The netbook- a good idea killed
When Asian PC manufacturers began selling small, inexpensive PCs that came to be called “netbooks”, the idea seemed to be to provide something akin to the Internet appliance that I have talked about so often. The very name “netbook” shows what the original purpose was. A basic device with Linux already installed and intended primarily for Web surfing promised to provide a simple, inexpensive system for those many millions who are not interested in the complexities and cost of full-scale computing. It promised to be a new category of PC.
Alas, it was not to be, at least not yet. At first, Microsoft was caught off-guard by the success of the little devices and their inability to run (and lack of need for) Windows Vista. But Microsoft has no tolerance for systems without Windows and flexed its muscles. It quickly countered the Linux threat by extending the life of Windows XP and offering special deals to the makers of netbooks. Now the OEMs are responding by perverting the netbook idea. It is no longer a simple Internet device, filling the needs of countless millions of average people everywhere, but has morphed into something that is just a standard notebook with a slightly smaller screen and the same bloated software and operating system.
Microsoft had seen the terrible danger to its profits that would result once PC users experienced a simpler system and discovered the reality that they didn’t need Windows at all. The intense pressure from Microsoft and the possibility of selling more expensive machines has persuaded the OEMs to de-emphasize the original netbook concept. Their new offerings are getting bigger and more expensive and fewer have Linux. What passes for a netbook is rapidly becoming indistinguishable from a regular notebook.
Some observers believe that the bad economic situation will keep the original inexpensive Linux netbook viable. However, the Web is full of commentary on how Windows 7 will kill Linux on netbooks and Acer, one of the original netbook sellers, is now pushing a 10” model that is just a Windows notebook. It isn’t just Linux that is being killed. It is the whole idea of netbooks.
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