Quote:
Are Netbooks a market where PowerPC can work
in? Maybe, if some Flashplayer and working
Java is released, and it works with the sites
people visit. I have said this too many times
before.
OK, Netbooks. They will most likely be this
year's Christmas gift of the year in Sweden,
and I'm sure they sell like crazy in your
country as well.
These are all x86-based. I see no problems with
Linux-based PowerPC netbooks as long as they
fulfill the web requirements of today.
MorphOS does not fullfill these requirements.
Netbooks demonstrate that the OS doesn't matter too much. I have an Eee 900a myself. These devices sell like hot cakes,
but IMO Xandros sucks way more than MorphOS on the Efika. Generally it feels rather slow and apps crash like crazy, the mouse pointer oftenly is stuttering, sometimes it gets lost completely,
and the list goes on... The only good thing is it crashes very rarely with a hard lock.
But if I compare this Xandros thing on an Intel Atom with my Efika 5200 running MorphOS, I'd say useability is more or less en par.
Long story short: The Eee is full of flaws (but best in town I guess and is nice anyway) and still it sells like crazy.
A 8610 or 5121 based device would of course have the chance to be bought in major quantities (given a competetive retail price).
Surely Linux as OS would be the simple/safe way, but I truely believe MorphOS can do it, too.
If firefox crashes alone or Sputnik locks the entire maschine, doesn't matter too much on such a device. Usually, you don't do heavy multitasking on those things, where a system crash would be really unpleasant.
And since I know this awfully configured Xandros Eee UI I'd say that e.g. even the lack of flash can be compensated partially. MorphOS' every day useability is higher than many ppl think. The Xandros Eee UI comes with many preconfirgured icons that only are some website shortcuts or presets. No flash in Sputnik, but wanna use youtube - just click the youtube icon that launches Tubexx - and there you go.
Sure, not everything can be compensated, but *no* computer offers everything.
Win has to struggle with all these malware things, OS X needs loads of resources, Linux is not easy to maintain if you're not an expert (had serious probs to join the university WLAN (PEAP)) (just recalling the clichees here).
On every system there are pros and cons. With MorphOS it is just the same. It lacks many things, but it has its unique offerings (fast and relatively easy, very good UI).