Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 22nd Jan 2013 21:28 UTC, submitted by lemur2
"If you consider NetApplications' data set, then Linux owns only about 1 percent of the desktop OS market and Windows has almost 92 percent. But if you consider all computing platforms, including mobile, than Windows has only 20 percent and Linux has 42 percent - and that would be in the form of Google's Android alone." No more or less legitimate than claiming Windows owns 92% of the market. It's all a matter of perspective.
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Member since:2007-02-17
I had a look. The Pioneer laptop seems to be extremely poor value at the current price of AUD600 (including GST).
You can readily buy a high quality (Acer, Asus, Toshiba, HP etc) Windows 7/8 model with much better hardware for equal or less money from a number of Australian retailers eg Officeworks, JB HiFi or Dick Smith.
My Acer V3-571G absolutely shits on the Pioneer hardware wise. It was cheaper and came with Windows 7 and Office preinstalled. It also has excellent Linux support.
ps I use Linux and Windows.
You can readily buy a high quality (Acer, Asus, Toshiba, HP etc) Windows 7/8 model with much better hardware for equal or less money from a number of Australian retailers eg Officeworks, JB HiFi or Dick Smith.
My Acer V3-571G absolutely shits on the Pioneer hardware wise. It was cheaper and came with Windows 7 and Office preinstalled. It also has excellent Linux support.
ps I use Linux and Windows.
I am not touting the Pioneer laptop per se ... I am using this site to demonstrate the cost of Windows. A lot of people seem to think that because it comes pre-installed that Windows is free. It simply isn't.
If one could avoid the Windows tax that retailers such as Officeworks, JB HiFi or Dick Smith force upon you and buy from them the Acer V3-571G laptop with a blank hard disk (and say a free Linux LiveDVD), I am sure that it would be a wonderful value-for-money purchase. Since you can't buy it like that, it simply isn't.
Edited 2013-01-23 08:40 UTC
Member since:2007-01-13
Member since:2007-09-22
I actually have installed Ubuntu on my ARM Chromebook it costs US $249, it does everything most people need from a small laptop.
The video driver for 3D acceleration, Flash and suspend isn't there yet but I'm sure it will. And the installation procedure and information how to do it is still a bit scattered around the web.
But these are the only problems.
The Acer C7 Chromebook which has a Sandy Bridge Celeron chip is only $199. Maybe the batterylife is a bit short though, only 4 hours.
The performance is even slightly better as the ARM Chromebook I'm using. A Linux distribution should be fine on these devices. And I think hardware support for the Intel-based Chromebook will probably be better than the ARM-based one.
Here is a review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6476/acer-c7-chromebook-review/5
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
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Member since:
2007-01-13
I had a look. The Pioneer laptop seems to be extremely poor value at the current price of AUD600 (including GST).
You can readily buy a high quality (Acer, Asus, Toshiba, HP etc) Windows 7/8 model with much better hardware for equal or less money from a number of Australian retailers eg Officeworks, JB HiFi or Dick Smith.
My Acer V3-571G absolutely shits on the Pioneer hardware wise. It was cheaper and came with Windows 7 and Office preinstalled. It also has excellent Linux support.
ps I use Linux and Windows.
Edited 2013-01-23 08:11 UTC