Ubuntu for UMPC - Umbuntu?

[Zaskoda]

Today I found this:

http://mozy.org/vaio/

I thought it would be lovely if Ubuntu supported some of the major UMPCs out of the box.

[x64Jimbo]

While this may sound like a great idea, the mechanics of getting it to work would be extremely difficult. Every one of these device manufacturers has some kind of contract with Microsoft, and in many cases, it says that they can't have any other operating system on the devices except for Windows, or MS will charge them a buttload more money for each license. Because the manufacturers are the ones responsible for writing the drivers for their proprietary hardware, they will most likely not write Linux drivers because they won't envision any significant portion of their market segment needing Linux for any purpose, and more importantly, they want to save themselves from having to pay MS extra for their licenses of Windows. UMPCs are mostly for businesspeople right now, and that market is completely MS-saturated.
I hate to stomp on dreams, but Linux has much more of a chance of taking the smartphone market first, then possibly making the jump to the UMPC.

[Zaskoda]

At least we have the Nokia 770 (http://nokia770.com/). Personally, what I really want is somewhere between Nokia's 770 and Sony's UX180P.

[prizrak]

UMPC is a baby born dead IMO. It has nowhere near the power of a real computer and is alot less portable than a smart phone. It also doesn't have all the features of the smart phone (like calling people). I don't believe that UMPC will gain any significant market share and will most likely soon disappear and lose to the 12" laptops.