Everybody who has an Asus netbook should load it up with their favourite distro, then email Asus to tell them how well it runs.

Wow, isn't that lady in the ad sexy... and her friends (n daughter?) too...

Apparently some people are doubting that this is genuine.

Or is it another "better with Windows" page he is speaking about?

http://linuxinexile.blogspot.com/200...h-windows.html

@erlik
The author comes up with 5 typos, one of which I think is not an obvious mistake.

With the inconcistyent use of trademark argument, you have to take his word that ASUS would put an annoying (R) after every "windows"
Asus does have pages with different copyright formulas, like this page: http://event.asus.com/eeepc/seashell/ (linked to from this page: http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=...12&modelmenu=1 )

In the comments some people are saying the hosting of the asus.co.uk and itsbetterwithwindows sites looks suspicious.

They did omit one thing: Tell me, how can this be hosted on asus.co.uk, a domain that has been registered by a company called Asustek Computer Inc since 1997, without that company knowing about it?

Just because the job has been done poorly doesn't mean the companies aren't involved. If they weren't they would have interfered. Especially when the page is hosted on their domain name.

The article you mention makes allot of assumption about what a professional company would and wouldn't do: I assume they wouldn't leave a hoax website online under their domain name.

ASUS still lists linux as an option on this page: http://uk.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=15908 that's what I think is the most important.

Second most important for me is that if it is a hoax, I want to hear it from ASUS.

Ah, so it looks like this is real after all!

Thanks for the very complete answer janhe!

Yeah, the undeniable proof here is that ASUS UK is legitimate and links to the site. Although it's not obvious who is behind "itsbetterwithwinblows", I'm sure one can guess and not be too far from the truth.

Now it's for sure A$U$ has been tainted by M$:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-asus.-731183/

I will never buy any of their stuff anymore (technically I never did anyway).

I was planning to give them a go, until this. Guess I'll be sticking with Dell.

Cheers

I agree, bad move on ASus part.

You know what else bugs me..is that I wiped XP off my Eee1000h and installed Ubuntu right away..yet Microsuck and Asus continue to "count" an XP netbook machine GRRR.
I may buy a Dell mini just for the counters... :-)

I put a survey out in google docs regarding XP licenses wiped for Linux, and 525 people took the time to express similar concerns.

To me, this is a huge deal that the Linux community should be discussing.

The Survey spreadsheet format is here if your interested in a looksee:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...W_URUVclc8cyXw
and survey summary format here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewa...W_URUVclc8cyXw

And, if you feel like taking part in the survey..its here:
http://tinara.netpipeline.net/apache...lt/survey1.php
My Eee1000H runs Ubuntu flawlessly (with Adam kernel patch, or EeeBuntu out of the box)

regards
js

<Part time, 10 years,
"full time" Linux 5 years>

This is really turning into a problem for Asus! I wrote a post about this on Tech-no-media asking my readers if this would impact their purchasing decision regarding Asus hardware. In one day I got 23 comments, most of which were from people saying they won't buy Asus anymore.

I use Windows only because I have to for work. There are plenty of copies of Windows that should be counted as 1/2 or 1/4 because they are only booted out of necessity and not the primary OS.

It seems idiotic to me that any company would promote Windows other than Microsoft. Microsoft has a history of screwing their "partners".

One thing I would like to see is many of the Linux distros pooling their resources and launching a coordinated marketing program on behalf of Linux. There is no reason why open source can't promote itself.

More standardized driver packaging would also help Linux since companies could write one Linux driver and expect to support most distros. Not all companies are willing to give out source for their drivers. I don't think that freeware has to be open source any more than open source has to be free.

I'm not sure we will ever see the individual distros pairing up for promotions...especially paid promotions.
However, there are things we can all do, A bunch of small things add up!


1. Help a friend discover Linux, then another after that.

2. Join the Linux foundation, & get a linux.com email address.

3. Write a blog about your Linux experience.

4 Write a Linux Getting Started guide, (hopefully better than mine) http://tinara.netpipeline.net/apache...getstarted.php

5. Create a survey, like I did, (Links above, with the help of hundreds of suggestions)

6. Find someone doing great work with Linux, like Ken at Helios, http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/ and help em' by spreading the word, or a small donation in $, muscles, or hardware.

7. Buy a Penguin for some newb that is just getting started, and doing great things with Linux. (from openanimals.org). I have presented 2 of these, one is a college professor teaching a Microsoft class while at the same time introducing Linux in his classes..pure irony..!
(I am the after hours help desk for Linux questions, believe me, his students are really jazzed about Linux!)

8 If you have a Myspace, Linkedin or facebook...include information about your use of Linux.

I wont go on...just think about it...what can you "give back" to the Linux community?
We can overpower the Asus idiocy and MS FUD of the world if we work together.
regards
-js

Is a great pity that a company like Asus has gone that low, first I thought it was a joke, but unfortunately is not.