One small issue with the article,...

Story: 2011: The Year of the Linux TabletTotal Replies: 1
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JaseP

Jan 25, 2011
2:35 PM EDT
I have one small issue with the article.

It says that Linux dominated the netbook market until M$ started supporting XP on that platform. That's not exactly the full (& true) story. The reality is that M$ didn't just start "supporting" the platform, they started exerting market pressure on manufacturers. In some cases they MAY have even resorted to outright threats or coercion. But, because so many of these deals went on behind closed doors, we may never have proof.

One incident lending support to this notion is when at a trade show, about a year or more back, ASUS had shown a clamshell MID running Linux on one day, just to actually APOLOGIZE for demo-ing it the next. This is right around the time that ASUS announced they were ONLY supplying netbooks with M$ OSes pre-installed.

Also, has anyone noticed that you cannot get an Android tablet in the USA (except by import), under $170, when the Chinese import market is swimming in them? Or, Also, has anyone noticed that you cannot get a touchscreen Atom powered Linux MID or convertible tablet in the USA, except by import from Europe or Asia (such as the Compal spec MIDs, available for 2+ years in Europe, or readily get the Gigabyte convertible netbooks here)? Do you think that it's just a quirk of the US market that we don't want these things?

It's M$, protecting their "home turf." These "low-end" markets don't support their business model. In my humble opinion anyway.
hkwint

Jan 26, 2011
5:00 PM EDT
JaseP: I agree, MS reacted to OLPC. I hope one day those docs show up on WikiLeaks / OpenLeaks or something.

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