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Asus Slaps Linux In The Face

By Holden Page on May 26, 2009

monkey-slap

Note: For the people who think I just pulled this out of nowhere. Link here showing at the very least Asus supports Windows over Linux which made the Eee PC so wildly popular to begin with.

Linux just got a major slap in the face today from Asus. One of the highlights of Linux going mainstream was the wildly popular Asus Eee PC preinstalled with a customized Linux distro geared towards web applications. While I personally never got what the big deal was, I was still happy for all the Linux people out there waiting for this day, but it looks like the cause for celebration won’t be lasting much longer.

Asus and Microsoft have teamed up and have made a site called It’s Better With Windows. The page touts how easy it is to get up and ready with Windows on an Asus Eee PC, while slyly stating that you won’t have to deal with an “unfamiliar environment” and “major compatibility issues.” While it is silly to state such a thing since Asus built the Linux distribution specifically for the Eee PC, I give Microsoft two points for snarky comments.

As for all the (most likely) ticked off Linux fanatics out there, don’t worry, the page is ugly as sin and no one will visit it. If they actually just struck out the horrid typography, background and overall design, the video alone would be more effective then what is currently up. On an ironic note, Microsoft and Asus used Flowplayer, an open source video player, to embed and play the video touting Windows superiority.

Microsoft, you never fail to amaze me in such unique ways.

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Comments

  1. [...] irónico de la historia es que Microsoft y ASUS han usado Flowplayer, un reproductor de vídeo Open Source, como solución [...]

  2. [...] irónico de la historia es que Microsoft y ASUS han usado Flowplayer, un reproductor de vídeo Open Source, como solución [...]

  3. Michael Sharp

    This is a pretty speculative piece of writing at best. If there’s any actual proof that the awful video and webpage are from either Asus or Microsoft I’d love to see it. You might give Microsoft 2 points for their snarky comments, but I’m taking 10 away from you for poor research and blatant bias.

    Good day to you Sir.

    • Michael Sharp

      Just for the record my name isn’t actually Michael Sharp. That’s a joke.

  4. Ruediger Gerolf Biernat

    When I visited the site I immediatly searched for the legal advisory at the end of the page. There is none. So either they are in a very early stage of the site (site devs presenting it to the customer) or this site is a complete fake. Why should M$ run this site @Godaddy.com? They have their own provider/hoster? Maybe we should ask this Michael Sharp? Is he really a/the Product Manager of Microsoft?

    If not – then it is probably time to make an own video about the benefits of Linux on this device.

    My 0,02€
    Ruediger

  5. I’m going to go with Michael here, considering he is the owner of the domain. Just run a WHOIS through GoDaddy’s WHOIS database.

    Where exactly is the evidence to support ASUS and Microsoft teaming up to make this website?

    • LOL Dumbasses

      “This is a pretty speculative piece of writing at best. If there’s any actual proof that the awful video and webpage are from either Asus or Microsoft I’d love to see it.”

      “Where exactly is the evidence to support ASUS and Microsoft teaming up to make this website?”

      “-10 points for the author being retarded and not verifying the owner of the website before posting this article.”

      http://www.asus.co.uk/eeepc/1008HA/features.html

      “The Eee PC™ 1008HA comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows XP Home and Microsoft Works. With Windows® XP, you can be sure that your Eee PC™ will be compatible with your existing Windows applications and devices. Windows® XP is also easy to use and delivers a dependable experience that Microsoft and a worldwide community of partners stand behind. Visit http://www.ItsBetterwithWindows.com » to find out more.”

      Look how stupid you guys look.

  6. No offense here bud. I hope Microsoft is wasting it’s money by teaming up with Asus. So if a company is offering a lot of money to put an OS on their PC, who in their right mind refuse? It’s a nice business decision. Besides, Linux is all about choice, right? Then at the end of the day, Microsoft just gave Asus money to further push development on their own flavor of linux to come preinstalled on their Eee line.

    I see it as a win win scenario.

  7. -10 points for the author being retarded and not verifying the owner of the website before posting this article.

    Retards never fail to amaze me in such unique ways.

  8. Dare I say this is FUD? Seems to me that this is not a teaming up, rather Asus is expanding their market.

  9. Try Windows XP 64-bit and You will experience “major compatibility issues”.

    My kids don’t have problem with linux on their Asus EEE PC.

  10. ImNotMichaelSharp

    Funny… So is this Microsoft or Asus??

    Registrant:
    Michael Sharp
    12932 SE Kent-Kangley Rd.
    Box 238
    Kent, Washington 98030
    United States

    Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
    Domain Name: ITSBETTERWITHWINDOWS.COM
    Created on: 05-Dec-08
    Expires on: 05-Dec-09
    Last Updated on: 05-Dec-08

    Administrative Contact:
    Sharp, Michael rdcpro@hotmail.com
    12932 SE Kent-Kangley Rd.
    Box 238
    Kent, Washington 98030
    United States
    (877) 788-8066

    Technical Contact:
    Sharp, Michael rdcpro@hotmail.com
    12932 SE Kent-Kangley Rd.
    Box 238
    Kent, Washington 98030
    United States
    (877) 788-8066

  11. I would like to warn people thinking about buying a notebook. They all only have a battery life of like 2-4 hours max (specifically Asus used inferior batteries for it’s EEE900, which I have). So if you’re hoping to do the stuff these kids do in this advertisement, taking your netbook traveling, forget it, or take a very short trip. Also I wonder how many beaches have WiFi?

  12. It’s better with windows, is it? I mean, really, windows XP on an OEM laptop which comes with licenses for office and etc is one thing (an expensive thing, but it works) however, analyze the ‘features’ page :
    http://www.asus.co.uk/eeepc/1008HA/features.html

    It contains a link to the now infamous it is better with windows site, however, further analysis would show that the new software choice for an eee is basically crap:

    Windows® XP

    ▼ ASUS Exclusive Utility
    Super Hybrid Engine
    ASUS Update

    ▼ Applications
    Microsoft Works
    Office Trial 60days

    ▼ Protection
    Norton 2009 Trial (60days)


    I am sorry, but even the OOo version that came on my ASUS 4G eee 701 is infinitely times better than a MICROSOFT WORKS TRIAL. If you feel like using the netbook for real apps like that site implies it can, you would have to pay to licenses or pirate (and risk getting kicked by WGA)

    Compare it with Ubuntu Netbook remix, it actually comes with WORKING APPS THAT WON’T SHUTDOWN after 60 days.

    I am hopeful users will notice how lame this is and decide for other netbooks, cause right now the software choice for this one are very bad.

    Microsoft has totally missed the sight of what netbooks are for. You never needed any more “compatibility with windows devices and applications” than what’s provided in Linux in a netbook. You need apps that fit the resolution and allowed you to do work, actual work, even if you decided to do it 61 days after your purchase…

    This will give users such a negative view of netbooks… that I almost feel sorry for them.

  13. Hey everyone from Slashdot.

    http://www.asus.co.uk/eeepc/1008HA/features.html link here showing Asus supports the site.

    Michael works for an advertisement agency that Microsoft works with. I will link as soon as I get home (in High School, therefore sites are blocked).

    Sorry everyone for the confusion and/or doubt.

  14. ASUS also does hardware for Apple. ASUS invested in Linux technologies in order to set Microsoft under commercial pressure and the result was e.g a longer XP support cycle and you get XP virtually for free these days. ASUS demonstrated that users don’t need MICROSOFT Windows anymore. ASUS will continue to invest in Linux and organic computing because it is the smart thing to do: cut the software margins. Linux is a cheap leverage and software margins have to get sqeezed as the segment gets exposed to new competitive challenges.

    MICROSOFT needs to feel the heat in order to show the required respect. For customers Linux is probably the better choice but ultimately it does not matter at all. The netbook market is OS indifferent.

  15. asus.co.uk is not owned by ASUS, view the WHOIS for the domain.

    It’s a fake

    • http://whois.domaintools.com/asus.co.uk

      Domain name:
      asus.co.uk

      Registrant:
      Asustek Computer Inc

      Trading as:
      Asus

      Registrant type:
      UK Individual

      Registrant’s address:
      The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
      address omitted from the WHOIS service.

      Registrar:
      1 & 1 Internet AG [Tag = SCHLUND]
      URL: http://registrar.1und1.info

      Relevant dates:
      Registered on: 23-May-1997
      Renewal date: 23-May-2011
      Last updated: 22-May-2009

      Registration status:
      Renewal request being processed.

      Name servers:
      ns59.1and1.co.uk
      ns60.1and1.co.uk

  16. As mentioned the website is a hoax neither sites are registered to ASUS. Please move along nothing to see here…

  17. Dontfeedthetroll

    From asus.com whois:

    Registrant:
    Asus Computer International
    800 Corporate Way
    Fremont, CA 94539
    US

    *snip*

    Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
    Yao, Charles charles_yao@asus.com
    Asus Computer International
    800 Corporate Way
    Fremont, CA 94539
    US
    (510) 608-4527 fax: 999 999 9999

    *snip*

    DNS3.ASUS.COM 211.72.249.201
    DNS7.ASUS.COM 213.61.92.192

    from asus.co.uk whois:

    Registrant type:
    UK Individual

    Registrant’s address:
    The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
    address omitted from the WHOIS service.

    Name servers:
    ns59.1and1.co.uk
    ns60.1and1.co.uk

    Summary:

    Known asus page has more contact info, and uses their own DNS servers. Questionable page has no contact info, and uses a consumer grade hosting service for its name servers.

    Conclusion:

    Don’t feed the troll.

  18. I’m in agreement with Don’tfeedthetroll the official ASUSTek UK website is http://uk.asus.com, so why would someone need to make another website for them?
    After looking through it seems like an attempt to try to stir up either some anti-asus sentiments or it’s just been a slow news day somewhere.

  19. [...] ulteriori delucidazioni a riguardo, vi rimandiamo al post originale pubblicato su Techgeist e l’articolo di risposta comparso su Ubuntu Linux [...]

  20. This is ridiculous: our three-year-old can use the Linux interface. It also comes with Skype installed, so if you’ve got a webcam, you’ve got your emotional coffee-stain conversation while traveling.

    I remember when Windows XP came out, and M$’s big selling point was “send pictures in your email!” Something I’d been doing for eight years at that point.

  21. Wow Holden, you are really drawn in by this. There is no reason for an employee or someone they hired to host the page separately from the ASUS DNS servers if they are being backed by ASUS. http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24&l2=164&l3=0&l4=0&model=2912&modelmenu=1 that is the 1008HA page for the US. It looks exactly the same on the UK. and the event site is http://event.asus.com/eeepc/seashell/

    All someone did was copy the image to another similar looking page and change some text. “and the sculpted case tapers to a near-knife edge” Really?!?! Come On. This is so different from their other ads its absurd. “92% scale keyboard”, never says that on any other ASUS site. There are some pretty GLARINGLY obvious inconsistencies in style and wording.

    • i really didn’t find it that big of a deal honestly. I don’t like Eee PC’s and never saw the big deal in them. I just found it interesting tid bit of news.

      As for the registrant of asus.co.uk it is Asus. So until someone comes out with a statement (I emailed the company) explaining the situation I will take it as Asus backing the site.

  22. Right… one of my commenters is saying this is a fake as well.

  23. I remember seeing this linked on the frontpage of newegg for at least one day, so if it’s a hoax its well done…

  24. Detailed hosting information can be found here:

    http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://itsbetterwithwindows.com

    This certainly doesn’t look to be a real sponsored site despite being registered by a senior Microsoft marketing manager. It just looks to have been done by one person. Still, who knows with MS’s marketing record.

  25. Complete fake, and the people that can’t notice that are just blinded by their hate for M$.

  26. So what is the deal with this. Has anyone been able to figure out if this article is legitimate or just a complete bluff? After I went through the links I would have to agree with the majority here and say this is not Asus’ doing.

  27. [...] distro, effectively abandoned Linux from their Eee product line this year. They even went further slapping Linux in the face by telling their potential and ex-customers that their computers are better with Windows. [...]

  28. I’m not sure what you meant to link to, but that’s a godaddy parking page.

  29. While numerous application programs can be particularly serviceable in the initial stage is short-term, exactly a matter of time ahead some of its applications programmes will be interchanged by iPad earned for enormous screens. Many of them are not needed, only used as a regular web browser, like Facebook, for example, alternatively of a smaller version of the iPhone to use … :)

  30. So what is your real name? :-)

  31. Michael Sharp

    Actually my real name is Michael Toshiba.

  32. Please, allow me to retort.

    1. Domain: itsbetterwithwindows.com
    http://whois.domaintools.com/itsbetterwithwindows.com
    Is registered to a ‘Michael Sharp’ using ‘GODADDY.COM’ registrar
    Not registered to ASUSTek? or Microsoft? and why would they use ‘GODADDY.COM’?

    2. Going directly to asus.co.uk redirects to uk.asus.com

    3. Domain: asus.co.uk
    http://whois.domaintools.com/asus.co.uk
    Is registered to an indivisual using ‘1 & 1 Internet AG’ registrar

    Where

    Domain: uk.asus.com (asus.com)
    http://whois.domaintools.com/asus.com
    Is registered to an entity using ‘Network Solutions’ registrar

    4. The real site:
    http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24&l2=164&l3=0&l4=0&model=2912&modelmenu=1
    Has no reference to the ‘http://itsbetterwithwindows.com/’ site.

    This was not my work, it was done by the readers over at Slashdot:

    http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/28/0321251

    Has much more analysis even the guys P.O. Box with Google Map street view. Too Funny.

  33. Please do not leave out important details.

    The registrant of asus.co.uk is Asutek Computer Inc.

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