ASUS launches "Eee Download" service, forgets the "installation" part

While ASUS's new, quietly-launched Eee Download service would seem to be a welcome addition for most Eee PC users, it looks to have caused nothing but confusion in the few days it's been live. The main problem is that all of the files on the site are in the so-called Click 'N Run (or CNR) format, which is a quick and easy way to install Linux apps -- when the Linux distro supports CNR, that is. Unfortunately for ASUS (and Eee PC users), the Eee PC's Xandros distribution does not. As some on the EeeUser forums point out, however, Xandros now actually owns Linspire (the company behind CNR), so it would seem to be entirely possible that CNR support could be coming in a future version of Xandros, but that still doesn't explain ASUS putting the cart before the horse like this.

[Via Eee PC News, EeeUser]

[BirdofPrey @ Aug 25th 2008 3:36PM]

Now presenting ASUS Eee screwup

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Aug 25th 2008 3:51PM]

Or as ASUS will brand it, the Eee PC A1000SCRWPXP 415H.

[riggs @ Aug 25th 2008 3:38PM]

Its sad to see how asus completely went from win to fail.

[telepheedian @ Aug 25th 2008 4:07PM]

How? I understand the viewpoint that they should have launched at $200, like they said, but it's not as if they are killing the low-end models of the Eee, they are simply introducing larger ones. The 10-inch eee isn't that bad of a machine at all, and it comes with the upgrades that most Wind or Lenovo users add later anyway (6-cell battery, decent touchpad, 1GB ram). Plus, the build quality is rock solid, and it'll do about 90% of what the average user needs out of a computer, the other things being Gaming and Video editing.

[kjb434 @ Aug 25th 2008 4:17PM]

I still don't understand how the Eee was ever a win......

[Ryan Trevisol @ Aug 25th 2008 5:34PM]

As a buzzword or product moniker, Eee was tolerable.

As a brand-defining product line, it's abysmal.

[John Stracke @ Aug 25th 2008 3:38PM]

Why would they need to use CNR, when Xandros comes with apt-get?

[Zorque @ Aug 25th 2008 3:52PM]

Because installers are superior to typing out stupid command line strings?

[potato @ Aug 25th 2008 4:24PM]

Synaptic is a good GUI wrapper for apt-get. A Synaptic install with Asus' app repos included by default would be a great way to install software.

[gh0st @ Aug 25th 2008 5:05PM]

yes synaptic is the best thing to come to debian based distros but it is still quite confusing for first time linux users. Neither Mac OS not Windows used an obscure way of installing applications and CNR is a step in the right direction. Only nowadays OpenSuSE has a much better alternative in the face of one-click-install but this is somewhat debatable. The point here is that Asus once again proves that they really don't know how to support their products ...

[JJV @ Aug 25th 2008 5:04PM]

nerds......
oh wait what am i?? =P

[JohnnyBoy @ Aug 25th 2008 6:53PM]

CNR. apt-get. Synaptic.

...and the conspiracy theories honestly believe that *Microsoft* are the ones who are de-railing the widespread adoption of Linux...

[dhughes @ Aug 26th 2008 1:27AM]

Or even better than apt-get would be Aptitude.

[Hickeroar @ Aug 25th 2008 3:40PM]

Eeek!

[Jon Acheson @ Aug 25th 2008 3:41PM]

Xandros does have its own download feature for installing programs, though. Unfortunately, the selection was somewhat thin the last time I checked, (that was more than a year ago).

[Ryan @ Aug 25th 2008 3:41PM]

This makes me glad I couldn't afford one of them when I wanted them so badly.

Lenovo S10, here I come.

[biohazard @ Aug 25th 2008 3:42PM]

it used to be awsome!!!!! :(

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Aug 25th 2008 3:52PM]

Well, you are commenting on an Eee article, so I know you are at least aware of the letter...

[Lancelot @ Aug 25th 2008 3:43PM]

Sure seems that the whole "netbook" market is in total disarray. Between this complete foul up, the 1,000,000 different Eee Models Asus has released & Dells failure to get their model out after it was seen in the wild way back in May. Plus, only a couple of these are priced cheaply, which was suppose to be one of the main things promised for this sector.. I know I'm confused, especially when most of these can be loaded with a fast & secure version of Linux but people, who won't take the time to learn something new, are demanding XP be available.

[potato @ Aug 25th 2008 4:27PM]

It was inevitable. Nobody wants to be the bottom-feeder forever. The business case goes something like this:

"Oh man guys, we have to break into the PC industry somehow!"
"I know, let's undercut the competition by introducing a new, innovative product at cut-throat prices!"
... a few months later...
"Man, margins on these netbooks are ridiculously low. They're selling gang-busters but we're not seeing any real money!"
"I know! Let's create *higher end* versions of these same products to increase our margins!"

Consumers: "WTF?"

[sr @ Aug 25th 2008 3:53PM]

Click and run huh? This is a novel feature of linux? You mean like we've had since Windows 3.1? They put an OS on this machine that cannot "click and run" programs? Linux has always been a real bitch to use, I can't understand how its proponents seriously think a casual user could use it. It really needs to get better to use before it can touch any other desktop OS.

[zmjjmz @ Aug 25th 2008 4:12PM]

Click N' Run is a joke that Linspire pulled, and has nothing to do with clicking on an application and having it start, it's merely an installation service.

If Asus was smart, they would've had a custom Debian distro with gnome-app-install (Add/Remove in Ubuntu), but nyuuu, they had to go with the POS Xandros.

[Edward @ Aug 25th 2008 4:24PM]

Click N' Run - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNR_(software) - doesn't refer to Linux's ability to double click and launch an application. Rather, CNR is an application store where you can choose a new spreadsheet, game, photo editor, etc. and have it automatically download/install onto your desktop. A Windows user would have to go to download.com, find the desired app, download the .ZIP file, unzip it, find setup.exe, and click Next thru all the InstallShield prompts. Intuitive, eh?

[Lattyware @ Aug 25th 2008 4:31PM]

Sorry, there is a call for you, it's the 1990s, they want their argument back.

Please. Linux is now so simple a three year old wouldn't have any trouble installing it and using it. Please refrain from showing your ignorance

Package Managers make installing software rediculously simple, god knows why Asus shipped an idiot's version with stripped down stuff on it with the EEE. EEEbutnu is a good distro customised for it, and it works perfectly, but with all the features of full-blown ubuntu.

Linux is an amazingly usable desktop OS now, maybe you should stop bashing it when you clearly know nothing about it.

[sockatume @ Aug 25th 2008 4:48PM]

Spot the guy who's never used Linux. I look forward to the appearance of your evil doppelganger, who objects to Windows because Plug and Play means you have to plug something in every time you want to play an mp3.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Aug 25th 2008 5:26PM]

I completely agree.

"I can't understand how its proponents seriously think a casual user could use it."

With the power of nerd horseshit. Hey, it's free! Can't beat that! Unless you think hours upon hours of your time installing, customizing, troubleshooting and and updating your OS are worth more than the $100 Windows costs, which I do. Until I can go to a website, see a Linux application, click it and click "install" and have it work, it will never ever catch PC or even Mac. Have you ever seen the Ubuntu device manager? Jesus Christ what a trainwreck.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Aug 25th 2008 5:30PM]

Hey, look there's one already.

"Linux is now so simple a three year old wouldn't have any trouble installing it and using it. Please refrain from showing your ignorance."

Right, which is why 99% of computers ship with Windows even though Linux is FREE. When something is free and you still can't get people to give a shit about it (no, sub 1% market share doesn't count), you know something is wrong. And yeah I've used Ubuntu, I've used SUSE (which I actually liked better), I've tried Linpus. It's all crap.

Wicked callout though, man. "REFRAIN FROM SHOWING YOUR IGNORANCE." Zing! Your epidermis is showing!

So bad.

[Chris @ Aug 25th 2008 6:01PM]

What the crying F* are you talking about?

Ubuntu doesn't have a "device manager". Have you ever even used Ubuntu?

Oh, and it took 40 minutes of "installing, customizing, troubleshooting and and updating" to have 100% of my laptops devices working - If you can call staring at an installation progress bar "installing, customizing, troubleshooting and and updating".

[sr @ Aug 25th 2008 6:05PM]

Oh I knew I would be low ranked for this one. As for trying you can't use that one on me. I've tried and tried. Just getting network drivers on a linux machine is a real bitch and a half. The only support you have is some random forum where people will try to help but when it comes down to "your NIC is not supported in this distribution" you will face hell trying to get the F'n network to work. Yes the f'n network. I mean, what can you do with a computer that has no connectivity? Then I was instructed to do something with the kernel and what not. I mean is it my job to mess with the kernel? Seriously you linux nerds need to have some basic idea of why you can't even GIVE this shit away.

If it really was so good why isn't it taking over the desktop PC market? It's FREE! It should be owning the market at that price.

It's free and thus cheaper than Windows. Serial 8-Ball hit the nail on the head. If you are employed and I'm going to assume that you are making at least something like $25 an hour, you would piss away the $300 just getting this thing to work.

Preinstallation and configuration could be a savior for Linux, but seriously no "click and install"? I mean are people expected to pull out command line tools to install something in 2008 for a DESKTOP OS? The stuff may the shiz for servers and what not, but seriously for a Desktop?

Anyway, when something is "free" and it's not making inroads in the market, you have to wonder what the problem is. After all the price isn't the problem. There is a cost to using Linux and that's what you Linux nerds don't get. People have jobs and they need to get things done, they can't be fucking around with the computer all day. Take someone off the street and the cost of training them to setup and use Linux would dwarf the cost of any desktop version of Windows.


Also, thanks to those who patiently explained to me what exactly "click and run" is, it's a great concept, and one that Windows should have had, but customizing an installation via a prompt or two isn't horrible either. Any licensed software will have at least a license agreement screen.

I really want to try Linux but every time I try I can't find a good reason to put up with the hassles. I waste enough time just getting Windows configured the way I want it, and I can't afford to multiply that by 2 or 3.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Aug 25th 2008 6:15PM]

"Ubuntu doesn't have a "device manager". "

Oh, sorry man, I should have reinstalled Ubuntu on my desktop just so I could go into whatever the hell it is you use to view the hardware and drivers and use the proper term here on my Engadget comment.

You know exactly what I am talking about, don't be a douchebag.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Aug 25th 2008 6:17PM]

Oh, almost forgot, sr...

::applause::

[trev @ Aug 25th 2008 7:16PM]

"Linux is an amazingly usable desktop OS now, maybe you should stop bashing it when you clearly know nothing about it."

I recently tried ubuntu with amarok on my msi, and after a week of playing with it I went back to using XP and Media Monkey. I didn't notice any benefit in performance and it made tasks I would regard as simple on any other system, complete chores. This was partly because most of the tutorials I could find made assumptions that you had prior experince with linux and used terminology which anyone new to the OS just wouldn't understand, I also discovered that there often isn't one definitive way of doing alot of things or "you can get that working by doing this BUT..."

My experience wasn't completly negative but linux still needs to go a long way before I would cosider using it on its own. Anyway CNR is certainly a step in the right direction, if only it would work on each distro!

[Chris @ Aug 25th 2008 7:10PM]

Both of you were correct - in the year 1995. In the year 2008 distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora and SuSe are light years ahead of where they were as far as adding and removing software.

Please, educate yourself, it's actually quite liberating.

This short (~2 min) video is a demonstration on how to add and remove software in ubuntu.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leyTWGpeiUE

http://www.ubuntu.com

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Aug 25th 2008 7:45PM]

@Chris

That guy is installing a game that has been pre-selected by the OS distributors. It's on a list of software from the get go. Not quite the same as hopping on your browser, finding an app you like (or driver), and then installing it.

If installing downloaded software were that simple, they'd be headed in the right direction.

[ntlam @ Aug 25th 2008 7:48PM]

"If you are employed and I'm going to assume that you are making at least something like $25 an hour, you would piss away the $300 just getting this thing to work."

I'll be really pissed away when I pay $300 and cannot get my things to work!!! and that happens always!

[Chris @ Aug 26th 2008 4:11AM]

@ Serial 8-Ball Mouse

It becomes clear you really haven't even used what you are complaining about. Ubuntu, which is based on Debian uses a very advanced packaging system. Software is packaged in a .deb file which you can simply double click and install (even if you find it on the internet). The package manager, called Aptitude, is like a central database for all installed software. Adding software from a .deb requires one button press (Apply), no clicking through license screens, etc etc.

Also, the video that you saw does show them installing and uninstalling a game, but the ubuntu archives, where you can download software from, includes over 10,000 different pieces of software that are each just as easy to install as the one in the video. And yes, this list of 10,000+ pieces of software includes "drivers" (like my Nvidia video card driver), and video and audio codecs as well.

[avester @ Aug 25th 2008 4:03PM]

Who uses Xandros anyways...

[Chad @ Aug 25th 2008 4:04PM]

ROFLMAO........Priceless!

I have always liked Asus and have purchased many Asus products. I was even chomping at the bit the first time I heard of the Eee PC. I told friends looking for small laptops to wait a couple of months because the Eee was coming. Then Asus launched the Eee PC which overnight became the Eee line and quickly devolved into the Eee brand. Kinda makes me think of Will Smith's character Hancock. Eee flew in to save the tired arms of the mobile office masses only to totally **** up everything else in the process.

[Joshua Ochs @ Aug 25th 2008 4:23PM]

Asus has been screwing up their Linux systems ever since the Eee 900. Their update repositories have been broken right out of the box, and now this.

Just another reason to get the Windows model, or install Ubuntu (depending on your skill level).

[firesign @ Aug 25th 2008 4:26PM]

xandros shmandros. i put ubuntu on my 4g surf and never looked back. works great too.

[kilgore trout @ Aug 25th 2008 4:49PM]

Get yourself an MSI wind (atom 1,6 Mhz CPU, XPsp3, 2GB DDR2, wifi, webcam&mic, 80GB expandable HD, etc etc) and be an happy geek.
I am an happy geek right now!

[PIRATE @ Aug 25th 2008 4:57PM]

+1

[gh0st @ Aug 25th 2008 5:05PM]

this is hardly the first time that asus drops the ball. Actually they have a pretty steady record of screwing up when it gets to things like bios support and drivers. Why should this be any different?

[BigD145 @ Aug 25th 2008 5:05PM]

Who says people can't pull a cart?

[mackid105 @ Sep 16th 2008 9:02AM]

The heavy does. "Must push littlecart!!!!!!"

[Ken Laninga @ Aug 25th 2008 8:26PM]

Say, all you Eee fans; and Linux experts: I am getting one of the FREE Asus Eee netbooks from the Royal Bank here in Canada. It comes pre-loaded with Linux but not Ubuntu which would have been my choice. Is there a forum where they discuss the Eee? And a forum where I can learn how to remove the Linux it comes with and replace it with Ubuntu?

[Andrew Todd @ Aug 25th 2008 9:06PM]

http://www.eeeuser.com/ has a tremendously useful wiki.

Also, the big issue with Click N Run is that you lose all the advantages of a package manger, namely, centralized, automatic updates of all your applications. It's like going back to Windows. Ubuntu has a braindead-simple "Install and Remove Applications" dialogue that makes Synaptic look difficult by comparison, but, like Synaptic, it's just a frontend to apt. This seems like it would be a much better approach to take.

[ryanrule @ Aug 25th 2008 10:16PM]

You have to remember how stupid the average consumer is. I work for a small ISP as a temp job in college, doing apartment internet, phone, and video systems. In one of our new, large complexes, there is a voip box to provide phone for each room through our system. We had one resident repeatedly call us about her phone not working, despite us testing her jack. Turns out she had a cordless phone and charger plugged into the wall, but no base station.

SHE HAD NOTHING CONNECTED TO THE PHONE JACK.


no shit your phone doesnt work you stupid bitch, we dont provide magic pixes to make shit work when you dont even understand to connect a god damn phone line.

[XIYL @ Aug 26th 2008 2:17AM]

I'm gunna be honest, every ASUS product I have ever worked with has been a pain in the ass. Not to mention whats the point in having an instant on OS if you don't turn your computer off. Gigabyte boards FTW.

[Jamie @ Aug 26th 2008 4:52AM]

I use the advanced desktop on my Eee, and I tried downloading something from Synaptic. It said it had downloaded, but is nowhere to be seen on the computer. I've tried running Ubuntu as a live CD on my desktop PC, and it can't connect to my network. I'd love Linux to succeed, but it's nowhere near useable for someone like me, who is halfway computer savvy, let alone people who've no idea at all.