Why Windows is winning the netbook war

11. quote::"Lo!" said Henry Lee of Acer Computer Australia. "Our Windows XP netbooks are outselling Linux machines by more than 9 to 1! That's pretty much the case both in Australia and worldwide!"

You can't find Linux netbooks, other than the Asus, in Australia with any operating system other than Windows, and even the Asus is hard to find in anything other than the 7 inch model with Linux. The manufacturers are simply not sending them to Australia. I know how difficult it is to source netbooks from wholesalers, in fact I have to buy them with windows, and upgrade them to Linux, in order to satisfy my customers with Linux powered netbooks, as I am told the manufacturers treat Australia like the a***hole of the world and dump what ever is left of the runs here, which means we usually only get Windows.

10. Many less sophisticated users can't tell the office suite from the OS. I have listened to hours of complaints about Vista, almost all of which were actually about Office 2007. So, maybe Linux netbooks would sell better if Open Office looked more like MS Office 2003? Just a thought:)

9. @swiftnet: good point about long-term performance. I think it's an immediate issue too, because in addition to XP you'll need to load up on security software, so that's going to have a processor overhead and a RAM overhead that you won't have on Linux.

I think you're right about 12" netbooks too :)

8. @a.n.other/Frank: I really don't think it's a synthetic controversy, and the article isn't intended as flame bait. What's interesting to me is that in an exceptionally short time frame netbooks have gone from a Linux Trojan Horse - that is, people want netbooks, they buy netbooks, they get used to Linux and think hey! This Linux is great! I'm going to run it on my desktop! - to just another Windows box.

We're told again and again that the secret to tech is to build a better mousetrap, but the netbook situation suggests it's not that simple. And I think that's fascinating.

7. This line is great... quote "I used to run Linux on my main desktop back in '98, and it was just a royal pain."

Dude, that was 11 years ago, lol.

6. Windows is what people know. Ask a salesperson at an electronics superstore which OS should you buy and you'll hear 'Windows' because that is what they know. I use Linux for several reasons, I feel it is a superior OS. I prefer apps such as firefox, abiword, and gnumeric. The reason for the apps is familiarity, no idea if they are superior to MS apps, although I must say I don't have the same problems Windows users do. Current netbooks don't run Windows XP that well. They are sluggish and only get worse over time. Linux runs better on current netbooks. Most people don't know this. They also don't know that the linux netbook comes with a full office suite. Ignorance is bliss. What will happen is netbooks will grow to 12" get more power, ram and will increase in price. These will be winbooks. The smaller cheaper Linux based netbooks will still be around.

5. @a.n.other: that's part of the problem, IMO. Instead of shouting "Conspiracy!", what are Linux evangelists doing to engage the people who know Windows and who don't have the time or inclination to learn another OS? What are the benefits for people who currently use Windows, Firefox and OpenOffice.org?

4. @ a.n.other: I have no idea, and as the editor-in-chief, that's the way I like it

3. Chris, I don't think Microsoft is being a bully here: it's spotted a gap in the market where it couldn't compete, and it's changed focus to address that market. It's not bullying, it's sensible business. Microsoft has done some anti-competitive things in the past, and if it were paying OEMs to put XP in there instead of Linux then yeah, it would be anti-competitive. But it isn't. And that's the point, really: even though the machines are more expensive than the linux ones, people are paying extra for Windows.

The best comparison I can think of this early in the day is Blu-Ray. Is Blu-ray technically superior to DVD? You bet. Are there any Blu-Ray discs in my local supermarket? Nope. If the supermarket believed it would make money from selling blu-ray, it'd sell them. But right now the people in my town don't want Blu-Ray, and the supermarket isn't in the business of putting things on shelves that won't sell.

I don't believe the average computer user is thick. Far from it. But I do think most people buy PCs in the same way they buy home entertainment kit. A tiny minority give a **** about the particular chipset or how many bits the DAC has or whether the internals have been soldered with angels' hair, but most people go - does it do what I want? Is it going to annoy me? Can I afford it?

2. I'm so getting tired of these instigated Windows-Linux wars on tech blogs... It's all about market power anyway, nothing else. They sell the Eee in Belgium allright, but ONLY with Windows. The Linux version, you simply can't find it in the shop. Why? Just Microsoft being up to it's usual bully business tactics. And why do people keep buying windows anyway? Well now, let's see... I'll use a quote by Bill Gates, the Microsoft man himself: "The average computer user has the brainpower of a spidermonkey". He couldn't have said it any better.

And for all the Microsoft fanboys out there, yes, it's YOU, his customers he's talking about.

1. Linux is fun in a geeky kind of way, but ultimately it feels as though it's lacking. Personally I perform a lot of tasks with my computer, ranging from playing the latest video games to music production, software engineering and visual art, and all the other stuff imbetween, and simply Windows does it best. I've tried all the major Linux distros, I used to run Linux on my main desktop back in '98, and it was just a royal pain. Sure Windows has its problems, but all the best software *by miles* is developed for Windows.