Comments on: Microsoft Defines Boundaries of XP Devices

By: Jacques

Jacques — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:54:39 +0000

My friends, good news.. there is a new kid in the block with an 80GB storage and cheaper than Asus EEE 901 PC Atom-series. Everything else in spec is the almost the same I think and look very much the same too!!!!

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/05/09/msi_wind_uk_price/

MSI’s 10in Eee PC rival priced up in UK
6 commentsBy Tony Smith [More by this author]
9th May 2008 12:17 GMT
How much will MSI’s would-be Eee PC beater set you back? £320 for the Linux version or £350 for the Windows XP Home release, according to UK importer Expansys.

MSI’s Wind: blowing into the UK in June

Both models incorporate a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of memory, an 80GB hard drive, integrated Intel graphics courtesy of the 945GMS chipset, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The two versions both come with a 10in, 1024 x 600 display. When MSI launched the product, it also said it would offer Winds with 8.9in screens, but there’s no sign of those among the Expansys listings. The included technical details suggest these are the prices for the 10in models, but the company could not confirm that was the case today, and won’t until stocks arrive.

Atom powered

The Wind is due to waft in in June, but Expansys is taking orders for the small laptop now. The machine will be available in a choice of colours: black, white or pink.

The price will appeal to potential Eee PC 900 buyers looking for more storage capacity. Asus’ 20GB Linux machine is currently priced at around £329, so the two will go head to head.

The 900 uses a 900MHz Celeron M processor, a generation or two behind the Wind’s Atom chip. However, Asus has pledged to ship Atom-based Eees in June.

By: George H

George H — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:47:57 +0000

There is an absolute army of private pc users just waiting for the next Asus eee with a bigger screen and more memory/storage and imo the bullish comments by existing users will continue to encourange millions more to venture away from Micro$oft stuff.

MS will, of course, still have a stranglehold on business users and even in this field their Vista carthorse is being shunned by most businesses.

I’ve always been a Windows user but now cannot wait for the next stock of Asus eee to become available and I’ll dive in and never look back. I’ll NEVER use Vista!

By: SPM

SPM — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:20:38 +0000

I MEAN SERIOUSLY ASUS, WHY NOT SELL US YOUR EEE PCs TO US WITHOUT PRE-INSTALLED OS AND AS A RESULT SELL THEM CHEAPER TOO BUT BUT.. DON’T CRIPPLE THE MEAN OR ABILITY TO ALLOW USERS TO INSTALL EITHER XP OR LINUX FLAVOUR.

The answer to this is that knowing Microsoft, there is probably a clause written into the contract that Asus will lose their discount on Windows if they do so.

By: Jacques

Jacques — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:19:25 +0000

Bill still secretly believe that all computers should have no more than 64K memory as he cannot imagine what application will need more than 64k of memory to run. Having said that, have Asus think of just selling a blank EEE PC without any OS preinstalled?

1. Users can then install whatever they want themselves.

2. Asus can also then sell the EEE PC cheaper.

3. This is a win-win situation. You can buy a notebook with no preinstall OS for decades now.

By: robb

robb — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:07:35 +0000

MS was all set to retire XP, but with the millions of Asus EEE PC’s that are being sold with “gasp” Linux made them revisit this decision. MS realized this is a huge emerging market and they must not let this market slip to Linux…but Vista is too bloated to run Vista and the cost of XP licenses are one third the price of the PC. So they bring back XP with a reduced license cost and add their draconian limitations.

It just proves MS does not care about their customers…only the money.

By: Milen

Milen — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:43:04 +0000

@ Molly
“if for example ASUS decides to release a touch screen version of the Eee PC they sure will get windows XP Home edition licenses for it. not at discount rates but for the regular price.”

Windows XP licences will not be available to manufacturers after June 2008 – this is Microsoft’s current position and it has been in the news a while ago. It will not be the matter of choice. The only exception Microsoft will make is for ultra mobile devices within certain specifications. These are the facts for now, unless Microsoft changes their mind at a later point.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:02:48 +0000

Molly
I think what you may be missing is how close the margins are on these sort of machines. It may seem feasible for ASUS to go ahead and make a machine with a touch screen, but in reality these pressures and margins that Microsoft are playing around with are really quite significant. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t bother to impose them. Sure ASUS can make a ULCPC with a touch screen but they will never make one just for Linux, despite the noise that the Linux community makes, their simply isn’t the sales volume for it to be worth it. Look how quickly they came up with a windows version. The plain fact is that the overwhelming majority of users prefer the mainstream OS, and that is Windows. Microsoft are manipulating the market in their favour, something they do all the time, and is why they are fighting a $1.5Billion fine in Europe. Manufactures are not free to do as they wish, they are controlled by the market place, by the competition, by chip and OS manufactures and suppliers. Microsoft’s latest move which they are quite at liberty to do, they haven’t broken any laws after all, will influence the market. Its what big corporations do, protect their interests, their own futures. We are just lucky if that interest happens to coincide with the public good. In this case I don’t think it does, this restriction is aimed at suppressing a sector of one market to prevent it stealing a share of a more lucrative one. That is in no-one’s interest except Microsoft’s, and they deserve to be pilloried for it.

By: Molly

Molly — Thu, 15 May 2008 01:20:58 +0000

@ Milen

“but are putting limitations on the specifications of the devices for which XP licenses will continue to be available.”

no, they’re putting limitations on the specifications of devices for which their manufacturers will be eligible for the discount scheme.

if for example ASUS decides to release a touch screen version of the Eee PC they sure will get windows XP Home edition licenses for it. not at discount rates but for the regular price,.

By: Kubel

Kubel — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:07 +0000

Fine, apply all these restrictions Microsoft. You are only hurting yourselves by applying these restrictions to manufacturers discounts. The one consumer market where Linux is thriving with millions of new users (and Microsoft can’t get their most recent OS to work well with) is the sub-notebook market. Applying further restrictions will be even more reason for manufacturers to leave MS behind while the further tweak and explore the possibilities Linux has to offer their customers.

By: Milen

Milen — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:19:58 +0000

@Molly
Microsoft announced that they were not going to sell Windows XP licenses after June 2008 at all. Now they are backtracking from this decision, but are putting limitations on the specifications of the devices for which XP licenses will continue to be available. So unless Microsoft management changes their mind even further, manufacturers producing devices that do not match the specifications outlined by Microsoft will not have the choice to offer their products with XP.