This is not true. Asus will continue to sell Eee PC with Linux in Denmark: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&u=h...

frychiko -- I hadn't realized that. I knew Ubuntu had a strong commitment to localization, but I didn't realize they had trouble with Japanese. Is it specific to that language, or do the same problems exist for languages like Korean and Chinese?

It's a shame Asus has jettisoned Linux for hard-to-support lsnguages, though. I hope they will look to partner with a distro that can handle localization more effectively.

There are no Linux options in Japan also, except for Dell's Ubuntu. Japanese input has been a bitch to get working in previous ubuntu versions plus the fonts are not good and rendering of them in the past have been awful. I have always ended up importing Windows Japanese fonts. Ubuntu in English is great though, and there are huge forums to go to for help.

I think English only speaking people take some things for granted with Linux.

First of all, Xandros is a piece of shit.
I can name 50 distros that I would use before it.

Secondly, this can not be considered news or surprising because it should have been expected: people wanting to use their own language and not english (concept often hard to explain to north americans or even people in those countries who will claim that every speaks english there when its not the point). In Quebec, films and software must be offered in french (which is the language spoken by 88% of the pop.) at the same time as the english release. If you have no such regulations, there is really nothing forcing companies to serve clients in their language.

Thirdly, Xandros is a piece of shit and is NOT teh Linux.
It is one of many distros and Asus picked a crappy one.

The french based distro Mandriva is offered in over 80 different languages and 140 countries: http://www.mandriva.co.il/enterprise/he/company...
here is another excerpt from there:

Paris, January 11th 2008 -
Mandriva Denmark was launched in December 2007 as the exclusive Danish partner for Mandriva S.A, offering the Mandriva Linux operating system. The goal of Mandriva Denmark is to provide local distribution of Mandriva Linux and other integrated open source applications in the local language throughout Denmark, the Faeroe Islands and Greenland.

The problem isnt teh Linux isnt translated in many languages, its that Asus used the POS that is Xandros who was only saved from bankruptcy when they signed Microsoft extortion attempt (along with co-losers Suse and Linspire).
And I went to check on the Goog and guess what?
Ubuntu has danish language as well and over 55 languages total.
I remember that Red Hat Enterprise Linux we use at work has a buttload of languages (a coworker was thrilled that they offer 5-6 languages used in India...where almost everyone speaks english btw)
I use cyrillic characters and I understand that the smaller distros cant support as many languages if they have smaller communities. I also understand that if I feel peeved that my fave distro doesnt support my native tongue, I can always move my butt and do something about it.

If Im a company trying to get into as many markets, I would look at which one has the best localization efforts.

What an about-face from the company that was pretty much the driving force for GNU/Linux as the OS for these netbooks. What was that about MS and monopolies again?

Usually, most distributions already have the option to choose a language during the installation. With Ubuntu, you can also install the OS in OEM mode so that the user is then asked a few questions as to what language they prefer to work in (much like in Windows). So the excuse that it's "more work for them" to provide GNU/Linux is a load of crap. The problem is their choice of distribution (Xandros? Really?!?) as has been with MSI and a few others. It seems that Linpus Lite and Ubuntu NR have been quite popular, even to the point that HP has promised Ubuntu NR as the GNU/Linux option for their MiniNote 1000.

As YukonGuy mentioned, it IS unfortunate that people perceive GNU/Linux as a "geek" OS, especially since most phones out there run embedded Linux with a custom interface. How would a netbook running GNU/Linux with an easy-to-use custom interface be any different?

The fact that Linux is considered a "Geek" operating system is significantly unfortunate. New netbooks with Windows XP? No, thanks! XP is now or soon going to be over 8 years old. I bought my Eee PC for use a a secondary computer because it was cheap and didn't have Windows on it. I am not a Microsoft basher but, adding a Microsoft Windows license add to the price of the computer.

I think this is a sad day for Linux.