When Netbooks first appeared on the scene almost two years ago, most of them were shipped with the free open sourced Linux operating system. That was until Microsoft got a whiff of the success of Netbooks and dropped their license fee for Windows XP and soon dominated the whole Netbook market.
So what happened to Linux? Apparently Lenovo’s competitive analyst Matt Kohut claimed that Linux has no future on Netbooks because, “there were a lot of returns because people didn’t know what to do with it.”
Others are arguing that people were just more familiar with Microsoft and didn’t have to worry about compatibility issues with their peripherals and such like but can this be the only reason that Linux has been superseded by Microsoft? I don’t think so.
Some companies are still offering Linux based operating systems, like Dell for example, but a lot of the time with many companies you actually have to go and ask for it. Lenovo in particular are making it difficult if not impossible for customers to purchase one of their ThinkPads with Linux.
Some argue that Linux is more difficult to use if you are not familiar with it. However, exactly the same can be said about Windows and to a new user Windows would appear like a minefield and many Netbook users are in fact first time buyers.
The truth is that whether its Linux or Windows operating systems that are installed, they are as easy as each other for day to day tasks, it’s when things go wrong that there’s a problem and most wouldn’t have a clue what to do with either system if that happens.
So maybe the main reason that Microsoft is dominant is because we are simply not being given the chance to choose.
What we’ve seen already with Netbooks is how quickly things can change. The first Netbooks had smaller screens, smaller keyboards and limited processing power; nowadays they are almost like entry level laptops.
Netbooks are experiencing a huge surge in popularity and what we are demanding now are lower priced Netbooks that pack more of a punch.
There are companies keen to see free open sourced Linux as the operating system on Netbooks and we’re hearing a lot about Google’s Android appearing on Netbooks, which is of course a Linux based operating system that is currently used on mobile phones.
If Android makes the jump to Netbooks and there’s no real reason to believe it shouldn’t, Linux could make a comeback and Microsoft may well be pushed off their perch
If you want to find out all the latest news on tech why not subscribe to our RSS feed?
Leave a Reply