There’s been a lot of talk over the last few months about the future of Linux on netbooks. When the OLPC Foundation, Asus, and other early netbook makers decided to preload various Linux distributions instead of Windows on the earliest netbooks, there were a few goals. The OLPC Foundation wanted to embrace open source ideals while keeping software licensing costs to a minimum. Asus wanted to design a custom user interface that was easy to use even by people with little to no computer experience. And to keep the software licensing costs down so the company could sell cheap computers without cutting too deeply into the profit margin.

But a year later, most netbook makers offer Windows as an option. And in October an official with MSI said the company was seeing Linux versions of the MSI Wind laptop returned four times more often than Windows models. And then Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux essentially confirmed that Linux notebooks are returned more frequently than Windows laptops.

Now Asus is weighing in, and CEO Jerry Shen says the company hasn’t seen any major difference between Linux and Windows Eee PC return rates.

So what’s going on here? It’s hard to say, because nobody’s really pinpointed why MSI and Canonical say Linux models are returned more often. It could be due to the fact that the MSI Wind U90 with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop was half-baked. The operating system didn’t suit the hardware, and some components, like the webcam, just didn’t work out of the box on Linux models. Or it could be due to the fact that manufacturers and retailers aren’t doing a great job of communicating the differences between Linux and Windows machines to consumers. While many people will find that a Linux computer does everything they need it to, the last thing you want to do is walk into a store and purchase a computer only to take it home and realize for the first time that it has a completely unfamiliar operating system and can’t run some of your favorite programs.

My guess is that Asus has simply done a better job of marketing their Linux machines, so that customers have a good idea of what they’re getting.

So I was skimming through Laptop Magazine’s interview with Asus CEO Jerry Shen, and a few things jumped out at me. First, as we already suspected, Asus will begin selling Eee PC laptops with touchscreens in 2009. But for some reason, Shen says that touchscreens will add thickness to the machine, which is news to me. Last time I checked, you could cram a touchscreen in an existing Eee PC like a 701 without building a thicker case.

Perhaps what Shen meant by that remark is that Asus will be working on thinner Eee PC models like the Eee PC S101 and that it would be difficult to fit touchscreens into those devices, so you won’t see an S101 with a touchscreen anytime soon. But that’s just a guess.

Other interesting tidbits from the interview:

• The touchscreen devices could come in the form of convertable tablets, or Asus might just slap a touchscreen into an old fashioned clamshell-style notebook.
• Asus will soon begin releasing Windows XP machines with an “easy mode” interface much like the Xandros easy mode software that comes on Linux Eee PCs.
• Shen says there are no plans to put Windows Vista on any netbooks, but the company could release Windows 7 models as soona s mid-2009. I’m going to take that with a grain of salt since Microsoft hasn’t confirmed that the operating system will actually be available by then.
• There will be new Eee-branded products in Q1 and Q2 of 2009. So it sounds like we shouldn’t expect to see any radically new Eee PC models or new consumer electronics devices this year. But given Asus’s track record, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few new Eee PC netbooks pop up with incremental differences from existing models.

Asus president Jerry Shen is confirming the company’s plans to launch new, higher end versions of the popular Eee PC laptop. Just a few days ago Engadget posted a leaked image showing plans for a total of 23 different models, including several listed under new Pro and Ultimate categories. Now Shen is fleshing out the details for the press.

Shen told DigiTimes that the Ultimate and Pro laptops will have higher storage capacities and faster processors than the current generation of Eee PCs. In terms of storage, we’re looking at 32GB solid state disks or 120GB hard drives. The computers will also use Intel’s upcoming dual-core Atom CPU.

Asus will introduce the S series in late September. The computer will have a 10 inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio and will run somewhere between $700 and $900, making it the most expensive Eee PC to date. It’s also arguable whether a $900 computer wtih a 10 inch display and a dual core processor is anything other than a distant cousin of the $400 Eee PC, Acer Aspire One, or $500 MSI Wind laptops.

Asus appears to be blurring the line between low cost ultraportables and regular PCs. Sure, 2 years ago you never would have found a PC with a 10 inch display for under $1000. But you could probably have found one for just a few bucks more.