Many Thanks Guys! Someone needs to take on the 800lb Gorrilla!

I always did like Acer's products. Now I like their management.

WOW! To be honest, I don't like very much Acer's hardware. But if they move to linux... I will advise buying their equipment just for their courage to prove a point! Go go Acer.. I hope you are not just threating MS such that they will make you special discounts...

Thank you so much for going against the grain. Microsoft needs to move and let Linux have a shot at the world computer market.

I can't wait to buy an Acer Linux laptop!

As leading low cost computer provider, i believe Acer should line up products with preinstalled Linux. However, currently Linux distro which is preinstalled Linpus in some Acer products, doesn't seem a better choice for it.

I would prefer Acer preinstalling their pcs with some widely known and better supported( community-wise, or commercially-wise ) such as Opensuse, Fedora, or Ubuntu - which i believe has come a long way providing Linux community and other users with quality Linux distro and desktop solution that could rival the quality of windows , even the latest Vista that so resource hungry.

I myself successfully installed the latest Ubuntu Hardy Heron on my Acer 4290 Laptop and enjoying every moment i booted my laptop in it.

There should be no worry about some software windows user can't leave behind as more and more windows software and games can be run without much hassles via linux's virtualiazation/emulation solutions such as the popular wine(Wine Is Not an Emulator) , and Transgaming platform- Cadega .

What Acer should most probably do now is to make sure that their selection of hardware( such as mobo,soundcard, graphics, built-in webcam ) they use in their products line are supported in Linux. However, i strongly believe that most of it are already automatically detected and supported in most major Linux distro.

When that is done, they can virtually put in any Linux distro of choice, or even make some money reselling some commercially supportd Linux namely SuSe, Redhat, Mandriva, and Linspire.

Whenever I see this kind of news the first thought that pops into my head is "Gee, another company using Linux for negotiating leverage with Microsoft."

I sincerely wish they were moving to Linux for all the right reasons.

If they can do this, many other Taiwanese will follow. This and Google could change things dramatically. Most is Asia prefer a "known" quantity, but that is changing. The only place left is PC games. After that, it is a free-for-all

Look - Acer is not the best, let's face it. For an independent outlet, they are dificult to deal with over warranty issues but far worse - they fill their kit with far more junk that Microsoft do and I spend more time taking it all off before handing it to a customer, so that it performs like a customer would expect. As to moving to Linux - it's a non-starter - they're firmly in the low-priced consumer market - and consumers want Microsoft software that they are familiar with. Theywon't want to waste time pfaffing about trying to get to grips with linux - and they'll stick windows CDs in them - then return the PC because it doesn't work. Get real !!

Hah! Acer moaning about MS! I am a small PC Dealer in the UK and after 3 (out of 3) bad support experiences with Acer
we stopped selling their Laptops. They are as bad, if not worse, than MS!

Acer is using ubuntu on retail notebooks alrready
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/484c933c0b0d5c102740c0a87f3b0689/Product/View/XC5822

I had partitioned a replacement hardrive for my wife's 4630 that was struggling under Vista and Mandriva 2008 installed Perfectly. NOT ONE SINGLE PROBLEM. I've been with Mandy since 8.1 and there is not much in the way of hardware that it has trouble configuring anymore. I also wish people would remember that Mandrake is the one that started the graphical partitioner and install process and was the first whose aim was to be the easiest to install and migrate from windows with. And even though ubuntu has a big following, I've installed it before and have had more problems than ever I've had with Mandriva. In my experience, it is still one of the best around and is always worth a try.

@ Lee

Yes they are, but this is a step up in its use. What they're saying is that they want to get rid of Windows eventually but at the moment Linux isn't strong enough but they're working on making it so

Acer is lying. They are just leveraging against Microsoft.

The Truth has spoken.

For once I have something very positive to say about Acer - well done!! Brigantia Computer Experts is currently embracing the Ubuntu Linux offer and end users can find a free download link on our members near 1000 mini websites linked from our member locator at www.brigantia.com. We are very impressed with how well Canonical have embraced the Brigantia membership channel and understood our model - Microsoft have never been able to fit us into their corporate thinking. Given this unless there is a huge change in the way Microsoft engages with the channel frankly I can see Linux becoming dominant now the likes of Acer are joining the Linux crusade. I guess at the end of the day, like all things in business, everything comes down to money.

Errr....I don't think Microsoft is very worried about the Brigantia membership channel.

Brigantia is famous for having an unusually high opinion of their relevance.

Focus on the positives. Internet browesing, mail, chat, virus protection and free. This is what will sell Linux.
Games are a problem until someone makes popular games that will run in Linux. Before that happens it will take a good number of people using Linux and people requesting to buy a version that runs on Linux. then there is Microsoft, Microsoft is the biggest impediment to open software in the world. It's anticompetive mindset and hegemony over the PC and it world in general. Word refuses to open Open Word files and even Lotus files require Lotus. Microsoft needs to be broken up into separate companies as it drives the cost of computing through the roof. I can build a decent computer for what a full Microsoft license costs. Viva la Linux!

The Truth - do you work for or are you a consultant to Microsoft? Why not unmask yourself?

This is great news for the Indie Channel. This means that not only can we get laptops with of MS products but we can get them without the bundled Symantec products too. Making us real Indies.

No, I don't work for MS in any way shape or form. In fact I avoid using MS products like the plague. I just am not delusional enough to think that the omnipotent MS is going to be holding any meetings about the impact Brigantia channel has on their viability in the UK.

Brigantia making a deal with ubuntu is amazing. Anyone that doesn't think so is underestimating both Brigantia and Ubuntu. All of us with hindsight would have bought google shares (if we had the money) and I think this is exciting. There are a wealth of new opportunities coming our way and that should mean profits.

I run a small computer shop. I would like to sell what my customers ask for, low cost laptops with XP Home. But no. This product is no longer for sale. Why not? Ask Microsoft.
We too are looking at Linux so that we can compete in a cost price market. Brigantia also helps.I run a small computer shop. I would like to sell what my customers ask for, low cost laptops with XP Home. But no. This product is no longer for sale. Why not? Ask Microsoft.
We too are looking at Linux so that we can compete in a cost price market. Brigantia also helps. I run a small computer shop. I would like to sell what my customers ask for, low cost laptops with XP Home. But no. This product is no longer for sale. Why not? Ask Microsoft.
We too are looking at Linux so that we can compete in a cost price market. Brigantia also helps.

Acer support is very much better than it used to be; it could only be!
Let us not get too carried away, they have been selling a desktop box with Linux for three or four years without any apparent impact on Microsoft's dominance. I tend to agree with Matthew Wooley as to the choice of OS for the general public and am not convinced that the the Linux area is ready for general public release as there are too many options available to have a single contender.
I have been using SUSI on a dual boot Acer laptop for a year or so and love it, but haven't the time to evaluate every option and without doing so how can I give 'my professional advice' I can only give a limited opinion.
Anything that allows a viable alternative to Microsoft must benefit the industry and keep Microsoft, bad choice of word, "honest" has to be a good thing.

Sounds to me like Acer is not happy that ASUS got a deal from Microsoft and they didn't, so now they want to cry foul and make noises about switching to Linux to pull some attention and get some deal too!

I thinks that's the truth. The big guys getting heavy discounts. Shafting the little guy. Bet we won't be able to buy XP Lite.

I thinks that's the truth. The big guys getting heavy discounts. Shafting the little guy. Bet we won't be able to buy XP Lite.

Why can Acer improves on the Linpus Linux? It does not even come with a GUI.

Acer notebook that comes with linpus linux does not even comes with a linux driver CD. Good luck if you try to install linux on such notebooks. If Acer is seriuos in selling linux computer, they must at least provide the drivers for their hardware. Anythingless Acer is only "trying to make noises about switching to Linux to pull some attention and get some deal too" as mentioned by "davemc".

Quiet silly. As others have said the biggest problem with anything Acer related is how utterly awfully made their kit is. So unrealiable we refuse to sell them now, and as others have said dealing with Acer support makes MS look like saints.

I can just imagine an Acer Linux machine...the OS would be worthless with so much rubbish in it that the type of users who tend to buy these machines would be lost in trying to figure out how to deal with it all (not like they have much of a clue already).

I own an Acer laptop myself, quite fond of it too. I also happen to run Ubuntu on two of my machines at home. If Acer is actually going to put weight behind this. Kudos. If not, I'm probably not picking up an Acer again, foulplay has never been my thing. If it hadn't been for gaming, i'd be running Linux on all my machines.

I guess Time will Tell on this one.

My old Acer notebook (Aspire 1500) is running very nicely on Ubuntu and even the wireless is working! My youngest son has taken to it like a duck to water. Amazing - put this in schools, save the tax payer a fortune and within a few years much will have changed.

It would seem Acer have gone about this the wrong way and not thought everything through - what a shame - something about "old dogs not changing tricks" springs to mind.

M$ will lose a lot of its OS's market share soon. He is already losing some. The Acer folks know about it and they will squeeze M$ as much as they can :p. By the way, do not underestimate Ubuntu, they have grown at an impressive rate and are making deals with tons of hardware companies.

what a shame to see acer loose its share of the market by turning its back on microsoft main stream sales are all based on vista

After spending 2 weeks with Linux, I wouldn't touch it again with a barge pole. If Acer are now trying to appeal to amateurs and geeks then they have taken the right step. Twice in those 2 weeks Linux refused to acknowledge my graphics card and monitor and left me confined to low resolutions, no amount of resetting or reconfiguring the x-server fixed it. So twice I had to re-install to fix it, only for it to suddenly return completely out of the blue. As a software developer, I can't afford for the OS to suddenly "give up" on any aspect. My XP machine ran for nearly 3 years before I finally decided to upgrade to Vista.

A lot of people couldn't tell a bad GUI from a good one and will find Linux fine. Me, I just found it to be the amateurish home of shareware I always suspected it to be. You only have to look at Gimp to see the kind of quality Linux users find acceptable. You actually only have to look at Gimp to see why Linux is free, nobody would pay for something of that quality. (although that isn't strictly a true statement, Linux isn't always free)

It will be ideal for kids and housewives and for those who's sum total of "using a computer" skills equates to, browsing the net and writing a letter.. Although I can just imagine the average person reading the "open a terminal and type SUDO blah... blah... blah..."for the twentieth time and giving up.

I'd like to join the roles of those supporting the COURAGE of Acer to take on such a dramatic challenge as moving away from Windows. MS has had a stranglehold on the market for far too long. Granted, they make good products that are easy to use for the majority of users... but they're mainly easy to use because that's what we have been TAUGHT to use and "grew up" with.

Linux can become so as well. Congrats, Acer, for the courage to TRY it.

Well done Acer another manufacturer breaking from MS domination Gates must learn he is no longer able to control the industry, he will have to compete and the end user will gain with more realistic product pricing.
Intel were the first to lose the stranglehold and hopefully now so will MS.

As a small computer shop that is Linux enthusiastic, I welcome any move to promote and encourage the use of Linux OS over Microsoft. We already build (and SELL) a low entry desktop that operates on Ubuntu - it is very popular and one of our biggest selling lines.

Viva la UBUNTU!