HP will most likely not be taking part in the 'I'm Linux' marketing campaign then.

In fact, it would appear that HP will no longer be providing customers in the UK with a Linux option for the new HP Mini 1000 netbook. Which is not the case for the US market where one of the three available versions will, indeed, be running Linux.

An HP spokesperson told IT Pro in the UK that it remains committed to the UK netbook market as a whole and it had "assessed the current EMEA market" and concluded that the Windows powered HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition "better address the market and consumer needs" and so it had determined that the only Linux option, the HP Mini 1000 with Mobile Internet Experience, "will not be introduced in EMEA."

Oddly enough, the Vivienne Tam version which runs Windows XP is the most expensive in the range and retails at around £450. Hardly in the whole netbook spirit of small in size and small in price, now is it?

According to some sources the new HP Mini 2140 will also come without any Linux option, although you will be able to pick between XP and Vista. Again, US customers do get the open source option in the shape of the Ubuntu derived Mobile Internet Experience version or SuSE.

Even the news that HP will make MIE Linux available as a download for UK users is of little comfort to anyone who has had to pay the extra up-front to buy a machine with an OS they do not want, and which has cost them an additional premium, now is it?

What do you reckon, has HP lost the plot here? Does it really think that there is so little demand for Linux in the UK, or is this just a money making exercise that it could not get away with in the US?