except that it kept getting cheaper, Microsoft Windows was going to be in trouble. And the first generic computer owned by every kid in the rich world, and the generic computer owned by everyone in the getting rich world (which is a delightfully big place these days), is becoming Linux driven. Near enough. Goodnight Windows, and goodnight Microsoft as “the environment”, like IBM before it.

Here is a further titbit in this story.

UPDATE: Instapundit weighs in on the subject of the Eee PC, with a quote from the email of a satisfied user, and with the same point about price and consequent reduced fear of loss or theft as I have been making. “Update”, as in he weighed in yesterday and I just spotted it.

UP-UPDATE: Instapundit returns to the same subject today.

UP-UP-UPDATE: Incoming Friday morning from Michael J: “I saw someone playing with an Eee PC in a cafe in the West End last night. It is very cute, I have to give it that.”

Business | Design | Economics | Software | Technology

I used to moan about the ancient, archaic UNIX setup we had in the Computer Science dept at my Uni, with text-based terminals, serial networking and other stone-age euiipment. But now I make my living largely from Microsoft Windows, this UNIX background (and my subsequent UNIX/Linux fiddling in various jobs *because* of this background) is going to make the eventual death of Windows slightly less painful for me.

By the way, as you say, Linux will become the generic computer OS owned by everyone in the rich world and the getting-rich world. But it may also be set to become the generic computer OS owned in the decidedly poor world as well, thanks to this: http://laptop.org/

Checkmate.

Posted by Charles Pooter on 17 January 2008

The cloudbok lives at the top of Table Mountain.

Not sure if it’s the same in the UK, but every new PC sold here with Vista pre-installed also comes with a rollback disc to install XP if the user wishes.
Surely that is a sign that something is very wrong with MS?

Not that we have any electricity to run our computers on anyway.

Posted by 6000 on 18 January 2008

vista is just as bad as windows me

Posted by CentOS Linux Forums on 18 February 2008

as for me..i love ‘old schooll’ XP =)

Posted by Lei on 13 May 2008

Interesting piece. Broadly, I agree with you - I use Ubuntu at home and at work. The Eee could make a disproportionate difference because it’s target market is relatively young and so more prepared to try out and take on new things. The downstream effects could be quite significant.

The rollout of Vista has been, ahem, less than successful. I actually think that there’s more of a problem with going from the old version of Office to the new. The effort in re-learning how to use even relatively basic functions in Word because of the ribbon means that people I met were increasingly prepared to use OpenOffice.org; that’s a start on moving people away from Windows.

xD.

Posted by Dave Cole on 14 May 2008

"By the way, as you say, Linux will become the generic computer OS owned by everyone in the rich world and the getting-rich world. But it may also be set to become the generic computer OS owned in the decidedly poor world as well, thanks to this: http://laptop.org/

Checkmate. “

I don’t agree with that comment. I think some of us do prefer other platforms, regardless of the fancy schmanzies.

Bob

Posted by Windows Vista on 06 August 2008

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