This week's award for the Most Astutely Selected Software Bundle goes to BT after the teleco tried to hook potential purchasers of Asus' Linux-running Eee PC 900 by offering to ship it with a copy of Microsoft Office.
BT is offering the 20GB 900 for £335.99, but if anyone out there is willing to buy it for £422.34, the telco …
To be fair to Dabs, the Pinnacle USB DVB-T devices work under linux as well, so it's not really as stupid as it sounds. They just can't claim linux compatibility because the manufacturer doesn't claim it either (linux drivers were created without their help.)
Why shipping a DVB-T tuner with an Eee is possibly a little stupid is the lack of storage space on the thing, you might get away with running MythTV on it's low spec but you'd not be able to record very much. DVB-T runs at 1-2Gb+ per hour of video.
You get it as part of the laptop. It's perfectly adequate for home and mobile office needs. Even if you chose to install XP on your Eee PC, you'd be better off installing OpenOffice because it takes up less space.
So, disregarding the fact they're shipping software that won't even work on the machine it's bundled with (no doubt a ploy to get millions of calls to their premium rate helpline), they're charging £86.35 for MS H&S Office. Yet you can get it on eBuyer for £84.79 inc free delivery. Even Nerd World is only charging a couple of quid more for it.
Why is anyone bothering with MS Office, or MS at all now? Surely a lower cost open source solution is a better business proposition? I'm managing on my EEE PC 7" with OpenOffice(.org).
Could you please rewrite the article and make it more pertinent to the sites IT geeks by putting the picture of the beach babe back in there, even if it is done through a link.
@AC (re Prehaps they are also shipping crossover office?)
#
I thought the same, but as far as I know Crossover Office doesn't work too well with .Net applications, including more recent versions of Office. Microsoft Office 2007, which is what is shown in the picture, is "known not to work" according to Codeweaver's compatibility chart.
Back in the mid-90's I worked at a place I will only refer to as "Chinaman Joe's PC Emporium" to protect the guilty. The jelly-brained owner decided to make a CD of the "best" OS/2 shareware and called it "OS/2 Fever". The CD cover also said "Forget about Windows, use OS/2!" This would have been fine if it wasn't for the Windows compatible logo on the cover and the fact that it depended on running a DOS batch file to start a 16 bit Windows installation/menu program to install the OS/2 software.
Paris, because she's 3 times smarter than my old boss. And better looking.
"To be fair to Dabs, the Pinnacle USB DVB-T devices work under linux as well, so it's not really as stupid as it sounds. They just can't claim linux compatibility because the manufacturer doesn't claim it either (linux drivers were created without their help.)"
Since the drivers end up forming part of the kernel, they have to be released under the GPL, so the manufacturers and vendors certainly *can* claim Linux compatibility (since they have permission to supply the drivers).
OTOH, I would not put it past Microsoft to be dissuading hardware manufacturers from admitting to their products working with Linux. That isn't hard to do, if you have a driver approval program which to all intents and purposes can make or break people's ability to sell hardware .....
So in one go Bt have managed to create a eeepc that now costs more than some full sized laptops! all of them can run openoffice so the question has to be WHY???
At last we see the size of microsoft tax
Basic rate = 8Gb 'hard disk' (20-12Gb) - say £36
higher rate = £86 (422-336)
total - £122
That's about 25% of unnecessary expense!
Don't bother with msft - keep the cash for beer!
spegru
PS. Dropped my eee onto hard pavement the other day. No damage!
You might want to re-read what I said. I said Dabs can't claim linux support if the manufacturers don't, reasons for this include the support/liability resting with Dabs if doesn't actually work, they won't take that risk.
Of course the manufacturers are free to make the claim but they don't. I'd guess they would be hesitant to do so unless they were sure that it worked well enough and that they wouldn't have to train support staff in linux. Many companies are happy to cooperate with development of linux drivers, but few of them advertise linux support since they would then be obligated to offer technical support to customers. This is an additional cost they can avoid by letting the linux community support users instead.
Well spotted Reg, this is a genuine mistake by our PM team who should have ticked the Asus box out of the bundle deal. We've taken it from the site now for Linux based notebooks.
Register
BT bundles MS Office with Linux laptop
This week's award for the Most Astutely Selected Software Bundle goes to BT after the teleco tried to hook potential purchasers of Asus' Linux-running Eee PC 900 by offering to ship it with a copy of Microsoft Office. BT is offering the 20GB 900 for £335.99, but if anyone out there is willing to buy it for £422.34, the telco …
This topic is closed for new posts.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 11:57 GMT
David Thorn
Dabs offer: #
A Pinnacle Systems PCTV DVB-T USB thingamy as part of a bundle (yes - I know they're owned by BT these days)
Requires: WinXP, 1.0Ghz processor, 20GB free disk capacity recommended and a CD-ROM
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 11:57 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Picture? #
I only looked at this story for the picture of the women using the Eee Pc on the beach. I'm disappointed..... :-(
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:16 GMT
Neil
@AC #
Perhaps she hasnt upgraded to the 900 yet?
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:16 GMT
Phil
iWork on Linux? #
I don't think so. Try Mac OS X.
Sloppy...
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:16 GMT
dervheid
D'OH! #
& double D'OH!
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:29 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Re: Dabs offer #
To be fair to Dabs, the Pinnacle USB DVB-T devices work under linux as well, so it's not really as stupid as it sounds. They just can't claim linux compatibility because the manufacturer doesn't claim it either (linux drivers were created without their help.)
Why shipping a DVB-T tuner with an Eee is possibly a little stupid is the lack of storage space on the thing, you might get away with running MythTV on it's low spec but you'd not be able to record very much. DVB-T runs at 1-2Gb+ per hour of video.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:29 GMT
DrXym
And the Eee PC already comes with OpenOffice #
You get it as part of the laptop. It's perfectly adequate for home and mobile office needs. Even if you chose to install XP on your Eee PC, you'd be better off installing OpenOffice because it takes up less space.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:29 GMT
Ed
iWork #
Phil, perhaps that might have been sarcasm?
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:59 GMT
Anonymous Coward
@Phil #
Re: iWork on Linux
Erm, iRony?
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:59 GMT
Mark
@Phil - Phil • Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:02 GMT #
Phil: Are you american?
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:59 GMT
Mike
BT - Braindead Tw*ts? #
So, disregarding the fact they're shipping software that won't even work on the machine it's bundled with (no doubt a ploy to get millions of calls to their premium rate helpline), they're charging £86.35 for MS H&S Office. Yet you can get it on eBuyer for £84.79 inc free delivery. Even Nerd World is only charging a couple of quid more for it.
Nice one, Beattie.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:59 GMT
Richard
RE: iWork - Phil #
Fail.
Paris, because even she stood more of a chance of getting the joke.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:59 GMT
DAN*tastik
I am a bit lost here #
BT is offering an Asus thingie which is not bundled with a pic of the blond chick?
Or is it just that El Reg forgot to put it in the article?
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:59 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Prehaps they are also shipping crossover office? #
The product from http://www.codeweavers.com/ is actually very good, and allows MS office to run on Linux, and would add £39.99 to the savings.
Many users would not care that it was included, as long as office 'just worked'
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 14:53 GMT
Wonderkid
OpenOffice comes on the Linux EEE PC! #
Why is anyone bothering with MS Office, or MS at all now? Surely a lower cost open source solution is a better business proposition? I'm managing on my EEE PC 7" with OpenOffice(.org).
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 14:53 GMT
Jamie
Dear Editor #
Could you please rewrite the article and make it more pertinent to the sites IT geeks by putting the picture of the beach babe back in there, even if it is done through a link.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 14:53 GMT
Joseph Haig
@AC (re Prehaps they are also shipping crossover office?) #
I thought the same, but as far as I know Crossover Office doesn't work too well with .Net applications, including more recent versions of Office. Microsoft Office 2007, which is what is shown in the picture, is "known not to work" according to Codeweaver's compatibility chart.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 14:53 GMT
Joe
@ Phil (in case he misses all the others) #
You superfail!
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 15:02 GMT
Julian Bond
Just works #
"Office 'just worked'". Ho Ho! Shurely shome mishtake here.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 15:02 GMT
Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
@all #
Ask and ye shall receive...
Story now updated with picture of typical Eee user.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 17:28 GMT
Anonymous Coward
OS/2 Fever beats BT by about 13 years #
Back in the mid-90's I worked at a place I will only refer to as "Chinaman Joe's PC Emporium" to protect the guilty. The jelly-brained owner decided to make a CD of the "best" OS/2 shareware and called it "OS/2 Fever". The CD cover also said "Forget about Windows, use OS/2!" This would have been fine if it wasn't for the Windows compatible logo on the cover and the fact that it depended on running a DOS batch file to start a 16 bit Windows installation/menu program to install the OS/2 software.
Paris, because she's 3 times smarter than my old boss. And better looking.
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 17:28 GMT
A J Stiles
@ AC #
"To be fair to Dabs, the Pinnacle USB DVB-T devices work under linux as well, so it's not really as stupid as it sounds. They just can't claim linux compatibility because the manufacturer doesn't claim it either (linux drivers were created without their help.)"
Since the drivers end up forming part of the kernel, they have to be released under the GPL, so the manufacturers and vendors certainly *can* claim Linux compatibility (since they have permission to supply the drivers).
OTOH, I would not put it past Microsoft to be dissuading hardware manufacturers from admitting to their products working with Linux. That isn't hard to do, if you have a driver approval program which to all intents and purposes can make or break people's ability to sell hardware .....
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 23:25 GMT
spegru
well done bt #
A key beauty of the eee is its price.
So in one go Bt have managed to create a eeepc that now costs more than some full sized laptops! all of them can run openoffice so the question has to be WHY???
At last we see the size of microsoft tax
Basic rate = 8Gb 'hard disk' (20-12Gb) - say £36
higher rate = £86 (422-336)
total - £122
That's about 25% of unnecessary expense!
Don't bother with msft - keep the cash for beer!
spegru
PS. Dropped my eee onto hard pavement the other day. No damage!
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 23:25 GMT
Anonymous Coward
YAY for the chick! #
C'mon, make the chick the official mascot of the eee. Eeeven better, make 'er the mascot of all notebooks under 1 kg. She must 'ave 1 kg per airbag...
I wonder whether she will ever come bundled with the eee... I promise I will buy one.
In other news, brown-shovelers at BT are l33t members of EEDIOTS UNITED. Big deal!
Posted Tuesday 29th April 2008 23:35 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Re @ AC #
You might want to re-read what I said. I said Dabs can't claim linux support if the manufacturers don't, reasons for this include the support/liability resting with Dabs if doesn't actually work, they won't take that risk.
Of course the manufacturers are free to make the claim but they don't. I'd guess they would be hesitant to do so unless they were sure that it worked well enough and that they wouldn't have to train support staff in linux. Many companies are happy to cooperate with development of linux drivers, but few of them advertise linux support since they would then be obligated to offer technical support to customers. This is an additional cost they can avoid by letting the linux community support users instead.
Posted Wednesday 30th April 2008 07:21 GMT
Captain DaFt
Of course Office "Just Works"! #
As long as you bear in mind that "just" can be a synonym for "barely".
Posted Wednesday 30th April 2008 08:10 GMT
Karl Lattimer
Office works great on Linux! #
http://wine-review.blogspot.com/2008/03/office-2007-on-linux-with-wine-install.html
http://wine-review.blogspot.com/2008/03/microsoft-office-2007-update.html
Well, its not 100% out of the boxable, but it does work...
So this implies BT are offering commercial support for wine :)
(especially for you phil)
/sarcasm
Posted Wednesday 30th April 2008 08:44 GMT
Art Kavanagh
Silly of me #
It took me a while but I think I understand why this BT offer is attracting such ridicule.
1. Most people who might buy an Eee PC will already have at least one other computer but very few of these will be Windows boxes.
2. Nobody who's tried OpenOffice on an Eee could possibly think that that other Office had anything useful to offer, could they?
Posted Wednesday 30th April 2008 11:14 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Hands Up a mistake #
Well spotted Reg, this is a genuine mistake by our PM team who should have ticked the Asus box out of the bundle deal. We've taken it from the site now for Linux based notebooks.
Thanks for spotting and everyones comments.
Jonathan
BT Shop
Posted Wednesday 30th April 2008 11:49 GMT
SpitefulGOD
Picture #
Is that camera superimposed?
Posted Wednesday 30th April 2008 13:14 GMT
mememe
Shocked #
A mistake by BT - I'm shocked, really shocked!
Posted Saturday 3rd May 2008 21:20 GMT
Steve Oliver
@Hands Up a mistake #
Hmmm, I wish you'd admit that getting into bed with Phorm is a mistake....
This topic is closed for new posts.