HP drops netbook Linux in blighty
INK OUTFIT HP has decided that Brits don't want Linux on their nice new shiny netbooks.
The firm has dropped Linux as an OS option for the latest netbooks in Blighty and quite a few European countries.
The HP mini 1000 was supposed to hit the shops this month, but it seems the British are stuck with the designer, premium-priced Vivienne Tam edition. This means that they will have to shell out £450, a huge chunk of which will go to stick Windows XP under the bonnet. The very nice Ubuntu Linux version will only appear in the US.
Meanwhile the Compaq Mini 700 will only be XP flavoured. A business user can buy HP's business-oriented Mini 2140, which comes with a choice between XP and Vista.
In fact the only bit of penguin-friendly kit you can find on the UK market is the Mini 2133, which has been out for a year and has been made obsolete by the Mini 1000 with its Intel Atom onboard.
HP is refusing to say why it is spurning Linux as if it were a rabid dog. The closest it has come up with is a comment fired off to ZDNet saying that the Compaq 700 and HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition better address the market and consumer needs in Blighty. Therefore the Pengiun on board HP Mini 1000 with Mobile Internet Experience will not be introduced.
The spinning mill has been turning out a yarn claiming that retailers have more Linux-based netbooks returned to them than XP equivalents. That might be because punters can't run their favourite software on them. It doesn't explain how come the top selling netbook is the Linux based Acer's Aspire One. µ
L'INQ
Spliff Davis
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" It doesn't explain how come the top selling netbook is the Linux based Acer's Aspire One"
it does. the linux version was 30-40euro less expensive than the WinXP one. I bought the linux AAO too, and immediately installed XP. Save 40euro.
A huge chunk of the cost of the Vivian Tam edition DOES NOT go to WinXP. WinXP only costs companies about $15US on netbooks. The Vivian Tam Netbook is expensive because it is the Vivian Tam Edition. It's designer. Just like if you buy Dolce & Gabbana clothes, you're paying for the name. Don't like it, that's fine, don't buy it. But don't make this about Windows or Microsoft. You just look ignorant and stupid.
skip past the Ignorant guy and applaud the one above. That's why Acer 1 is top, cus its cheaper and u always put WinXp yourself. I had someone ask me to "fix" their netbook they got for Xmas, couldn't get some Popcap games to install properly and her "Windows" just "looked funny" - The Penguin was the culprit. Obviously as soon as I explained the difference between Win and Linux she glazed over and I got my WinXp (pirate, but authenticated) and all was well again. IGNORANCE!!!! Maybe thats why penguins are an endangered species.
..and if you bought the SSD Linux version. Watch XP wear the disk out using all the write entries by constant disk writes. Linux is particularly suited to SSDs - even the journaling fs's can have unwanted writes switched of. XP needs some serious hacks
"skip past the Ignorant guy and applaud the one above. "
That's right - be a true Windows user and be proud of your pirating and lack of technical knowledge. You would have been more honest by telling her to buy an XP copy and put that on her Aspire One for her. The again, if you were technically savvy and honest, you would also have told her to put a mechanical hard disk in to match the XP install. Then when questioned at the cost - tell her the benefits of (legally) free Linux and SSDs = longer battery life and freedom from virii
Sir? thats real real sad. WINE runs pop cap games just fine and would have been much easier to install. Folks like you need to figure it out. If you dont pay for it you shouldnt use it. Linux is free and in many ways better than your beloved windows. If its so great then why dont you pay for it?
... there is someone who has to bitch and call names. I use Debian on my server rig and I obviously am an avid gamer so The Pingu is out of the question on desktop. AND YES I AM proud of my pirating skills, how do you think I get all these "tech support" queries? Cus I download and rip wholesale and i always have the right software for the job. .... I know! u thinkin Linux ha everything for free!! Yes but how many ppl use those? and to get back to point.... if I already said SHE GLAZED over when i was explaining what Linux is, didnt even know that there is anything but Windows out there.... so Your point is?
When I got my 2133 mini-note, it appeared to have Suse on it. I say "appeared", because the hard drive had come loose during shipping and was working just long enough to trash the boot sector. By the time I'd re-seated everything, I had to do a from-scratch Ubuntu install - after which I could see the Suse partition (much good it did me).
Given that it came with a notice that HP don't provide any customer support for Linux-based netbooks anyway, I don't quite see why they should object to continuing to ship them. Oh well.
Finally Brainwashed consumers won!!
Finally their daily routines won't be disturbed anymore!
You can install the new interface on any Ubuntu system for free anyway, even an EeePC etc.
Just a shame you have to pay the mstax if you want this hardware.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1021351
How exactly did you save that €40, nmesisca? Considering that the OEM Windows licence prohibits its transfer to another machine?
You can buy a perfectly good Windows based laptop for a hundred quid less than that. You either buy a netbook or you don't. Don't give us that 'designer' crap. Apple laptops are 'designer'. If you're going to pay idiot prices, at least buy something that tells the world you're a rich idiot. I mean, look at the pigging thing! Nasty, not-quite-grey press-fit plastic components, and a bezel round the screen big enough to fit two postit notes, side by side, on. D!on't try and tell me that's worth £450. I've got a twenty year old Woolworths-branded pocket calculator, kicking around in a draw somewhere at home, that looks flashier than that thing. The only factor driving this sort of decision, is a latent fear by the manufacturers that they'll somehow drive down consumer expectations, on pricing, in a period of alread-rampant deflation.
@Lawrence,
I am an MSDN subscriber. But I do agree most people that did the same have probably pirated XP in the end. If you have a license around though..
HP can keep their Windows machine. After a while it will become virus infested and unusable. Better to buy an Acer, wipe the OS and install Ubuntu. That's what I did - it's not perfect - life isn't, but I'm in control and software costs are nil.
I had a valve HP oscilloscope - but in selecting the lowest common denominator, HP has lost the plot.