"To Asus, Linux was nothing more than a means to an end; namely, find some mechanism to make a lower-cost, small-form-factor portable PC possible. Microsoft wouldn't come to the party, either on morphing Windows to fit such a small-form-factor device (Microsoft was instead pushing Vista up that Sisyphean hill at the time), nor on price ("What, drop the price on Windows to make a cheap laptop possible? Are you nuts?").
"So, Asus did something clever: they reached for Linux, which they could morph into a viable desktop environment, suitable for something like the original Eee PC, and which would also reduce their product bill-of-materials by a substantial amount, by avoiding the OEM Windows licence fee."
