Here is another example of selling a technology as "secure" simply because it doesn't involve Windows. Linux has it's share of vulnerabilities. For that matter, so do Firefox and Skype.
Marketing any desktop solution as secure will encourage users to ignore security best practices. Additionally, Splashtop will allow the mounting of external storage; though the system's main hard drive is not being connected, it's not too hard to imagine a scenario where malware is either installed on an external USB drive and then migrates to the system drive at the next full boot or where malware installs some custom code during runtime that allows the mounting of the system drive.
Calling anything "secure" in marketing literature is just asking for trouble.
From ZDNet UK:
On Wednesday, DeviceVM, the company behind the distribution, said the hardware manufacturer would be putting Splashtop — which Asus calls "Express Gate" — into a million motherboards a month. Splashtop includes a Firefox-derived browser and the Skype internet-telephony application.
Splashtop is described by DeviceVM as a "secure web-surfing environment", and is embedded on motherboards so that it can be booted within seconds, as an alternative to booting up a full operating system. It first appeared on high-end Asus motherboards in October 2007 and has since been put onto the more mainstream M3 series, but, according to Joe Hsieh, general manager of Asus' motherboard business unit, it will now be extended to the entire range. [From Asus to embed Linux into all motherboards - ZDNet.co.uk]
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