MSI Announces Wind 2, Says Customers Hate Linux

[markwolfe Veteran]

Source: Wired

MSI Announces Wind 2, Says Customers Hate Linux

The guys at Laptop Mag got to spend some time with MSI's US sales boss Andy Tung, who gave them the lowdown on the hot little Wind netbook, past, present and future, including customers' mass rejection of the Linux version and the real reason for Windows continued success (people are used to it).

First, there will be a Wind 2, officially called the U120 (the current one is called the U100). It will sell alongside the popular, hackable netbook and come in at under $600. The Wind 2 will be a complete redesign -- new case, new hard drive and SSD options and a 3.5G mobile card inside. Ostensibly aimed at the business market, we can see this being a huge modder's hit (just put Broadcom compatible Wi-Fi inside for us OS X hackers, please, MSI). The Wind 2 will ship by the end of the year.

The next big news is that MSI have worked out a deal with a "a major U.S. retailer". Tung is keeping quiet on the details, but the official announcement should come this week. Guesses: Best Buy. A Wal Mart Wind?

Third, and saddest, is the fact that a lot of netbooks get returned, many more than is the case with regular-sized laptops. This is a general trend, but hidden within the numbers is a surprise -- people hate Linux. Tung:

Our internal research has shown that the return of netbooks is higher than regular notebooks, but the main cause of that is Linux. People would love to pay $299 or $399 but they don?t know what they get until they open the box. They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that it?s not what they are used to. They don?t want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store. The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks.

Are people really too lazy to learn something new? The Linux netbooks I have played with are simple things, but they do exactly what a netbook needs to do ? web, email, music and movies ? and they do it well enough. Do people really need to pay an extra $50 for Windows, which runs slower on the Atom chip and offers a bunch of extras which aren't needed on a netbook (especially a space-limited 4GB netbook)?

Finally, a teaser from Tung. Laptop mag asked him what differentiates the Wind from Lenovo and Samsung's netbooks. "Well you would be surprised who makes those notebooks." he said.

[PL_ Veteran]

I have this conversation all the time with my friend...

Him: Normal people don't want Linux on their netbooks, they want Windows.

Me: Oh they want Linux, they just don't know it yet.

I think that Linux is perfect for devices like these, as it's so customisable...and am I right in thinking it makes it cheaper? Either way, you don't hear regular people complaining their phones run Symbian instead of Windows Mobile.

[Kami-]

Nice...

[Rudy]

I would personally prefer Linux but I'm not the average consumer

[Shadrack]

On a device like this, I would prefer Linux too.

Kinda OT, Laptop Magazine is awesome! I need to get a subscription, because I can't find anyone local that carries it (maybe Barnes and Nobel do). I picked an issue up at an airport this last summer and ended up reading every single article in it. I "flip through" a lot of magazines, and this was one that actually had well written and interesting articles.

[shakey_snake]

It doesn't help that the linux distributions shipped on many netbooks are garbage.

I don't think the ASUS Xandros repos have been updated in like 6 months.

e.g. I'm still posting from firefox 2.x because I can't update GTK+ without breaking everything.

[HawkMan]

I have this conversation all the time with my friend...

Him: Normal people don't want Linux on their netbooks, they want Windows.

Me: Oh they want Linux, they just don't know it yet.

I think that Linux is perfect for devices like these, as it's so customisable...and am I right in thinking it makes it cheaper? Either way, you don't hear regular people complaining their phones run Symbian instead of Windows Mobile.

The problem with your argument is that "people" don't want customizeable. They just want it working, easy and most of all familiar.

[Veedems Veteran]

The problem wih yoru argument is that "people" don't want customizeable. They just want it working, easy and most of all familiar.

Indeed. It's the same reason, or at least one of the many possible reasons, that people like console gaming over pc gaming. They just want to turn it on and have it work like they expect it to.

[markwolfe Veteran]

The problem wih yoru argument is that "people" don't want customizeable. They just want it working, easy and most of all familiar.

The problem with your post is that shakey was referring to OEMs who market devices. "perfect for devices like these, as it's so customisable" refers to the OEM's ability to trim down and supply only the apps (browser, mail client, etc) that the OEM chooses.

;)

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

I have this conversation all the time with my friend...

Him: Normal people don't want Linux on their netbooks, they want Windows.

Me: Oh they want Linux, they just don't know it yet.

I think that Linux is perfect for devices like these, as it's so customisable...and am I right in thinking it makes it cheaper? Either way, you don't hear regular people complaining their phones run Symbian instead of Windows Mobile.

I certainly agree, but people don't want to buy a computer for the family, and not be able to run all these programs on it. They want what everyone else has...

The average family doesn't know very much about PC's, but they default to Windows, because they know how to use it.

[HawkMan]

The problem with your post is that shakey was referring to OEMs who market devices. "perfect for devices like these, as it's so customisable" refers to the OEM's ability to trim down and supply only the apps (browser, mail client, etc) that the OEM chooses.

;)

but the user still gets an unfamiliar system.

oh and OEMs could get a CE verion of windows and make it just as customized, and isn't there also a special netbook version of XP now ?

[Symbiotic Hat]

I'll buy the first netbook that has the dual core atom processor.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

I'll buy the first netbook that has the dual core atom processor.

that's what i was going to post! :D

[HawkMan]

I'll buy the first netbook that has the dual core atom processor.

What exactly would you need a dual core on a netbook for ? it' not exactly made for computing heavy tasks or gaming...

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

b/c it makes the not-so-fast Atom that much faster :happy:

[Richard Hammond]

For doing what, you can watch 720p videos on single core atom netbooks, what more power do you need, battery life would seriously suck juice.

Intel have already stated the the dual core atoms were made for nettops not netbooks.

[HawkMan]

b/c it makes the not-so-fast Atom that much faster :happy:

as the other guy said, it's allready fast enough to do stuffthe netbook isn't very good for anyway.

It's a netbook what would you need so much power for on a netbook. it's not like you're gonna do 3DS MAX renders on it, or play COD4 on it.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

ok then... for a bigger e-peen

[Budious]

For doing what, you can watch 720p videos on single core atom netbooks, what more power do you need, battery life would seriously suck juice.

Intel have already stated the the dual core atoms were made for nettops not netbooks.

Depends on what codec is being used and the operating system. I have several 720p films that can not decode fast enough on a 2.0GHz Pentium M (which by benchmarks blows away an Atom) when using Linux since the graphics driver does not accelerate decoding (Nvidia 7800GTX Go). Viewing 720p content is much better in Windows since the Nvidia driver supports video decoding, maybe it will make to the Linux driver someday.

[Foub]

I certainly agree, but people don't want to buy a computer for the family, and not be able to run all these programs on it. They want what everyone else has...

The average family doesn't know very much about PC's, but they default to Windows, because they know how to use it.

Its more like many think that PC and Windows are the same thing, like a Mac is to OSX. Many just don't know that there is a choice out there now. You can make Linux look and act just like Windows and even OSX and most wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.

BTW, my 72 year old mother has an Asus Eee PC with Linux and she likes it just fine.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

You know, my mum recently got one of these new smaller notebooks, and it came with a Linux variant on it. I was worried at first because she is very "I don't want to learn something new to accomplish the same tasks I have always accomplished". You know what? Rightly so!

However, she boots it up, and there is a ****ing great big in your face icon for "WEB", "EMAIL", "DOCUMENTS", "MUSIC" etc

It's like a lot of home hardware, the OS is now transparent, she doesn't need to learn it. You don't need to learn an OS to operate your tumble dryer, dishwasher, VCR, TV. These little handheld laptops are appliances and as such, I think they should fall into the same "Get the job done" category.

Off the back of this, I have installed Ubunto on an old laptop I had codemned to the loft. My GF now uses is to check hotmail, facebook, download music, sync her iPod and probably send naked pictures to strange men. She's happy, I'm happy, lover69 is happy!

[MiG-]

The problem with your post is that shakey was referring to OEMs who market devices. "perfect for devices like these, as it's so customisable" refers to the OEM's ability to trim down and supply only the apps (browser, mail client, etc) that the OEM chooses.

;)

I bet the real reason for supplying Linux over XP is the HDD space consumed. If XP takes a good couple of Gig, which will no doubt expand (Show me a Windows Install that doesn't), then that is valuable space over say a 250mb Linux install.

There is also a small speed increase but if XP is stripped down enough as well then I doubt the increases would be that great, nothing that your average consumer would complain about.

From a business point of view, XP is obviously the money maker. I don't see why the OEM would be bothered, unless something on the system was compromised. I put it down to space. After all, the Eee PC only came with XP when it shipped with a 20gb drive.

[tsupersonic]

Just goes to show you that average consumers are not ready for linux.

[markwolfe Veteran]

Just goes to show you that average consumers are not ready for linux.

Or just freak out because it wasn't XP/Windows.

[PGHammer]

I certainly agree, but people don't want to buy a computer for the family, and not be able to run all these programs on it. They want what everyone else has...

The average family doesn't know very much about PC's, but they default to Windows, because they know how to use it.

That is precisely why I questioned the distribution choice for the original Wind. Ubuntu (either Gutsy Gibbon or the current Hardy Heron, or even olde reliable Feisty Fawn) would have made more sense, as it requires little fiddling, is supremely small, and is actually designed for non-techies.