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:
2008-07-15
Are you aware of the emerging evidence that Linux versions of these netbooks are out-selling Windows versions?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/pc
In some recent news about netbooks it transpired that one model (I think it was an EEEPC) had been produced 50% Linux and 50% Windows, and the Linux versions had sold out but there were still plenty of Windows machines available.
For the significant majority of machines sold the OS will not be changed for the life of the machine. Most people do not have the ability or the confidence to install a different OS.
PS: As far as more general machines go, this is an interesting development:
http://www.linuxloop.com/news/2008/08/11/select-dell-notebooks-now-...
This is exactly why I believe sales figures really never tell the story of how many users are using any platform. There's a couple reasons I can think of that people would buy the Linux version:
* For Linux, obviously
* You can sometimes get more bang for the buck buying the Linux models, case in point being the EEE PC 901. The XP version comes with a total of 12gb of SSD, the Linux version is 20gb total. That's 8 more gb for the same price. Many people will simply see that and won't look at the operating system it's running because honestly, consumers for the most part don't care. And, as long as the provided Linux does everything they need, they probably won't feel the need to change it. A lot of people are looking at these not as computers, but as appliances like their cel phones. If you ask an ordinary consumer what operating system their cel phone's running, they wouldn't be able to tell you. I think in a lot of cases the same is beginning to apply to these netbooks.
Still, there's no way of knowing how many users install Windows on their netbook, or pay someone to do it. I think that the netbook market may be one area where Linux may eventually gain a hold, but it won't be desktop linux that gets it, and that's an important distinction. The consumer who's seeing Linux is not seeing SuSE, Ubuntu, or Fedora, even if Linpus (yick, what a name) is based on Fedora. The end users see the desktop, and it's not Fedora's desktop. It's not even Linpus's desktop. It's a manufacturer-customized interface, with each netbook being different. This, in my mind, contributes to the appliance feel for most people rather than the computer feel.
So, is Linux gaining a foothold here? Possibly. But due to the nature of these pre-installed distros, don't expect Desktop usage to skyrocket, even if every netbook bought with Linux keeps running it. These custom distros are optimized to fit the hardware exactly, and to make using the netbook easier. Simple as that. The experience they have with Linux on a netbook is not going to be what they get on the desktop. The same kind of users who need to install XP are the same kind of users who need to install a standard Linux distro--they either have specific needs, or just want a standard environment.