Gianpiero Morbello, Vice President of Marketing for Acer has said that his Taiwanese PC maker is to develop the market for Linux, not just for its low cost ultra-portable but for the companies’ laptops as well; the reason given is due to the cost and operation of the Microsoft OS over open-source Linux.

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

On Tuesday, Acer officially unveiled their entry into the low cost mini-laptop market by launching their Aspire One, which will come with both Windows XP and Linux. The Acer Aspire One price begins at $379 so it makes sense to cut costs as much as possible. The attraction being not only the cost but the expectancy of a full featured mini-laptop.

Acer points out that Linux is quicker to boot and can extent battery life on the tiny notebooks sych as the Aspire One. However, will the mainstream PC buyer actually go for the Linux over Windows? Well that remains unclear if Acer will foist Linux onto reluctant customers, or if they will search the markets that have yet to fully go with Microsoft Windows.

Source – cnet

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