PDA

View Full Version : MSNBC: Finally! Linux on a Laptop!

mummey
08-27-2004, 10:43 AM
When small companies announce they’re putting Linux OS on a computer it makes news. When they announce they’re putting it on a laptop it’s even bigger news. Now you’re beginning to realize how big a deal it was when computer giant Hewlett-Packard announced they were selling a laptop with Linux inside.

Hewlett-Packard is now taking orders for their nx5000 business notebook computers with Novell’s SuSE Linux 9.1 installed. I’ve happy to report that the combination is a winner.

The nx5000 (which H-P also sells with Windows) is a medium-sized notebook: 12.9 by 10.9 by 1.4 inches, with a weight of 6 pounds. My test model came with a 1.4 GHz Pentium M processor, a 40 GB hard drive, 512 MB of memory, a DVD ROM/CD RW drive, 802.11b WiFi, a modem port, a 10/100 Ethernet port, 2 PC card slots, a SD card slot and a 15-inch XGA screen.

You also can order it configured with different features: from a Celeron to a 2 GHz Pentium M processor, 30-60 MB hard drive, up to 2 GB of memory, 802.11a, b or 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth, a more powerful standard battery, a DVD burner and a SXGA+ screen with 1400 by 1050 resolution.

I know we've had the ability to run Linux on laptops for years now (My first laptop in 1999 I installed Red Hat 6 on.) This however sounds like a needed step before we start seeing Linux in the mainstream.

>>link<< (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5831949/)
sundialsvc4
08-27-2004, 01:30 PM
It's "news" because of the "Microsoft Tax." For many years Microsoft forced vendors to pay for a copy of Windows even when the computer in question didn't run Windows and never would.

This never got its day in court, probably because vendors realized that "money talks" even to judges and government overseers. All those hundreds of millions spent on an anti-trust lawsuit, and a "guilty" verdict is reached, and what becomes of it? The verdict is overturned and soon the very agency that is supposed to enforce the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is spouting words virtually taken from Microsoft press-releases! We can't know "who paid whom," but we know exactly how it happened.

So ... the marketplace has abandoned the courts, poured money into Linux. The courts and lawyers have responded by trying to mire that in a court case (although they chose poorly), but "the market will win this time" because this time the competitor is international. The genie has escaped from the bottle and will never go back again.

And Microsoft's stock-price certainly reflects this. The fact that they have been forced to pay dividends for the first time in their history, also reflects this. Their survival is not in jeopardy, but the nature of their business is fundamentally changed. "Recess is over."


The Lone Ranger (Microsoft): Tonto! We're surrounded!
Tonto (The Rest Of The World): Whaddaya mean 'we' ... paleface?
CGTalk Moderation
01-19-2006, 02:00 AM
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.