Linux For Housewives. XP For Geeks.

Talinom writes "ZDNet has an article sure to raise the hackles of any self-respecting geek. They report that housewives buying small laptops like the Asus EE are causing Linux usage for that demographic to spike. A reporter for Tech-On states that 'Retailers and contract manufacturers in Taiwan say that novice PC users there, like students and housewives, tend to buy the Linux version of the Eee PC701, while geeks go for Windows XP.'"

I 4 1

[Mipoti Gusundar (1028156)]

I 4 1 amd welcomming our new script bashing apron wearing apple pie bakeing overlady's!

Re:I 4 1

[Rinisari (521266)]

I would mod that comment up if the spelling wasn't so terrible.

Not sure it applies here as much

[jeiler (1106393)]

Taiwan culture is not US culture, of course. I imagine that even Geek culture is different between the two cultures.

Re:Not sure it applies here as much

[mikkl666 (1264656)]

Well, I lived in Taiwan for quite a while, and I think Windows is quite common among geeks because (for no clear reason) MSN Messenger has become the No. 1 communication vehicle among the young folks. No one ever asked my ICQ No. or mail address, just my MSN name. Which I still don't have, by the way.

Re:Not sure it applies here as much

[WibbleOnMars (1129233)]

Taiwan culture is not US culture, of course.

Maybe not, but the UK is much more similar, and I've stood in a Dixons store here and listened to the salesman talking to a novice about the EeePC on display, explaining its OS as "Linux is low powered and suitable for a beginner."

Granted, Dixons aren't the only people selling EeePCs, but they are definitely targetting EeePC at the less technically savvy.

Re:Not sure it applies here as much

[Icarium (1109647)]

It's interesting to observer how the mere mention of the word 'geek' on /. is automatically assumed to mean someone who has at least an interest in IT.

Geeks were around before computers. Not all geeks are IT savvy, not all IT savvy people are geeks.

Hmm..

[iXiXi (659985)]

Well, I am not sure that housewives can't be geeks. Maybe they confuse geeks that are buying XP with idiots? I wouldn't think that a true 'geek' would give a rat's buttocks about what OS came on the hardware. I put what I want on there when I get home.

Re:Hmm..

[Corporate Troll (537873)]

Exploits of a Mom [xkcd.com]. XKCD has a comic for everything ;-)

Reasoning?

[LightPhoenix7 (1070028)]

The article was short on details (aside from the study being in Taiwan), but my guess would be that the "geeks" are the ones playing video games, and unfortunately most of the big titles are constrained to Windows. On the other hand, a computer you're only using for e-mail and web browsing should opimally be as cheap as possible, and you certainly don't get cheaper on an OS than free.

Re:Reasoning?

[UnknowingFool (672806)]

And also for the most part the average person doesn't really care if it runs Linux, Unix, Windows, BeOS, or whatever. They just want it to work. Being cheaper is a large factor when the price of the computer is only $200, and $50 difference is a lot. Also being so cheap if the consumer knows if that the Linux version isn't fully adequate, they can just get the Windows version. Yes, you can install XP over Linux on the EEE PC, but for the average consumer going to the store and spending $250 is a lot easier than figuring out installation of a new OS. Especially these days where you can't get XP at retail anymore.

My girlfriend has got an eee

[MrKaos (858439)]

She loves it because it fits in her hand bag, "it runs linux eh? what's linux? It does what I need it to do and it's cuuuttteee"

Re:My girlfriend has got an eee

[Lonewolf666 (259450)]

And this shows that Linux is now usable for non-geeks when preinstalled. Many of those users wouldn't be able to reinstall their Windows either ;-)

There is still a lot of software that is only available for Windows (in particular games), but the OS itself is just as usable as Windows.

Windows

[blind biker (1066130)]

I didn't know that the day would come, when I would feel more unfamiliar (didn't say uncomfortable - but I guess that's coming, too, with Vista (oh yeah, I don't intend to move to Vista - ever)) in Windows than in Linux. But, alas, that day has come and now I have no clue how to troubleshoot Windows anymore. It's just way too arcane and complicated. In Linux and Solaris I know how to at least start troubleshooting, and then I can search the 'net for specific keywords (error messages, log entries, etc.). Some of this could probably be done with Windows as well, but I just find the "whole experience" of troubleshooting it, more hairy and unsettling.

It's a No Brainer! :-)

[by Anonymous Coward]

Housewives are used to getting the products that have the best cost-benefit ratio.

The Eee is a machine that provides wireless web browsing and email, instant messaging, etc.

And it's cheaper without XP.

It's a no-brainer then.

As for why do geeks prefer XP? I can speak for myself and say that I thoroughly know the beast, it is a pleasure to google for the most wild assed software/driver you can think of and find that due to the widespread presence of the thing, pretty sure SOMEONE has gone through the same ordeal as you, and has posted a workaround.
It works, and given current hardware configurations and provided that you configure it properly, it is FAST.

I know it is light years away from an elegant OS from an academic's point of view, but I rather have XP on an Eee and be open to all the possibilities of interaction with other peripherals (oh, how our choice of words reveal one's age) than spending time tweaking linux.

Yes and?

[Corporate Troll (537873)]

I bough the 701 4G a few months ago. My father in law liked it so much, and after hearing the price, ordered two for his kids: 4yo and 12yo. (Kids from his second wife: I'm not married to a 4yo or 12yo).

Anyway, I'm surprised to hear the geeks take the XP version. I'm actually quite happy with the default Xandros install. It even has perl, ruby and python for crying out loud!

Year Of the Linux Desktop

[scenestar (828656)]

I guess that instead of the year of the linux desktop we should be celebrating the year of the linux laptop

Funny, Considering the fact that Linux + laptops used to be one of the biggest headaches in the world.

ZDNet confirms it...

[sootman (158191)]

2008 will be the year of XP on the desktop!

Er, laptop. whatever.

Sounds reasonable

[427_ci_505 (1009677)]

I've never bought a copy of linux.

Or windows, for that matter.

_>

Browsing and Mail

[fermion (181285)]

Honestly, what does the average person need. Browsing, mail, photos? Sure, for multimedia Linux may not have the integration that something like Mac OS does, but neither does XP.

In many cases a more technical person has to have a Windows OS, either because they have to test against it, or they code in Visual Studio, or run some XP only app.

The prevailing mindset is that it is better to run the same OS at home as at work, if, for no other reason, the work software can be often be used at home as well. But with all the free and cheap software, and with the often extreme difficulty of keeping a MS Windows machine running, it is no longer a sure bet to run MS Windows at home. Many people are realizing that MS Windows is targeted to the corporate user, and requires corporate resources for the average person to use.

*nix, OTOH, if it is kept simple, and has some vendor support, can be run by the average person.

Games

[swordgeek (112599)]

Geeks play games that run under XP. Housewives (househusbands, most of the rest of the universe) don't play games often, and when they do, they're browser-based or included in the OS.

Nothing to see here.

Re:or course

[MBGMorden (803437)]

Yep. Because obviously somebody can't like or buy ANYTHING big/fast/cool these days without it being to make up for "inadequacies".

Do you do the reverse? I know I don't look at the guy pulling out of the shoebox apartment (old Pentium 75 visible through the windows) in a rusted out Geo Metro and think "Man, I bet he's hung.".

Re:or course

[sm62704 (957197)]

Cheer up, young fellow, and read A Nerd's Guide to Getting Laid [slashdot.org].

Re:Different reason

[rvw (755107)]

The geeks are buying the XP version to install their own flavor of Linux as a dual-boot?

Then they are stupid geeks. The Windows version has a smaller disk, so it makes more sense to buy the Linux version.

MMmmmm... Housewives!!

[by Anonymous Coward]

Linux... housewives? Only cheesy pr0n can result. "I'm here to repair your Linux install ma'am. OOohh, I see the problem right here. I just need to $unzip this and $touch that. Now let's $fsck!" ~Bow chica wow wow~

Re:BLASPHEMY!

[CKW (409971)]

No no, this makes perfect sense.

Housewives don't play video games and download a bajillion "utilities". Geeks do.

Housewives want to browse the web and use e-mail, and have a stable safe system.

Geeks love the chaos and security challenges that is posed by Windows.