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In this informative article at NewsForge.com, Mike Newlands offers a perspective on the growing avalanche of Asian manufacturers who are announcing — and just now beginning to introduce — Linux-based handheld computers. Newlands writes . . .

“In many parts of the world, Microsoft and Palm still have an iron grip on the market for personal digital assistant operating systems, but this is about to change dramatically in East Asia, where manufacturers in Japan, Korea, and to a lesser extent China, are rushing to commercialize Linux-embedded PDAs.”

“Developers in Japan and Korea have found it harder than they initially thought to port Linux to PDAs, and several have had to push back product launches from the middle of this year to early next year while ironing out the bugs. In China, Linux PDAs are probably a year away, with Linux developers concentrating on the PC market at present. But the Chinese government backs Linux, the biggest computer makers are putting Linux OS on servers and PCs, and several, including market-leader Legend, are branching out into PDA production.”

“The biggest Asian manufacturer of handhelds, Japan's Sharp Corp., announced it would launch a Linux PDA in the United States and Europe this month . . .”