back to article BT bundles MS Office with Linux laptop

This week's award for the Most Astutely Selected Software Bundle goes to BT after the teleco tried to hook potential purchasers of Asus' Linux-running Eee PC 900 by offering to ship it with a copy of Microsoft Office. BT is offering the 20GB 900 for £335.99, but if anyone out there is willing to buy it for £422.34, the telco …

COMMENTS

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  1. David Thorn
    Coat

    Dabs offer:

    A Pinnacle Systems PCTV DVB-T USB thingamy as part of a bundle (yes - I know they're owned by BT these days)

    Requires: WinXP, 1.0Ghz processor, 20GB free disk capacity recommended and a CD-ROM

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Picture?

    I only looked at this story for the picture of the women using the Eee Pc on the beach. I'm disappointed..... :-(

  3. Neil
    Coat

    @AC

    Perhaps she hasnt upgraded to the 900 yet?

  4. Phil
    Stop

    iWork on Linux?

    I don't think so. Try Mac OS X.

    Sloppy...

  5. dervheid
    Thumb Up

    D'OH!

    & double D'OH!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    Re: Dabs offer

    To be fair to Dabs, the Pinnacle USB DVB-T devices work under linux as well, so it's not really as stupid as it sounds. They just can't claim linux compatibility because the manufacturer doesn't claim it either (linux drivers were created without their help.)

    Why shipping a DVB-T tuner with an Eee is possibly a little stupid is the lack of storage space on the thing, you might get away with running MythTV on it's low spec but you'd not be able to record very much. DVB-T runs at 1-2Gb+ per hour of video.

  7. DrXym

    And the Eee PC already comes with OpenOffice

    You get it as part of the laptop. It's perfectly adequate for home and mobile office needs. Even if you chose to install XP on your Eee PC, you'd be better off installing OpenOffice because it takes up less space.

  8. Ed
    Go

    iWork

    Phil, perhaps that might have been sarcasm?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Phil

    Re: iWork on Linux

    Erm, iRony?

  10. Mark
    Alert

    @Phil - Phil • Tuesday 29th April 2008 12:02 GMT

    Phil: Are you american?

  11. Mike

    BT - Braindead Tw*ts?

    So, disregarding the fact they're shipping software that won't even work on the machine it's bundled with (no doubt a ploy to get millions of calls to their premium rate helpline), they're charging £86.35 for MS H&S Office. Yet you can get it on eBuyer for £84.79 inc free delivery. Even Nerd World is only charging a couple of quid more for it.

    Nice one, Beattie.

  12. Richard
    Paris Hilton

    RE: iWork - Phil

    Fail.

    Paris, because even she stood more of a chance of getting the joke.

  13. DAN*tastik
    Stop

    I am a bit lost here

    BT is offering an Asus thingie which is not bundled with a pic of the blond chick?

    Or is it just that El Reg forgot to put it in the article?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Prehaps they are also shipping crossover office?

    The product from http://www.codeweavers.com/ is actually very good, and allows MS office to run on Linux, and would add £39.99 to the savings.

    Many users would not care that it was included, as long as office 'just worked'

  15. Wonderkid
    Gates Horns

    OpenOffice comes on the Linux EEE PC!

    Why is anyone bothering with MS Office, or MS at all now? Surely a lower cost open source solution is a better business proposition? I'm managing on my EEE PC 7" with OpenOffice(.org).

  16. Jamie
    Linux

    Dear Editor

    Could you please rewrite the article and make it more pertinent to the sites IT geeks by putting the picture of the beach babe back in there, even if it is done through a link.

  17. Joseph Haig

    @AC (re Prehaps they are also shipping crossover office?)

    I thought the same, but as far as I know Crossover Office doesn't work too well with .Net applications, including more recent versions of Office. Microsoft Office 2007, which is what is shown in the picture, is "known not to work" according to Codeweaver's compatibility chart.

  18. Joe
    Thumb Down

    @ Phil (in case he misses all the others)

    You superfail!

  19. Julian Bond
    Gates Horns

    Just works

    "Office 'just worked'". Ho Ho! Shurely shome mishtake here.

  20. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

    @all

    Ask and ye shall receive...

    Story now updated with picture of typical Eee user.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    OS/2 Fever beats BT by about 13 years

    Back in the mid-90's I worked at a place I will only refer to as "Chinaman Joe's PC Emporium" to protect the guilty. The jelly-brained owner decided to make a CD of the "best" OS/2 shareware and called it "OS/2 Fever". The CD cover also said "Forget about Windows, use OS/2!" This would have been fine if it wasn't for the Windows compatible logo on the cover and the fact that it depended on running a DOS batch file to start a 16 bit Windows installation/menu program to install the OS/2 software.

    Paris, because she's 3 times smarter than my old boss. And better looking.

  22. A J Stiles
    Linux

    @ AC

    "To be fair to Dabs, the Pinnacle USB DVB-T devices work under linux as well, so it's not really as stupid as it sounds. They just can't claim linux compatibility because the manufacturer doesn't claim it either (linux drivers were created without their help.)"

    Since the drivers end up forming part of the kernel, they have to be released under the GPL, so the manufacturers and vendors certainly *can* claim Linux compatibility (since they have permission to supply the drivers).

    OTOH, I would not put it past Microsoft to be dissuading hardware manufacturers from admitting to their products working with Linux. That isn't hard to do, if you have a driver approval program which to all intents and purposes can make or break people's ability to sell hardware .....

  23. spegru
    Linux

    well done bt

    A key beauty of the eee is its price.

    So in one go Bt have managed to create a eeepc that now costs more than some full sized laptops! all of them can run openoffice so the question has to be WHY???

    At last we see the size of microsoft tax

    Basic rate = 8Gb 'hard disk' (20-12Gb) - say £36

    higher rate = £86 (422-336)

    total - £122

    That's about 25% of unnecessary expense!

    Don't bother with msft - keep the cash for beer!

    spegru

    PS. Dropped my eee onto hard pavement the other day. No damage!

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    YAY for the chick!

    C'mon, make the chick the official mascot of the eee. Eeeven better, make 'er the mascot of all notebooks under 1 kg. She must 'ave 1 kg per airbag...

    I wonder whether she will ever come bundled with the eee... I promise I will buy one.

    In other news, brown-shovelers at BT are l33t members of EEDIOTS UNITED. Big deal!

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    Re @ AC

    You might want to re-read what I said. I said Dabs can't claim linux support if the manufacturers don't, reasons for this include the support/liability resting with Dabs if doesn't actually work, they won't take that risk.

    Of course the manufacturers are free to make the claim but they don't. I'd guess they would be hesitant to do so unless they were sure that it worked well enough and that they wouldn't have to train support staff in linux. Many companies are happy to cooperate with development of linux drivers, but few of them advertise linux support since they would then be obligated to offer technical support to customers. This is an additional cost they can avoid by letting the linux community support users instead.

  26. Captain DaFt
    Joke

    Of course Office "Just Works"!

    As long as you bear in mind that "just" can be a synonym for "barely".

  27. Karl Lattimer

    Office works great on Linux!

    http://wine-review.blogspot.com/2008/03/office-2007-on-linux-with-wine-install.html

    http://wine-review.blogspot.com/2008/03/microsoft-office-2007-update.html

    Well, its not 100% out of the boxable, but it does work...

    So this implies BT are offering commercial support for wine :)

    (especially for you phil)

    /sarcasm

  28. Art Kavanagh
    Coat

    Silly of me

    It took me a while but I think I understand why this BT offer is attracting such ridicule.

    1. Most people who might buy an Eee PC will already have at least one other computer but very few of these will be Windows boxes.

    2. Nobody who's tried OpenOffice on an Eee could possibly think that that other Office had anything useful to offer, could they?

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Hands Up a mistake

    Well spotted Reg, this is a genuine mistake by our PM team who should have ticked the Asus box out of the bundle deal. We've taken it from the site now for Linux based notebooks.

    Thanks for spotting and everyones comments.

    Jonathan

    BT Shop

  30. SpitefulGOD
    Gates Halo

    Picture

    Is that camera superimposed?

  31. mememe
    Stop

    Shocked

    A mistake by BT - I'm shocked, really shocked!

  32. Steve Oliver

    @Hands Up a mistake

    Hmmm, I wish you'd admit that getting into bed with Phorm is a mistake....

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