Lets see, ask any non-nerd off the streets whether he knows anything about Linux. Chances are the first things that he shall tell you is that its supposed to be a free OS of some kind. He would know this even if he were not a nerd and even if he has never tried out Linux in his or her lifetime. And as a matter of fact, his statement would be completely correct.
Linux is open source and unless you would like to buy it off the shelf like from Red Hat, you are not charged anything to install it. You could take it off the net completely free. You know that, I know that and the non-nerd knows that. However a big IT company such as Asus does not.
Asustek is recommending the Linux eeePC to be 50$ more than the Windows version (in Australia). Which makes absolutely no sense in my opinion. One would actually expect them to give the Linux version cheaper if not at the same price. But by ripping off consumers who would be able to save more in the long term by being able to use free softwares on the Linux system, Asus is making sure that I never recommend them to anyone.
Fellow Australians, if you were in the market for an eeePC then look around, there are plenty of low cost alternates out there. From companies who dont take us consumers as fools.