Microsoft Caught Breakdancing All Over Linux Suppliers
« on: 2009-06-26 10:43:34 »
MS steps on a Snapdragon
Source: Semiaccurate.com Authors: Charlie Demerjian Dated: 2009-06-19
ONE OF THE rumors floating around Computex involves a pretty little Asus 'Smartbook' based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and it's mid-show disappearance. The story, as we are told, is that one day it was there, the next it was not, and almost no one would say why.
The smartbook itself is a cute little number, one of the nicer ones at the show. You can get a good idea about the device from the Tweaktown writeup here.
It is based on a 1GHz Snapdragon (ARM based) CPU, runs Android, and is quite a cute little beastie. On top of that it is light, probably doesn't have or need air vents and fans, and should be an adequate little surfing pad.
Toss in that it doesn't have the Windows tax in either sense, and you have a very inexpensive machine. If you don't run Windows, you save the $15-200 price up front, quite big deal on a $199ish machine. The other tax is that Windows is a proverbial DRM infested pig, it needs more CPU, memory and storage just to boot to a desktop. This means that the bill of materials (BoM) is far higher if you saddle a computer with The Broken OS.
A cheap, light, and functional machine is what everyone wants, and it is exactly what MS can't deliver. OK, we all know about Midori and the ARM port to devices, but that is a year or nine off, so what is a company like MS to do? They don't have anything people want, so they have to force things onto an unwilling market.
That brings us back to the Asus and what was billed as the best netbook/smartbook of the show. You have a company that kicked off the netbook craze two years ago with the Eee, an OS that is not only MS free, but Linux based as well, and a chipmaker that actually delivers product. The buzz was growing at Computex, and that would create a PR disaster for MS.
So it went away. No really, it went *POOF* in the middle of the show. No explanation, no excuses, just that it was there one day, and gone the next. PR disaster averted for Redmond, phew.
So what do you do if you are a fading convicted monopolist with a toolbox full of hammers but no product? The story as we heard it is that the 'nice' folk at MS called the nice folk at Asus, sans quotes around the second nice, and 'nicely' suggested that they really didn't want to show one of the best devices of Computex at Computex. Asus meekly complied, and the device went poof.
We haven't been able to directly confirm this with Asus or Qualcomm, but given the number of people who told us the same story and what their positions are, we have no doubt that it did happen. When MS sees competition, they step on it. Luckily, Redmond is more than wealthy enough to buy their way around laws, so there will likely be no repercussions from this.
The question at this point is not whether or not the MS phone call happened, we firmly believe that it did, but where things go from here. Will MS buy off or threaten Asus into killing the device for good? If you don't see this or very similar products on the market soon, at least you know what happened. Linux on Netbooks: The Smoking Gun - Updated 2Xs
Source: Groklaw.net Authors: Not Credited Dated: 2009-06-19
If you have been having trouble finding Linux on a netbook, you can stop wondering why. I suspected it was being monopoly-crushed. Here's the smoking gun, at last, thanks to Dana Blankenhorn of ZDNet, who attended a press conference at Computex and asked the right question:
Quote:
Later, at a press conference sponsored by TAITRA, the Taiwan trade authority, I asked executive director Walter Yeh (third from left in this picture) about where the Linux went. He passed the question to Li Chang (to the right in the picture), vice president of the Taipei Computer Association. Chang mentioned a press conference yesterday where Google announced an Android phone to be made by Acer. But then he put it to me straight. “In our association we operate as a consortium, like the open source consortium. They want to promote open source and Linux. But if you begin from the PC you are afraid of Microsoft. They try to go to the smart phone or PDA to start again.” Taiwanese OEMs would love an alternative to Windows, but the sale comes first, before production. The chicken comes first. And since the chicken belongs to Microsoft, the penguin is helpless here.
Mystery solved. Totally blatant. Does this not give legs to Charlie Demerjian's report, MS steps on a Snapdragon? [ Hermit : Supra ] It appears Snapdragon on Asus is just the most recent horse to fall down shot in the starting gate and then get dragged off the track.
So next time you hear Microsoft bragging that people *prefer* their software to Linux on netbooks, you'll know better. If they really believed that, they'd let the market speak, on a level playing field.
If I say my horse is faster than yours, and you says yours is faster, and we let our horses race around the track, that establishes the point. But if you shoot my horse, that leaves questions in the air. Is your horse *really* faster? If so, why shoot my horse?
Here's the story on what happened to Android on Asus' EeePC at Computex Taipei, reported by Dan Nystedt and Sumner Lemon on ComputerWorld:
Quote:
A day after an Asustek Eee PC running Google's Android operating system was shown at Computex Taipei, top executives from the company said the project will be put on the backburner for now. The Eee PC with Android is not ready yet because the technology is "not mature," said Jonathan Tsang, vice chairman of Asustek, on the sidelines of a press conference at the show Tuesday. "For the time being this project is not a priority because our engineering resources are limited," he added.
On Monday, Qualcomm showed an Asus Eee PC using its new ARM Snapdragon chips to run Google's Android Linux. From all reports, the skinny, little Android-powered netbook looked great. So, this was a good day for Asus right? A new ARM-powered Asus netbook with Android, the Linux everyone has been talking about, and at a price-point that will given Intel's Moblin 2.0 some real competition. Wrong. The very next day, Asus' chairman, Jonney Shih, after sharing a news conference stage with Microsoft corporate VP, OEM Division, Steven Guggenheimer, apologized for the Android Eee PC being shown. Shih said, "Frankly speaking ... I would like to apologize that, if you look at Asus booth, we've decided not to display this product. I think you may have seen the devices on Qualcomm's booth but actually, I think this is a company decision so far we would not like to show this device. That's what I can tell you so far. I would like to apologize for that."
[ Hermit : One of my very seldom used self-highlighted sentences, but this is really worth emphasizing: "The very next day, Asus' chairman, Jonney Shih, after sharing a news conference stage with Microsoft corporate VP, OEM Division, Steven Guggenheimer, apologized for the Android Eee PC being shown." and worth repeating. No, I don't think they have any shame - or concern.] Is there no regulatory body that can get Microsoft's fat fanny off of Linux so it can get some air? Instead the DOJ are investigating *Google*? What Microsoft is reportedly doing is a pimple on the antitrust regulators' noses. We see it. Why can't you? Where are you? Please don't wait until Linux is totally crushed. Let us customers choose what we prefer from a fair and even playing field, please. I'd like to buy the products that are being squashed. A lot of us would like to. And we are not being allowed to get the products that we desire. I don't want Microsoft software. I'd like a choice. And I shouldn't have to buy a netbook with Microsoft on it and install Linux myself. I will, but I should not have to.
Update:
A reader collected some nice YouTube videos for us on the withdrawn Snapdragon Eee PC. View them and weep:
Computex 2009 with ARM and Qualcomm
Snapdragon Eee PC First Hands on
Snapdragon Eee PC at Computex 2009
Qualcomm Press Conference - Computex 2009
AND THEN ADD TO IT A REALLY GOOD SCREEN (they just got to figure out the multi-touch for these below, and... check out the new videos from Computex on the new screens:
Videos of power saving direct sunlight readable screen from Pixel Qi
Update 2: Speaking of installing an operating system yourself, how many people would choose Microsoft XP if they had to buy a netbook preinstalled with Linux and then install XP over it?
Here's what they'd have to do, two ways to get XP on an EeePC. It's unbelievably complicated, and I expect if the only way to get XP on a netbook was this, XP would have about 1% of the market.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Microsoft Caught Breakdancing All Over Linux Suppliers
« Reply #1 on: 2009-06-29 13:29:38 »
Interesting post Hermit. I have had my EeePC (the original one) for a year and a half now and it has been flawless and a testimonial to a supportable end user linux implementation. All patches and fixes come for Asus and no enduser knowledge needed. I clocked the OS with a dumb 'App' (my fault) and I had it reinstalled from the factory CD and upgraded from the Asus site in less then an hour. MS should be concerned.
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