No matter what happens, Asustek can always lay claim to the fact that they were the company that produced the first ever Netbook. It was just less than two years ago now and that first Netbook sparked off a raging Netbook war that is still being strategically fought by computer manufacturers and developers today.
It was of course the Asus Eee. An ultraportable mini computer that was inexpensive to buy and easy to use, and the entire stock of the first units produced, all of them running on free open sourced Linux, were snapped up in a matter of months.
The first Netbook was inspired by a laptop for every child, however, sales of Netbooks have skyrocketed as people started buying them as a second or even a third device and there’s no reason to believe that the popularity of these devices will diminish any time soon.
Ok so nowadays things have changed quite a bit. Netbooks are not the dinky little things they used to be, we are seeing them with larger screens, better specs, even full sized keyboards and most of them are shipping with Windows instead of Linux
Netbooks are popular for providing quick access to the Net but also for entertainment purposes and there are many applications that you can download to use on your Netbook. The following are just a few of the free applications available:
Ø Fancy yourself as a stargazer? Stellarium is a planetarium where you are able to view the night skies, constellations and planets in 3D from any coordinates.
Ø If you want something for the kids then GCompris will enhance their computer skills, and aid learning in maths, science, geography and reading. It also offers games to stimulate those young brain cells.
Ø FBReader is basically an e-book reader
Ø For the gamers amongst you there is BosWars, a futuristic real time strategy game or Enigma, a puzzle game inspired by Oxyd on the Atari ST and Rock’n'Roll on the Amiga.
Ø There are many other applications too for managing your money, creating diagrams and flow charts, word processing, and heaps more.
We are all aware that the world is suffering from an economic crisis at the moment but Netbooks are cheap and convenient, or like the early techies used to say “good enough to use and cheap enough to lose” and by making use of some of the free applications available, we can all enhance our Netbook experience without breaking the bank.
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Great post. That info really came in handy for me.. I’ll be coming back later to read the rest of the articles.
Thank you