Released on July 8th? Think again.

So, it seems that no party wants to take responsibility for the delays of the Eee PCs. I would like to have the new Eee 901 in hand, but I am not desperate. What I dislike most about this situation is that no information is being provided to those of us who made pre-orders. Seriously, this is 2008: Worldwide communication should not be complicated.

I have made a few calls to find the status even though no one wants to help. I started with Amazon, hoping that they might have stock and working on getting the products shipped. I don’t think I could have gotten a more dry, pre-fabricated answer. No matter how I phrased the questions, all I could get out of the rep was basically, “When you receive an email, it will have information on shipping and arrival.” Wow, I didn’t realize Amazon forwarded me to the “Captain Obvious” department…

This is Captain Obvious, obviously!

Next, I gave a call to Asus after seeing many stories floating around the internet about production delays, customs delays, or deals with Microsoft. After being transferred everywhere, I finally was able to talk to the notebook sales department. It seems the Eee 901 and 1000 series are delayed due to production issues. The rep told me they are estimating another week of delay and hoping for an availability date of July 23rd.

If you decide to call, be sure to mention you are interested in the Linux version, because they will automatically assume that you want the Windows version…

Even though I don’t like the wait, it is better knowing not to expect it before July 23rd. If only I could request one even with the software bugs, because it won’t have Xandros long for me. Bring on the Ubuntu Netbook Remix!

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