EU okays IBM's $34 bn buyout of Red Hat

France24 –AFP, 27 June 2019

IBM's tie-up with Red Hat will be one of the biggest tech mergers ever
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Brussels (AFP) - The EU's powerful anti-trust authority on Thursday cleared the buyout by IBM of open source software company Red Hat, one of the biggest tech mergers in history which the computing giant said would enhance its cloud offerings.

"The European Commission has approved unconditionally ... the proposed acquisition of Red Hat by IBM, both information technology companies based in the US," a statement from the EU executive said.

"The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns," it added.

The commission, the guardian of competition in the EU, took very little time to authorise the operation and has not demanded any concessions from the companies.

If approved by authorities worldwide, the tie-up will be the third biggest tech merger in history, according to CNBC. Red Hat said it was the biggest involving a software company.

Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing services over the internet, including storage and software, and is considered fundamental to a highly connected world.

The EU's anti-trust teams have taken close looks at tech mergers, including Facebook's buyout of WhatsApp, in which the social network was fined in 2017 for failing to provide correct information.

Brussels' bans on mergers are extremely rare: since the arrival of European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager at the end of 2014, there have only been six.

Once known primarily for its computer hardware, IBM has made cloud computing a priority in its growth strategy, like Amazon and Microsoft.

Red Hat will continue to operate as a separate unit led by its current management team.

Founded in 1993, Red Hat launched its famous version of Linux OS a year later, becoming a pioneering proponent of the open source movement that arose to counter giants like Microsoft whose models were based on keeping their source code secret.

The Raleigh, North Carolina based company is today present in 35 countries and employs some 12,000 people, and is one of the best-known open-source players whose customers pay for tailor-made solutions.

Vladimir Putin Orders Russian Government to Switch to Free Software by 2015

Mashable, Dec 2010

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a government order that lays out the groundwork for the transition of federal bodies and agencies to use free software, including Linux, by 2015.

The 25-point document (available here) outlines specific steps the government must take in order to move off proprietary software and onto free and/or open source alternatives like Linux. The government order was approved on December 17 and affects all federal agencies of the federal budget.

Each point of the document names the specific action that must be taken, the agency responsible for implementing that order, the time frame for implementation, and the expected result. For example, one point instructs Russia’s Ministry of Communications to form “the base package of free software solutions for typical problems of the federal executive bodies,” with the expected result a free package of software that includes operating systems, drivers and application software for servers.

Another order calls for “creating and maintaining a single repository of free software used in the federal bodies of executive power,” while another requires “the development of departmental plans to move to the use of free software, including plans for transition of subordinate budget institutions.” The final order, to be implemented in Q3 2015, calls for “preparation of the draft orders of the Government of the Russian Federation on the adoption of a phased introduction of free software for the next planning period.”

Russia has been moving in the direction of free software for the past few years. In 2008, the government ordered schools to implement free software packages in all of its computers. Schools that now want to use proprietary software have to pay for it out of their own pockets.

[Source: CNews via Open...]

North Korean Red Star operating system details emerge

North Korea has heavy state censors and few citizens have internet access

BBC News

Details of a home-grown computer operating system developed by North Korea have emerged.

It is the first time details of the software, known as Red Start and thought to have been developed in 2002, have been scrutinised or made public.

A Russian blogger who studies in North Korea said Red Star is now available for purchase in the Korean capital.

The Russian blogger, identified only as Mikhail, said Red Star could be bought in Pyongyang for around $5.

Analysis run on the operating system by the Science and Technology Policy Institute in neighbouring South Korea said it has features aimed at monitoring user activity.

It was designed "to control [North Korea's] own information security", the report said.

"Due to few applicable programmes available, Red Star will not even by easily distributed in North Korea," it added.

Web content in Korea is already heavily censored and very few North Koreans own a computer or have internet access.

Pigeon mail

The report also said that North Korea has launched a cyber-war unit that targets sites in South Korea and the US.

In July last year South Korea experienced a wave of cyber-attacks which attempted to paralyse a number of websites. US websites including the Pentagon and the White House were also targeted.

Reports suggested that the attacks might have originated in North Korea.

The operating system represents the determination of North Korea to advance its own computer technology, based on its "Juche" self-reliance philosophy.

The Red Star operating system uses a popular Korean folk song as its start-up music and numbers years using a calendar which starts counting from the birth of state founder Kim Il-sung.

It is Linux-based but is heavily influenced by Microsoft with versions of the software giant's Office programmes.

It runs only in the Korean language and takes 15 minutes to install.

It has games, an e-mail system known as Pigeon and an internet browser believed to be a copy of Mozilla's Firefox - which has the North Korean government website as a home page.

The US government has banned the uploading and downloading of open source code to residents of a handful of countries on its sanctions list, which includes North Korea.

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Laptop for every pupil in Uruguay

BBC News, By Verónica Psetizki, Montevideo, Uruguay

362,000 pupils in Uruguay now have the distinctive laptops.

Uruguay has become the first country to provide a laptop for every child attending state primary school.

President Tabaré Vázquez presented the final XO model laptops to pupils at a school in Montevideo on 13 October.

Over the last two years 362,000 pupils and 18,000 teachers have been involved in the scheme.

The "Plan Ceibal" (Education Connect) project has allowed many families access to the world of computers and the internet for the first time.

Uruguay is part of the One Laptop Per Child scheme, an organisation set up by internet pioneer Nicholas Negroponte. His original vision was to provide laptops at $100 (£61) but they proved more expensive.

The Uruguay programme has cost the state $260 (£159) per child, including maintenance costs, equipment repairs, training for the teachers and internet connection.

The total figure represents less than 5% of the country's education budget.

Around 70% of the XO model laptops handed out by the government were given to children who did not have computers at home.

"This is not simply the handing out of laptops or an education programme. It is a programme which seeks to reduce the gap between the digital world and the world of knowledge," explained Miguel Brechner, director of the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay and in charge of Plan Ceibal.

"A revolution"

In the run up to Uruguay's general election on 25 October, the project is being promoted as an achievement of the Tabaré Vázquez government.

"It's been a revolution, which has helped us enormously, but it hasn't been easy," explained Lourdes Bardino, head teacher of School 173 in Las Piedras.

Ms Bardino said that some teachers were originally opposed to the introduction of the XO laptops.

"We have a lady who's been teaching for 30 years and when they gave us the computers and the training, she asked for leave because she didn't want to have anything to do with the programme. Later she changed her mind and now computers have changed the way she teaches."

All the teachers have been given training, but the extent to which they use the laptops in the classroom is up to them.

Research carried out recently by the State Education authorities revealed that some teachers have chosen not to include computer-related work in their lesson plans.

Costs and criticisms

The laptops have an open source Linux operating system with a user interface called Sugar. It has attracted some criticism from detractors for not being mainstream.

However Mr Brechner believes that children should learn computer skills regardless of the software available. Blind children were being taught on a Microsoft Windows operating system, he said.

The annual cost of maintaining the programme, including an information portal for pupils and teachers, will be US$21 (£13) per child.

The future

Now that all the schoolchildren have their computers, the authorities say that they will endeavour keep the schools connected, particularly those in rural areas, where many still do not have internet access.

There are plans to extend the scheme to secondary schools and pre-school children next year.

Organisers of the Plan Ceibal have set up a consultancy in order to advise other countries wishing to replicate the Uruguayan experience.

Mr Brechner said that Rwanda, Haiti, El Salvador, Paraguay, some provinces in Argentina and Colombia have been in touch although they have not yet decided to contract their services.

"We would help them with tenders, planning, evaluation, which software to use, how to spread the word, training, all the "know how" we have developed. We don't have a manual. It´s a culture shock scenario - many countries are simply too scared to put it into practice."

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PC Shipments to Decline Through 2009

PCWorld, Zack Stern | Friday, March 06, 2009 1:44 PM PST 

PC shipments will continue to fall through 2009, according to analyst group, IDC. The group estimates that for the full year, numbers will be down 4.5 percent versus 2008, with a whopping 8 percent decline in just the first half of 2009. To which I say, it's about time. 

The PC hardware upgrade cycle has always frustrated me. Yes, new software often drives the requirement for new hardware. That relationship was clear in the beginning of the decade, with every PC transitioning to a video-editing, media-capable system. Games have always driven hardware upgrades. As graphics and AI get more realistic, games naturally demand more computing power. 

But for business use, hardware upgrades often superfluous. Will I need a new system to run the next version of Office? If so, why? Is the spell checker going to add so many new abilities that it'll justify new hardware? 

This forced hardware lifespan extension is a silver lining to economic instability. Business should take back their machines, adding RAM, hard drives, and other updates instead of blindly replacing systems. And you can even use an old PC in other, less-demanding ways; set it up as a Linux server. 

Hopefully hardware companies will react to declining sales. IDC says the netbook market is expanding, projecting twice as many sales this year as last. These light laptops are appealing because they handle basic tasks--email, web, productivity software--on a budget. That might be all your business needs. 

Software companies are critical to extend the hardware life-cycle. They need to keep lowering requirements to hit more systems. Even Microsoft, ever-conscious of driving hardware growth for its partners, might begin releasing less demanding software. Hopefully Windows Server Foundation Edition is a beginning step. 

Even without the economic necessity to hang onto hardware longer, the rise of web applications adds even more life to an old system. Cloud computing can offload heavy system requirements so a PC needs only basic abilities: input devices, an Internet connection, and only limited video and computing power. 

Businesses should think twice before tossing an old PC. Software developers will find more customers by catering to a PC's second act, and businesses will save on hardware costs.

Android OS running on netbooks

By Doug Aamoth, CrunchGear,  on January 2, 2009
 

Taking a tip from a Google developer who claimed to have Android running on an older Asus Eee 701, Daniel Hartmann over at VentureBeat.com got Android up and running on an Asus Eee 1000H in about four hours. Geez, that was easy, huh? 

The ease at which the Android OS was able to be installed on a computer shouldn’t be too surprising, as Android itself is Linux-based, and it also underscores Google’s goal of getting Android onto more than just mobile phones. 

Apparently VentureBeat had a few problems with the sound and networking at first but after that, everything came together pretty smoothly. The screen automatically resized to fit the Eee’s larger resolution and the web browser worked just fine. There’s no Android Market on the open source version of the code but other than that, everything else seems to be the same as what you’d find on an Android phone. 

Says VentureBeat: 

• Overall, we’re impressed with the relative ease of the compilation. Android code is very “portable” and neat. Many observers, specifically Symbian supporters, have opined that Android would have problems because of its “open source” nature, leading to “chaotic code” and tendency toward disintegration as developers take the OS in different directions. If true, that could give more controlled OS’s like Symbian, not to mention the iPhone’s, an advantage. Based on our experience with Android, we don’t see that danger mid-term.
  

Hmm. Making things easier on developers. What a concept! That just might result in more widespread adoption of an operating system. It’ll be really interesting to see if and when Android turns up preloaded on netbooks as opposed to a custom-built Linux OS like you’d find on current-day machines. VentureBeat guesses it’ll be 2010, although I could see some smaller, more nimble companies loading it up this year already.

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IBM Drops Two Bombs on Microsoft

Seeking Alpha, Joe Panettieri,   December 05, 2008   

More than a decade after IBM’s (IBM) OS/2 lost the corporate desktop wars to Windows, Big Blue is back. And this time, IBM is aiming to knock Microsoft (MSFT) Windows AND Microsoft Office off of corporate desktops. 

The strategy involves a partnership with Canonical (maker of Ubuntu Linux) and Virtual Bridges (a virtualization software company). The trio has developed a "virtualized" Linux release -- complete with productivity applications. The software system costs a scant $49.00 (US) per user for 1,000-user deployments. Prices fall further if customers buy in greater bulk. 

Moves like this have got to drive the folks in Microsoft crazy. The old per-seat PC Windows tax is on its death bed, folks. 

• In the consumer market, low-cost Ubuntu Netbooks (from Dell and others) are putting the squeeze on Microsoft Windows margins. 
  
• In the corporate market, thin clients from folks like Wyse and Novell (NOVL) are selling fast, and Novell’s year-over-year Linux sales are up more than 30 percent. 
  
• And now again in the corporate market, IBM is changing the rules of the game by placing all the horsepower on servers that deliver virtualized Ubuntu to corporate deskops. 
  

And it’s not just an attack on Windows. Remember, the $49.00 price point also includes Lotus Symphony productivity applications that compete with Microsoft Office. 

Will all businesses switch to virtual and physical Linux desktops? Certainly not. But some will certainly give IBM’s pitch a try. 

Microsoft Windows' market share recently fell below the 90% mark, according to The Raw Feed, a gadget blog I follow closely. (Full disclosure: I used to work with The Raw Feed's editor, Mike Elgan.) 

Are we looking at 85% market share for Microsoft Windows within three years? I sure think so. And even Red Hat (RHT), our resident blogger believes, must be starting to wonder if they should have found more aggressive or progressive ways to promote Linux desktops. 

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A hands-on preview of Windows 7

Microsoft has released an early preview copy of its new operating system, Windows 7.

BBC 

The release follows in the wake of Vista, which has been subject to fierce criticism from a number of users. 

When Vista launched in January 2007, many complained that it ran slowly and failed to work at all with some programs and devices. 

Corporate customers have been slow to switch from Windows XP to Vista, although Microsoft said that the operating system had an unfair press, and that it enjoyed record sales. 

Despite this Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP so PC makers can continue selling it to those that do not want to upgrade. 

Windows Vista took more than five years to develop but Windows 7 is likely to arrive within a couple of years. 

Microsoft's VP, Steven Sinofsky, described Windows 7 as an "exciting new version" and claimed it would deliver a more personalised experience. 

With Windows 7, Microsoft has added a range of new functions including: 

• A new taskbar to give more rapid access to files and programs.
  
• A feature called HomeGroup, allowing users easy sharing of data across PCs and other devices in the home.
  
• Support for devices such as cameras, printers, and mobile phones with a product called Device Stage offering a single window to manage tasks for each device.
  
• Windows Touch - software for touch screen devices that enables users to use different gestures to perform tasks.
  
• Improvements to some applications, such as MS Paint, and Calculator.

Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie said Windows 7 would be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. 

The new operating system is scheduled for release in 2010 and the advance code still had limited functionality. A widely released public trial, or beta, version is expected to be available in early 2009. 

To test Microsoft's claims BBC News gave a copy of the early version of Windows 7 to Alex Watson, editor of Custom PC. 

The early version made a good impression on Mr Watson, who described it as "quick, snappy, and reliable". 

Uphill struggle

Given the popularity of Windows XP and the plethora of issues that came with the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft may have a tough job persuading users to upgrade - noted Kelvyn Taylor, editor of Personal Computer World. 

"The problem is that they [Microsoft] have to overcome the damage - perception wise at least - that Windows Vista caused. And that will be an uphill struggle. 

"People are comfortable with XP, so there will have to be something significant in Windows 7 to persuade people to migrate over, " he said. 

"Pricing, response time, and reliability are all issues that will need to be addressed. If Microsoft do that, then they're in with half a chance. Otherwise Windows 7 will end up as little more than Vista 2 Mark II."

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Open-source ERP grows up

Open source is picking up momentum in the ERP market because of its flexibility and relatively low cost

Infoworld.com, By Robert Lemos, CIO.com, April 22, 2008 

Can open-source software find a home in mission-critical systems? Based on momentum in the open-source ERP (enterprise resource planning ) market, it's starting to look that way, particularly for IT leaders at midmarket and smaller enterprises.

While ERP systems are the heart and soul of the modern business, they've also been an IT bogeyman for the past decade. The software requires long and expensive customizations to fit the business processes of specific industries and companies. Tales of late, costly rollouts haunt IT managers looking to upgrade the way their companies currently do business. Recently, garbage-hauling giant Waste Management filed a lawsuit against enterprise-software maker SAP for $100 million to cover the cost of its failed ERP implementation.

The problem has lingered since the 1990s: In 1997, Nestle USA embarked on an ERP project that took more than six years and $200 million; the company originally intended to spend the same amount on rolling out the system to all offices internationally.

Even when rollouts are done, enterprises find themselves locked into costly licensing and maintenance agreements in a market without much price pressure dominated by two main vendors, Oracle and SAP.

Enter open-source software. Popularized by the growth of the Linux operating system, open-source software allows anyone to view and audit the source code and customize the software. ERP systems require a great deal of customization, making open source a seemingly ideal approach. Companies also appreciate the ability to audit the code that runs their critical systems.

In 2007, former CIO of Capital One Gregor Bailar told attendees at CIO's CIO-08 The Year Ahead conference that he was excited by the potential of open-source ERP systems: "I'd love to have an open-source ERP system that would just wail on what we have," Bailar said.

For small- and medium-sized businesses, the lower cost of open-source ERP systems is often the major selling point, initially. This was the case for frozen food maker Cedarlane. Going with an ERP system created by xTuple (formerly OpenMFG) saved the company "a couple of hundred thousands dollars" from the get-go, says IT director Daniel Baroco. To convince the company's owner to move the company to an ERP system, there needed to be little up front cost for the then-$40-million business, he says.

"You couldn't even put on the table that we were going to invest a million dollars in technology," Baroco said. "For emotional reasons, more than anything."

The impact of the system is obvious today, he says. The company has grown its revenues to $600 million, from $40 million, and the amount of paperwork created to fulfill orders has dropped significantly. In 2004, workers typically had to fill out 1,000 invoices per day, sometimes creating three invoices for the same order. Today, the company has reduced that number to 400 and can track food wastage; that's data it didn't have in 2004.

"I was really undereducated in the open-source thing at the time," Baroco said. "I became a fan of open-source because of this."

Small and midmarket businesses, such as Cedarlane, are the best prospects for open-source ERP implementations, says Ned Lilly, CEO of xTuple.

"The sweet spot for us is the $20 million to $50 million company that is hitting their head on the ceiling of trying to work on QuickBooks," Lilly says.

Lilly does not expect to convert many customers of traditional leaders such as SAP and Oracle, but for smaller companies that are worried about cost and the complexity of traditional implementations, open-source solutions are becoming a clear choice, he says.

Read more ....

No Recession at Red Hat

By STEVE LOHR, The New York Times

Red Hat, the Linux software company, gave a nice welcome present Thursday to its new chief executive, James Whitehurst.

The company, which distributes Linux and other open-source software, reported that its quarterly sales grew 27 percent and earnings slightly surpassed analysts’ consensus estimate. The company also presented an upbeat outlook for its just-started fiscal year, predicting growth of another 30 percent. In after-hours trading, Red Hat shares rose nearly 5 percent.

Red Hat, based in Raleigh, N.C., has done the difficult — built a solid, profitable business around open-source software. It charges its corporate customers yearly subscriptions for its flavor of the Linux operating system along with technical support and training. For its current fiscal year, ending in March 2009, Red Hat expects sales to reach $665 million to $680 million, above Wall Street projections, while earnings per share should rise to 78 cents to 82 cents. The per-share number is a bit below the consensus estimate, but that is more than explained by Red Hat’s assumption that in a recessionary environment, interest rates will fall further, reducing the income on the $1 billion in cash the company is sitting on.

Mr. Whitehurst, who joined the company in January, said that in a recession Red Hat should continue to gain ground, since open-source software is regarded by many corporate customers as a lower-cost alternative to proprietary products.

Red Hat has now established itself as a strong player in the corporate software market. For a year, Oracle has tried to undercut Red Hat by offering a similar version of Linux and charging less for technical support. But it has made scant progress to date.

Red Hat certifies that 4,000 different software applications run on its brand of Linux and has worked closely for years with all the significant hardware vendors. “There’s a network effect there,” Mr. Whitehurst said in an interview. “Oracle doesn’t have the ecosystem.”

Nor does anyone else have that kind of Linux-based ecosystem. It could look attractive to enterprise software companies that increasingly seek to offer corporate customers several layers in the so-called software stack — an operating system, middleware, perhaps a database and applications too. If the Red Hat ecosystem is valuable, it would also not be too expensive at current prices. Its market capitalization is $3.4 billion, a price tag that would be reduced substantially by that $1 billion in cash.

Oracle, Sun Microsystems, I.B.M., EMC (parent of VMware) and even Google have been rumored as possible suitors. The recent flurry, to be sure, is but the most recent round of rumors about Red Hat.

It is flattering to be mentioned, Mr. Whitehurst said, but he noted that corporate customers and the industry benefit from what he called Red Hat’s “Switzerland status” — not being a province of one of the major powers in the technology industry.

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IBM, allies offer Microsoft-free PCs for E.Europe

Tue Mar 4, 2008 5:00am EST

HANOVER, Germany, March 4 (Reuters) - IBM has teamed up with partners in Austria and Poland to offer Microsoft-free (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) personal computers for the eastern European market, IBM said in a statement on Tuesday.

International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said it was offering the PCs based on the open-source Linux operating system together with Red Hat (RHT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) software distributor VDEL of Austria and Polish distributor and services firm LX Polska in response to demand from Russian IT chiefs.

The PCs will include IBM's Lotus Symphony software based on the Open Document Format, a rival format to Microsoft's Office Open XML document format, which the latter is trying to get adopted as an ISO internationally approved standard.

IBM, which has sold its PC business to China's Lenovo (0992.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), said the hardware would be made by partners of VDEL and LX Polska.

Russia, where many large corporations and public-service bodies are building large computer systems for the first time, is emerging as a key battleground between Microsoft and rivals offering open-source alternatives.

Microsoft is active in IT education campaigns in Russia and last month signed a deal with MTS (MBT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Russia's largest mobile phone operator, to offer services and cut-price laptops installed with its Vista operating system for small businesses.

IBM said the Linux PC line it would offer with VDEL and LX Polska, called Open Referent, would cut desktop computing costs for buyers by up to half.

It said chief information officers from Russian organisations including the Ministry of Defence, airline Aeroflot (AFLT.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) and private bank Alfa Bank had been among those who had requested an open-source PC.

An IBM spokesman declined to give any sales forecasts on behalf of its partners.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by David Holmes)

Google Android phones make debut

BBC News

The first mobile phones to be loaded with Google's Android software for mobile phones have gone on show.

About a dozen companies such as ARM, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm showed off prototype handsets at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The free software system was launched in November 2007 and is being developed by an alliance of more than 30 companies including Google.

Google has launched an open operating system for mobile phones, called Android. It has also formed an Open Handset Alliance with 33 partners, promising "better, cheaper" mobile phones.

The first Android-enabled phone is expected to go on sale later this year.

One firm showing off a prototype phone was the UK processor designer ARM.

"It's really is a demonstration vehicle rather than a full phone," Ian Drew of ARM told BBC News.

However, he said the wireless phone did show off several applications.

"What we are demonstrating on the Android platform is maps, browser, camera applications, multimedia, e-mail, and calendar - basically everything you'd expect on a mobile phone."

Open world

The Google Android platform is based on open source Linux software that allows developers access to the underlying code.

This allows programmers much greater flexibility to build applications and features tailored to individual phones.

Other companies also showed off Android prototypes such as Marvell, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, NEC and ST Microelectronics.

Korean handset manufacturer Samsung has also said it hopes to have a phone based on Android by early next year.

Android was not the only Linux platform making waves in Barcelona.

The Mobile Linux foundation said that 18 phones from seven different firms would be demonstrated at 3GSM using its Limo software.

LG and Samsung were amongst handset manufacturers showing off Limo devices.

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Review: Eee Laptop PC Shreds the Rules

Review: Eee Laptop PC From Taiwan Is Quick, Easy to Use and Ultra Small, Lightweight

Yahoo Finance, Thursday January 10, 1:15 pm ET

By Daniel Sorid, Associated Press Writer

Taiwanese computer parts maker Asus obviously didn't get the memo.

Didn't Asus know notebook computers need hard drives? Or that they're supposed to run Windows -- and the pre-loaded software must bloat the boot-up process to the length of a long weekend? Don't they know you don't just go selling laptops for less than $750 -- let alone $400 -- unless the hardware has been aged like whisky?

Asustek Computers Inc. went ahead and broke the rules with the Eee PC. And we should all be thankful.

A scrappy, aggressively priced two-pound notebook with a surprisingly broad set of features, Eee is a no-brainer purchase for tech-savvy travelers who want to downsize their luggage at low cost. It also makes a great gift, at least as practical as Apple Inc.'s iPhone and about the same price.

In the month I've owned an Eee, I've used it to watch movies on an airplane, read my favorite blogs and news articles -- archived automatically -- and update my online calendar while on the road. Its quick boot-up has made it perfect for writing quick e-mails (and this review) whenever I had a moment of inspiration.

I'm not tossing my larger notebook computer, which I'll continue to use for editing photos and for other tasks that feel constrained on the Eee PC's tiny, 5-inch screen. But it's hard not to be impressed with a full-service laptop light enough to be carried along with sunscreen and a magazine in a flimsy plastic bag, as I did during a recent trip to Cancun.

As it refines the software and instructions, Asus -- better known as the world's largest maker of computer motherboards -- could garner a following among mainstream computer users who right now might be puzzled by some of the eccentricities of Linux.

The $400, seven-inch Eee PC is a new entrant in a fast-growing market for ultra-portable PCs. All such computers, including the Eee, require sacrifices. Its keys may seem painfully small. For people used to a desktop or a standard notebook, its screen makes you feel like you've just moved from a McMansion into a studio apartment. (Tricks for maximizing screen real estate when Web surfing can be found on the helpful user forum, Eeeuser.com.)

Unencumbered by Windows, the Eee boots up so quickly I didn't bother counting the seconds. Its Wi-Fi chip links with the Web in a flash, and its webcam -- a feature missing from many laptops triple the price -- turns it into a video messaging device with the help of eBay Inc.'s Skype, which comes pre-loaded. There are USB ports for peripherals, a port to connect to a monitor, and -- most essential -- a flash memory slot to expand its meager storage. Battery life is advertised at 3.5 hours.

The Eee's custom version of the Linux operating system has a simple user interface that takes some getting used to. It organizes the software by tabs -- Internet, Work, Learn and Play -- but many users on the Eee forum dislike its look. An upgrade to a more familiar, Windows-like interface is available in "advanced" mode, which can be activated with a few minutes of careful programming. (But you'll do that at your peril. On my second day, a badly written command crashed my system. I had to reinstall the original software.)

The Firefox Web browser, Adobe Acrobat Reader and OpenOffice -- the open-source equivalent to Microsoft Corp.'s Office -- come pre-installed, as do a music player, a video recorder and some addictive games. Google Docs -- an online document suite for storing files remotely and sharing them -- is also configured.

Links to Yahoo Mail, Gmail and other e-mail programs are already on the desktop. A messaging program called Pidgin worked with AOL Instant Messenger and Google Talk. Skype, the voice and video calling program, also worked well when I called home from the international airport in Hong Kong.

Users willing to learn a few Linux commands can add the Picasa photo sharing program, Google Earth and Audacity, a free audio editing program beloved by bloggers.

The Eee runs quickly, despite a low-power processor. A disk drive made of memory chips is fully functional, but the four gigabytes installed on my model was insufficient for my needs. A memory card I purchased separately for around $30 doubled the space. Its software package leverages recent advancements in open source and online software. It may be hard to believe, but you won't miss Microsoft Word, or Windows, for long.

While much of the computing world was focused on Windows Vista (or spending hours trying to navigate its upgrade process), big software companies were releasing new and upgraded versions of familiar software packages for Linux.

The Eee can be retrained to run Windows. But it can feel like a major commitment. Asus's exhaustive instructions include a 12-step installation, a four-step "optimizing" process and another 25 steps to get the operating system to play nice with the Eee. (I'm thinking of giving my friends copies of one of the instructions, "Deleting unnecessary Windows components.")

The Eee is not easy to find. At a large Manhattan computer store in November, a clerk told me the store was out of stock. And why wouldn't he? If a $400 PC sat next to higher-priced competitors on the shelf, would so many people spend $2,000? I made him check the store's inventory in front of me, and there were more than 40 Eees in stock.

Asus, in fact, may have gotten the memo -- and shredded it. Even if this Linux PC doesn't become a mainstream hit, rivals are certainly taking notes.

The Asus Eee.