Michael Dolan Dot Com

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Acer is betting big on Linux for portables

It looks like Acer is going big for Linux in its portables lineup. This is great news and offers greater options. The big question is when will ISVs start porting their commercial apps over… come on Adobe - it’s time for CS5 to support Linux!

Acer describes its 3 motivations as follows:

“We have shifted towards Linux because of Microsoft,” he said. “Microsoft has a lot of power and it is going to be difficult, but we will be working hard to develop the Linux market.”

Acer sees two killer apps with Linux on computers: operation and cost. Its flavour of Linux will boot in 15 seconds compared to minutes for Windows, and the open source operating system can extend battery life from five to seven hours.

At the same time, the company expects that the price differential of Linux will make the offering attractive for consumers at the low-cost end of the market.