02-25-2003, 12:30 AM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Lindows Laptop Poised as PDA Killer?
"High-speed wireless service is cropping up everywhere - "Starbucks," college campuses and anywhere people gather. Staying connected to your data whenever and wherever you need it is smart and Lindows.com answers the call with its brand new Lindows Mobile PC, an affordable, ultra-lightweight, go-anywhere notebook!...At just 2.9 lbs, the $799 Lindows Mobile PC is a featherweight, but it weighs in with such features as LindowsOS, a 933mhz VIA processor, 256MB RAM, USB 2.0, Firewire, Ethernet, and a crisp 12.1" TFT display, plus a PCMCIA slot to add even more functionality such as wireless networking. No other computer is as ideally suited for carry-around mobility as the affordable, under 3lb, Lindows Mobile PC. You'll find yourself taking it with you everywhere!"
I find two things interesting about this device: Lindows is trying to be the Microsoft of the Linux world, and they're getting a lot of flak from the Linux community for it. But the only way to release a consumer-friendly laptop based on top of a non-consumer friendly OS is to control it with an iron fist. Watching this process unfurl is fascinating!
The other thing I found interesting is that rather than strictly comparing this laptop to other laptops running XP or OSX, they're also positioning it against Pocket PCs! Scroll to the bottom of the page and you'll see them compare it to an iPAQ Pocket PC. The comparison itself is fairly laughable - they're using a photo of the iPAQ 5450, and in the comparison they're saying the Lindows Laptop has a PCMCIA slot for wireless networking, while the Pocket PC does not. Duh. The 5450 has built-in WiFi! If they're going to do comparisons, they would do well to not insult the intelligence of their readers.
Still, this is a tempting device for the price point - what do you think? Does a device like this stand a chance in the crowded mobile market?
|
| |
|
|
|
02-25-2003, 12:41 AM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,466
|
|
This is a great value. It makes a wonderful "basic" portable for novices. But if I were buying this system for a family member (or myself for that matter), the first thing I would do is install some flavor of Windows. Linux has a great deal of potential, but it is worthless as a consumer desktop client. For now anyway.
|
| |
|
|
|
02-25-2003, 12:45 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 405
|
|
umm.....it's entirely possible that an off the shelf version of Windows won't run on it Foo.
|
| |
|
|
|
02-25-2003, 12:50 AM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,466
|
|
Quote:
|
Are You Considering a PDA? The Lindows Mobile PC beats a PDA or Pocket PC hands-down.
|
Uh...sorry Lindows, but no. Your LINtop doesn't beat a PDA. First, try sticking that laptop in your pocket? Did it fit? Laptops suck at wearability. Didn't think so. PDAs beat notebooks PCs any day in the portability department.
Second, there are more applications for PPC than Linux.
Which would you rather have? A full function computing device with limited portability? Or a limited, but powerful, go anywhere mobile system?
|
| |
|
|
|
02-25-2003, 12:53 AM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,466
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ux4484
umm.....it's entirely possible that an off the shelf version of Windows won't run on it Foo.
|
Depends on the hardware config and driver support. If it can't run Windows, this device makes little sense. It might make sense in a business environment where a few specialized *NIX applications are used, but it makes ZERO sense as a consumer device. It doesn't run any off the shelf commercial applications, or games, accept the minute volume available for Linux...which is next to nothing. So why bother?
|
| |
|
|
|
02-25-2003, 12:54 AM
|
|
Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 10,981
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Foo Fighter
This is a great value. It makes a wonderful "basic" portable for novices. But if I were buying this system for a family member (or myself for that matter), the first thing I would do is install some flavor of Windows. Linux has a great deal of potential, but it is worthless as a consumer desktop client. For now anyway.
|
I couldn't agree more. Any chance I could get one for less if I choose not to have Lindows with it? :lol:
__________________
"I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein |
| |
|
|
|
02-25-2003, 12:58 AM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 48
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Foo Fighter
Second, there are more applications for PPC than Linux.
|
Being partially a Linux person, I'm going to have to disagree with that point. There is a heap of Linux software out there. Just take a look at a site like SourceForge, or Freshmeat; I'd say the amount of Linux apps/games out there is more comparable to Windows than to Pocket PC.
That aside, I agree that a Laptop cannot replace a PDA for most people --it's just too darn big!
|
| |
|
|
|
02-25-2003, 01:14 AM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,466
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Chris Edwards
There is a heap of Linux software out there.
|
Open source, not commercial.
Quote:
|
That aside, I agree that a Laptop cannot replace a PDA for most people --it's just too darn big!
|
Yep. They are diometrically apposed form factors.
|
| |
|
|
|
02-25-2003, 01:14 AM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Foo Fighter
Depends on the hardware config and driver support. If it can't run Windows, this device makes little sense. It might make sense in a business environment where a few specialized *NIX applications are used, but it makes ZERO sense as a consumer device. It doesn't run any off the shelf commercial applications, or games, accept the minute volume available for Linux...which is next to nothing. So why bother?
|
The biggest problem the Linux install that I tested is that the geeks who created the distro think it's a good thing to offer the user 10 different versions of everything. If the people at Lindows can create a distro with ONE of everything (one email client, one browser, etc.) they might be able to make something out of this. That's the real secret why Linux in it's current flavours will never succeed in the consumer market - people want something simple, not endless choices.
|
| |
|
|
|
02-25-2003, 01:20 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 338
|
|
While I love to see American ingenuity blossom...
This will be a failure from the word "go."
Why? The same reason that the Mac just can't get above 10-12% market share (max - even in it's heyday ... SOFTWARE... (and, no, not the free stuff you can download, but the stuff you can put your hands on in a store...)
People buy what they are familiar with... and while I'm sure there will be a niche market for these portables, that's about all it will be, a niche. The "credentials" if you will, of something you pay for and can buy at a major store, is just too powerful a force to overcome with the average American consumers.
Now, in 20 years, when we start buying 50% of everything we buy off the web, something like this might have a chance. Until then Lindows is a Microsoft wannabe, and that's all they will ever be. (And if they lose their battle with Microsoft about their name, we may see them sink into obscurity fairly fast.)
OOPS... which is more powerful? a monopoly or a nimble, quick to react, innovator? I think we know all to well who wins :wink:
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
