Comments on: Aspire One: Victorian Education Discriminating Against Linux?

By: boot

boot — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:25:17 +0000

Acer Aspire One AOD250-1165
This model is fairly new. So it has the usual features, i.e. built in wi-fi, camera, 160 GB drive, etc, etc. This is the 3 hr battery model. I have no idea where Amazon gets their tech specs. We just bought this and the manual states that it comes with 1 GB of RAM, and is upgradeable to 2 GB. It recognized 4 wireless connections in my area the instant it was powered on. So far it’s great for what it was bought for, the internet, small low demand games, music, simple word processing…

By: Pink

Pink — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:23:21 +0000

Acer Aspire One AOD250-1962
I love this netbook. Its small enough that i can take it anywhere but not so

small that i cant see the screen. I adapted very well to the keys that are

smaller and closer together.. and dont have any problems with it. Everything

loads up quickly and the colors are great. The battery does die out rather

quickly but that is why it is good to bring the charger with you when you go

places.. the webcam works nicely too. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is

under a budget and needs a laptop.

By: alan

alan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:43:08 +0000

Acer Aspire One AOA150-1672
Great for pre-teens,
This mini- laptop is great for pre-teens before they ask for a bigger more powerful one. It has all the needed features of a laptop. The only set back I would say it has is ths small keyboard, for those who are used to bigger lap tops or desk tops it is a little uncomfortable until you get used to it.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:46:45 +0000

Great little computer. I have a Mac and I didn’t want to carry it around the house and possible damage it. So this little number is great. Small fits in any bag and great for travel. Great buy for the price. And I love the color.

By: John Nox

John Nox — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:21:35 +0000

a lot of time looking for online information about discounts on software, I am very interested to read this blog, because you want to learn about all software updates! thanks

By: Daniel Jitnah

Daniel Jitnah — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:47:23 +0000

This matter was brought to my attention before. I went home and thought about it. There is no doubt that it appears to be discriminating against Linux at first sight. These costs distortion can have a serious effect on a products’ appeal to a market segment that may notbe very in tune with the products’ merits.

However, the fact is probably that it would not have made a lot of difference on Linux penetration into the education sector, unless the Acer Linux product was **substantially** cheaper than the Acer XP product. And I am not sure that the price difference on the actual retail price (from other commercial vendors) is large enough for that to happen.

The education sector is well and truely locked in with MS at this stage (and at is own peril, and that of our kids also!!) They have too much investment in IT infrastructure to want to move to Linux unless there was a srong incentive, and the price advantage on a Linux Acer aspire is hardly justification enough (even if they bought a few dozens)

HOWEVER if the motivation was strong enough for a school to move to Linux, would there be anything stopping them from buying a XP Acer Aspire 1 and dumping XP and installing Linux on it???? Could the deal explicitly forbid that? – Them there would be a serious problem, because it would then put s very strong obstacle on a school to manage its curriculum offerings.

In fact the school would have a higher spec hardware at a cheaper price, and even have a useless XP license for them to list on the asset register! In fact it will amount to MS in effect subsidising Linux in a School!

This would be possible if there was already an acceptance of the merits and enough competance to manage Linux in Schools, which I believe is a more crucial issue than price distortions here.

And in the above situation it is hard to argue that the Vic Gov is not making a good deal, given that there really is not an alternative deal coming from the Open Source community. I mean here a concrete deal on paper in a proper format that can be taken to a meeting with Vic edu officials at a meeting and negotiated. Has there been such a offering in the past? Could a consortium of Open-Source vendors prepare such a offering/deal in the future?

We still have a bit of gap to bridge here!!

It is matter that has to be debated more and more if only to raise a larger public consciousness on the matter.

Open Source is here to stay.

Cheers
Daniel.

By: Danny

Danny — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:36:17 +0000

The Aspire One was high on my list of netbook candidates, but not if Acer is going to pull this kind of crap. Looks like I’ll be waiting for the Dell.

By: Eruaran

Eruaran — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:32:37 +0000

This is disgusting Brendan. Do you think it will do any good if we complain to the ACCC ?

By: brendanscott

brendanscott — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:02:35 +0000

Robert

I’d be surprised if that covered $156 or even $72. Maybe it does?

Brendan

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:39:47 +0000

They partly get away with it through marketing money from software vendors. For example, 30 days of free virus and anti-spy software. The vendor pays Acer to provide the trial in hopes of selling a future license to the customer. Since, the customer is a school they probably subsidize the cost of the computer because with Linux the school wouldn’t need virus or anti-spy software. In the end it benefits the software vendor and Acer makes a buck either way. The school thinks they are getting a deal until the licensing and maintenance nightmare begins to haunt them.