Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 13th Aug 2008 12:10 UTC, submitted by judgen
As we all know by now, netbooks are the latest craze in the computing world. Small notebooks, perfect for on the go, and relatively cheap. The interesting thing is that these netbooks are often offered with Linux pre-installed instead of Windows, and this prompts many to believe that it is the netbook niche where Linux will gain its first solid foothold among the general populace. "It does a lot to level the playing field. In fact, Linux looks to be quick out of the gate," said Jay Lyman, analyst with the 451 Group. However - is that really happening?
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Member since:
2007-07-26
Even if a large group of netbook owners have installed Windows on their device, how many actually paid for a new copy of XP rather than just installing one they already had? So Microsoft would not be getting paid for another license but the Linux distro of choice for that device would be. This is the same effect as buying a computer with Windows installed then wiping it out for Linux but never trying to get your money back for your Windows license. I would also like to point out you can find tons of information on and people asking questions about getting Linux installed on their computers that once had windows. Apparently this only adds up to about 4% of the users, maybe it's the same figure for netbooks.
Ultimately just like in the PC world most systems sold with Windows stay with Windows installed. I'm sure most Linux netbooks sold will always have Linux installed.