[kwlug-disc] Apple Rocks! No linux tablets?

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 8:52 PM, Insurance Squared Inc. <
gcooke at insurancesquared.com> wrote:

> I just bought an  Apple Ipad, and my son put the Apple sticker on the back
> bumper of his ATV.  So I guess I'm kicked out of this group now too (sigh.
>  kicked out of ANOTHER group).
>
> The Ipad is seriously cool, and has some stuff I love.  There's a billion
> apps.  1980's Galaga and Pac Man.  I'd have bought it just for that.
>  Webmail that works way better than my blackberry.  Point it at the sky and
> it'll show you the star map directly in your line  of sight  behind the ipad
> (this is seriously cool).  And I've been trying to get the globe and mail
> delivered in New hamburg for 5 years to no avail - now I get it on my ipad
> every day with breakfast.  I'm buying apps by the bucket.  I was a sceptic
> (I'm not an early adopter) but now I'm a fan.
>
> But now I owe my soul to the company store - Steve Job's corporate Itunes
> app store.  $1.99 here, $4.99 there.  (though in their defence, they're
> doing a super job despite being entirely closed with no competition).
>
> Is there nothing out yet at this level of tablet computers for linux?  I
> know I read somewhere that there's some sort of tablet based linux OS but
> nothing in common use?  This technology seems perfect for linux.
> Opensource apps, possibilty of OSS developers making some money, private app
> stores competing for business, the fact that linux's front end is discrete
> from the backend, so it should be relatively easy to get a tablet version
> into production.  It's screaming for an open platform.  Really - who the
> heck provides a computer with 32gigs, charges $800 for it and won't even let
> you upgrade?
>
> But nothing for linux?  Anything coming down the pipes?  Or is this still a
> fizzle like it is for MS so far? Am I going to be able to make my next
> tablet computer a linux machine that's as cool as my ipad?
>

Some Android tablets in the pipline

http://baheyeldin.com/android/android-tablets-reach-market-provide-competition-ipad.html

As with the Android phone market, there is some fragmentation, not the tight
control that Apple imposes (for good or for ill) on the whole user
experience
from hardware, to operating system to user interface to applications.

Also having a single company pushing a unified set of products works better
in situations like this (consumer adoption).

There is as well the Archos 5 and 7 seem OK, and they run some version of
Linux.

There are a few other ones from Taiwan/China as well (Linux but not
Android).
-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
http://2bits.com
Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci
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