Bear Flag Republic Radio Weblog

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...to ask Intel this week at the show: Is Intel's Centrino Techno-Latin for "No Linux"? It comes from Michael Robertson of Lindows.com, who elaborates,

Most worrisome is Intel's lack of Linux support for their new Centrino chipset which they've called their "most important announcement since the Pentium." Intel says that 300 million dollars will go into advertising this new product for mobile computing, but Intel isn't making the small investment to provide Linux drivers. When you see that "Centrino" sticker on the computer, you can substitute "Microsoft Windows XP." As a cost saver perhaps we can expect to see " XPino " stickers in the future further solidifying the Wintel partnership. Lets hope this isn't a signal that future Intel products will be void of Linux support as well.

It's clear that those beholden to Microsoft within Intel are winning the battle against supporting desktop Linux. Consequently, Intel has no strategy for the biggest development in the PC business in 15 years. That's bad for customers looking for Intel powered Linux desktops and laptops running Linux. At the same time, it's an opening for chipmakers like VIA and AMD to make sure that those looking for desktop Linux products have a nice selection to choose from.

If I get to ask the question, look for the answer in Linux Journal.

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