Big Hardware Heavyweights Are Welcoming Open Source Platforms

There are more signs emerging that some of the biggest global technology players in the hardware space are warming up to open source operating systems, even as they appear to cool toward Microsoft Windows. Recently, we've reported on Chromebooks running the Chrome OS platform, and how they have improved dramatically, and are now available at $200 price points that challenge the laptop status quo. (The hot selling $199 Acer C7 is shown here.)

HP and Lenovo are both doing Chromebooks, and there are even signs that the biggest hardware players are interested in Android....If anyone doubted that Google could become a big player in the operating system space, it's time to drop those doubts. Acer's President recently told Bloomberg that the C7 Chromebook seen at the top of this post accounted for 5 percent to 10 percent of Acer’s U.S. shipments since being released in November. Without a doubt, hardware devices pre-loaded with open source operating systems are going to proliferate this year.