[dot] HotHardware Interview on Asus Eee PC

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1196373162/

From: Wade Olson <olson at kde.org>
Dept: thin-form-factors-are-in-this-season
Date: Thursday 29/Nov/2007, @13:52

HotHardware Interview on Asus Eee PC
====================================

   The new Asus Eee PC [http://eeepc.asus.com/en/] has been released to
many positive reviews and great consumer interest.  A streamlined and
customized Xandros [http://www.xandros.com/] and KDE interface combines
with other free software applications, a slim form factor and an
attractive price point.  HotHardware.com was one of the very first sites
to  review
[http://www.hothardware.com/articles/Asus_Eee_PC_Full_Retail_review_Showcase/]
the Asus Eee and report back on this new device.  Read on for an
interview with Editor-in-Chief Dave Altavilla and his thoughts on the
Asus Eee PC and its value proposition.
  Please give us the history behind  HotHardware.com
[http://www.hothardware.com].  (Reasons for site creation, etc).
     That's a fairly loaded question there Wade but I'll try to be
brief.  HotHardware.com has been in existence now for over 8 years.  My
vision was fairly clear from the beginning but certainly has evolved
over the years a bit to what we're all about today.  In the early
stages, I felt passionate about computing technologies (like many of our
readers of course) and in a general sense have always loved the creative
writing process.  Mix these two interests together and you have the
makings of a Tech Journalist I guess.  In these earlier days of the net,
things were just ramping up so it took a while before some of the major
OEMs saw the value of Web Media.  Our industry has come a long way since
then; from our initial classification of being considered just "early
adopters" and "enthusiasts", to now what many major OEMs consider as
valuable trend-setters and critical "user expert" feedback resources, in
addition to being very influential members of the press.

     About a year into it I met my good friend and now Managing Editor
of our site (aka the Backbone of HH), Marco Chiappetta.  With Marco on
board we gained what I would call critical mass and it has been upward
and onward ever since.  We're currently one of the top sites in our
field and are on virtually every major first-round product launch
roll-out to the press with all of the top-tier OEMs and board partners. 
In short, life is pretty good!


  I. HOW DOES HOTHARDWARE DIFFER FROM OTHER HARDWARE SITES ON THE WEB?

     We try to walk our talk, so to speak, to the best of our ability. 
We position ourselves at a consumer-targeted site, whether you consider
the enthusiast, novice or IT Professional looking for valuable input. 
Of course, since you cant be all things to all people, we try our best
to take the middle ground and appeal to the broadest scope of the
available readership in our industry as possible.

     As such, we offer detailed analysis and evaluation of leading-edge
products and technologies in computing and adjacent markets, in what we
like to think is cleanly presented, easily digestible chunks.  That is
to say that on HotHardware, you will not see a horrendously long,
over-the-top with technical drivel style article, nor will you see what
is essentially a regurgitation of marketing hype that amounts to nothing
more than a fluffy commercial.  Instead we strive to offer our readers a
down-to-earth, professional perspective on the "out of the box"
experience with any given product or technology.  OK, so this thing has
2X the memory bandwidth and 4 times the processing horsepower, so what
does that mean to the reader?  We try to be very clear on the "moral of
the story" and not stray too far into minutia but at the same time
provide thorough coverage of the salient points, good or bad, of each
product.  We also try to hit this watermark in our breaking industry
news content as well.


 II. WHO ARE THE TYPICAL READERS AND FORUM POSTERS FOR HOTHARDWARE?

     Out audience is made up of Computing Enthusiasts, early adopters of
tech products and IT professionals.  We also have a fair number of
computer newbies that come to our site to learn a few tricks and
possibly get assistance on upgrade suggestions and other buying
decisions.


III. ARE HARDWARE ENTHUSIASTS MORE LIKELY TO HAVE AN INTEREST IN
DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE?

     Absolutely, these people are not afraid to get down and dirty with
their setups.  If theres a perceived advantage to a new part of their
total system solution, theyre going to investigate it and prove it out. 
We have lots of readers that run dual boot setups of Windows and Linux
packages.
 HotHardware.com   recently reviewed
[http://www.hothardware.com/articles/Asus_Eee_PC_Full_Retail_Review_Showcase/]
the new Asus Eee PC.  Can you summarize your findings?
     The Asus Eee PC is a breakout product in many ways.  First, of
course its a highly portable PC that has many of the significant
capabilities of a full sized notebook.  It has the form factor of a
UMPC, with the usability of and functionality of a much more substantial
machine.

     In addition, the Linux-loaded version we tested has such an amazing
complement of software applications, that you get the feeling the
machine has all you need to utilize it to the fullest of its
capabilities.  Its stable, highly functional and perfect for people on
the go, students, or even as a first kids PC.  I think moving forward
the product will see some explosive growth in the end user community,
especially with the open source crowd and modders that will do some
impressive things with it.  Theres a Windows XP capable version in the
works as well, so were told.


 IV. IN THE REVIEW, YOU WROTE "THIS PRODUCT HAS BEEN EASILY THE MOST
RESEARCHED AND SEARCHED-UPON PRODUCT IN THE HOTHARDWARE.COM CONTENT
DATABASE IN MANY YEARS."  WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SO
INTERESTED AND INTRIGUED ABOUT THIS PRODUCT IN PARTICULAR?

     Well, primarily because its an ultra low-cost, ultra-portable PC
that comes with a ton of software pre-installed.  Its a full-up
computing platform at a killer price-point.  It also appeals to many
user types, from professionals looking for an unobtrusive machine to
take notes on in a meeting, to kids in grade school learning the ropes
for the first time on a PC.
 How does the Asus Eee compare to the  OLPC XO-1 notebook
[http://laptop.org/] or the  Intel ClassMate PC
[http://www.intel.com/intel/worldahead/classmatepc/]?   How do the
different target markets for these devices reflect in their respective
hardware and software choices?
     This is definitely an interesting and debatable topic.  From my
early perspective, to me the XO-1 definitely caters more directly to
children.  Thats no surprise obviously, since thats the whole premise of
the OLPC program.  The Intel Classmate is similar in this regard,
however its much more a kin to the Eee PC, architecturally with respect
to motherboard and processor design which, like the Eee PC, is an Intel
Mobile Celeron design.  Regardless, comparatively, the XO-1 and
Classmate PC look and feel much more toy-like versus what Asus built,
which is essentially a classic, sleek design of an ultra-portable
notebook.  The Eee PC should have much more broad-market appeal as a
result.


  V. WITH LOWER AND LOWER PRICE POINTS ON DEVICES LIKE THESE, IS FREELY
AVAILABLE SOFTWARE BECOMING MORE IMPORTANT FROM AN ECONOMIC STANDPOINT?

     I think so.  At least it should be.  The pre-installed Open Office,
Firefox and other open source software products that are on the Eee PC,
are a huge advantage for the system.  Integrating all that functionality
for free should offer much more competitive price points when you
consider the entire package and bundle being purchased.


 VI. IN THE CASE OF THE OLPC XO-1 NOTEBOOK AND THE INTEL CLASSMATE PC,
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT THAT THE SOFTWARE IS FREE FROM A PHILOSOPHICAL
STANDPOINT?

     I dont know about philosophies but both of those systems are budget
PCs target to kids and need to be very cost efficient solutions over
all.  Parents, schools etc dont want to have to worry about buying and
loading up additional software to get their children up and fully
functional on the machines.  Obviously, it would be pretty pointless if
either OLPC or Intel were to develop a machine that would have a total
cost of ownership somewhat higher than the initial price tag. Again, for
kids in third-world countries, the primary target market for these
machines, you need a shrink-wrapped total solution with as little
configuration and optional purchases required as possible.  Its common
sense really.


VII. SIMPLIFIED DESKTOP UIS ARE NOTHING NEW.  HOW DOES THE ASUS EEE
SUCCEED AND HOW DOES KDE PLAY A PART IN THAT SUCCESS?

     To be perfectly honest, Im not an expert user by any stretch of the
imagination, when it comes to Linux interfaces and distros.  The
experience I had with the Eee PC was fairly "pure" in that I was looking
at the machine with a fresh, somewhat novice end-user perspective.  I
mean weve tested literally thousands of systems, notebook and mobile
devices at HotHardware, most all of which were configured to run a
Windows operating system of some sort.

     As such, were VERY comfortable and fluid power users with Windows
OS setups, so a KDE-based interface running Linux was a bit of a
departure for us.  In this regard, on a certain level, we could have
been very harsh critics about the OS configuration, its performance and
functionality on the Asus Eee PC.  Regardless, we were all very
impressed with the streamlined, easily navigable KDE-based UI.  In fact,
it all seemed very natural and super intuitive.  KDE and Asus developed
the OS specifically for the Eee PC and you can definitely see and feel
the forethought  that was put into it.


VIII. LOOKING FORWARD, WHAT CHANGES DO YOU SEE IN OPERATING SYSTEMS AND
SOFTWARE BASED ON YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH HOTHARDWARE?

     I think, if theres one thing weve learned over the years, whether
you consider open source OS solutions, Apple OS or Microsoft, its that
end-user simplification of the UI needs to continue to evolve.  If
theres a shining example of things to come, its probably what Apple has
done with the iPhone and iPod touch.  The average end user doesnt want
to "tinker" like we like to do in the labs here at HotHardware.com. 
They want to just boot up (and quickly), run their requested program and
not worry about anything.  In short, it just works and it doesn"t take
any learning curve to work it.  That day is coming.  The question isn"t
if but when.


 IX. ANY ADVICE TO THE KDE COMMUNITY?

     Advice?  Me?  I wouldnt claim to be able to offer you any words of
wisdom but certainly words of encouragement are in order.  Keep up the
great work and keep doing what youre doing.  When a product with such
huge, sweeping appeal, like the Asus Eee PC, is showcased with a KDE
interface at the helm, you know thats a lot of good exposure and theres
significantly more critical mass behind the community in general.