Posted by: Anonymous
[ip: 74.92.166.25]
on July 29, 2008 01:29 AM
And it's not just a hardware consideration.
Touch screens require OS support, which I have yet to see in work well in Linux.
I'd love to be able to buy a real linux umpc, but I suspect that's still a long way off.
I need touch screen umpc's (or something similar) to use as remote time clocks for time and attendance.
They connect to a MS terminal server to provide real time data collection.
I could happily use the rdp client built in to most current linux distributions, but I can't have a laptop style form factor - it has to be a real umpc format, or a tablet style.
We're talking about a niche market within a niche market.
The sales number just aren't there to drive the cost down.
Don't expect to see any real cost savings with Linux versions either.
MS oem licenses are dirt cheap.
Back in the Win95 days, the cost to an oem was less than $20, and along with that they received a lot of co-branding advertising subsidy money.
Supporting a Linux device adds expense, since there isn't a ready pool of staff available just above minimum wage as there is with Windows.
Any price savings you're seeing on a linux based 'umpc' is an entirely artificial figure based on what the manufacturers feel the market will bear. Actual units in the channels with linux on them are very small, so that price point is just a shot in the dark.
It's the same old story:
Linux isn't going mainstream unless/until OpenOffice proficiency carries the same weight on a resume as does Office proficiency.
When that happens, you see increased production numbers and the downward price pressure that will naturally follow.
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'zactly - no touch screen means it ain't a umpc
Posted by: Anonymous [ip: 74.92.166.25] on July 29, 2008 01:29 AMTouch screens require OS support, which I have yet to see in work well in Linux.
I'd love to be able to buy a real linux umpc, but I suspect that's still a long way off.
I need touch screen umpc's (or something similar) to use as remote time clocks for time and attendance.
They connect to a MS terminal server to provide real time data collection.
I could happily use the rdp client built in to most current linux distributions, but I can't have a laptop style form factor - it has to be a real umpc format, or a tablet style.
We're talking about a niche market within a niche market.
The sales number just aren't there to drive the cost down.
Don't expect to see any real cost savings with Linux versions either.
MS oem licenses are dirt cheap.
Back in the Win95 days, the cost to an oem was less than $20, and along with that they received a lot of co-branding advertising subsidy money.
Supporting a Linux device adds expense, since there isn't a ready pool of staff available just above minimum wage as there is with Windows.
Any price savings you're seeing on a linux based 'umpc' is an entirely artificial figure based on what the manufacturers feel the market will bear. Actual units in the channels with linux on them are very small, so that price point is just a shot in the dark.
It's the same old story:
Linux isn't going mainstream unless/until OpenOffice proficiency carries the same weight on a resume as does Office proficiency.
When that happens, you see increased production numbers and the downward price pressure that will naturally follow.
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