Good article, with much sense.

In our company we use emacs plus autotools to build mixed C++/javascript projects on Linux, partly for historical reasons - that was the only option on the Linux platform when I started.

I (as the technical manager) like the stability and flexibility of editor+cmdline, and while I've wondered if using an IDE like Eclipse would be beneficial, the fact that we compile in a chroot environment complicates things - the IDE would have a hard time entering the chroot environment to carry out the builds (I believe).

IDE style features which we HAVE to have include: syntax highlighting and auto code indentation. However, I've always thought that the Unix/Linux environment is itself a fantastic integrated development environment.

For our developers, Eclipse is acceptable as an alternative to Emacs for editing, as both Eclipse and Emacs can make a good job of automatically indenting code, but some people seem to be inexplicably resistant to the concept of using Emacs :)

For a lot of folks, it appears that Windows on their full featured laptop or desktop is useful because they can load up the application software they like to use.

But who wants to add software to a laptot? The Linux eee offers a great value proposition; all the software you want (a web browser, a way to view and edit office files and a few games) pre-installed.

If you buy the XP version you get the Web browser, but none of the other neat programs.

My son loves tuxpaint, so I'd be holding out for the Linux one if I hadn't already bought a 701!

Happy face because the article suggests that the Linux eee is more popular with consumers, but then I wonder why Asus say they are making equal quantities of Linux and XP eees?