Windows Loaded on 96 Percent of New Netbooks
Walk into a computer store and you’ll see nearly all notebooks preloaded with Windows Vista. Check out the netbooks, and you’ll see it’s nearly all Windows XP -- and nearly as in 96 percent.
We’ve been hearing lately that Windows XP will live on through various download programs, but until Windows 7 Starter Edition ships, the eight year old XP will still be ruling netbooks.
Citing NPD data, Microsoft says that 96 percent of all netbooks sold throughout February 2009 came with Windows. We presume that the vast majority of Windows-based netbooks run Windows XP rather than Vista.
Microsoft boasts that this is a huge win, as the same NPD source also had Windows as having less than 10 percent of the netbook pie during the first half of 2008.
That means that there’s been a dramatic shift away from Linux-based OS and towards Windows. Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc explains in the Windows Experience blog, “Because users simply expect the Windows experience. When they realize their Linux-based netbook PC doesn’t deliver that same quality of experience, they get frustrated and take it back. Here’s a telling stat: In the UK, Carphone Warehouse dropped Linux-based netbook PCs, citing customer confusion as a reason for a whopping 1-in-5 return rate.”
LeBlanc also explains that consumers are now expecting more out of their netbooks. Gone are the days of the small 7-inch screen that’s just to run Firefox and Open Office, users are now wanting the same things as a notebook, only smaller.
“Some believed consumers wouldn’t want or need their netbook PC to be a full-featured PC,” wrote LeBlanc. “In fact, the exact opposite turned out to be true – a number of analysts and researchers following the space see ample evidence indicating customers really DO want netbook PCs to work like their larger brethren – and that the way the vast majority of consumers make that happen is by buying a netbook PC with Windows.”
This point is no better proved than by the Asus Eee 1004DN with its inclusion of an optical drive. The Dell Mini 10 also includes an HDMI output, and promises eventual TV tuner and GPS support.
Obviously Microsoft likes having 96 percent of the market share (and probably wants more), but it cannot continue to run on Windows XP forever. LeBlanc reiterated the company’s aim to put Windows 7 on netbooks once again, saying, “Looking forward, we can confidently say that no matter how netbook PC hardware evolves, we’re gearing up to ensure that Windows 7 will run great on them. As we mentioned at PDC, we’ve been testing Windows 7 on netbook PCs since before Windows 7 was feature complete, and our plan is to enable these small notebook PCs to run any edition of Windows 7.”
Perhaps the best thing thrifty consumers have to expect from Windows 7-based netbooks is a price tag of around $200.
Why don't people just start calling them what they really are: Full Fledged Notebooks.
No kidding. A linux netbook to me is the best netbook you can have. It's fast, reliable and safe. You don't have to worry about adding virus protection and all that.
Why would you need Windows just to surf the internet?
Has the cost of netbooks gone up? Oh...
Well I thought that was obvious, there's no IE for Linux. The Linux users have been praying for MS to come and deliver the Internet as it should be to them but unfortunately it seems we'll have to make due with Firefox or Opera. Besides where's the fun in it if it's not easy to pick up some viruses on your netbook , will you have the same PC experience then ?
Seriously now I can understand Windows as an OS of choice , the interface is familiar to people ( though KDE looks pretty much the same ) and all the apps you know run perfectly. Software support is still lacking on Linux, Skype for instance has a pretty poor version for Linux compared to the Windows one and they're not open sourcing either.
Anyway the netbooks are going to split in 2 groups pretty soon , one will be high end Windows models and then there will be the arm based one for your basic needs. As a more geeky person though I have no problem with Linux and I can get almost all things I want done without Windows.
However, when I bought my fiancee a netbook, I got her one with Windows installed. The main reason was software support. I didn't want to buy her a portable computer that she couldn't use to play her favorite Shockwave games (lots of them still require IE or Windows). Everything else would have worked fine on Linux (Open Office, Opera/FireFox, IM), but it was the desire to take her games on the go that killed Linux.
Sadly, until software vendors realize that simple applications don't need to be tied to a platform (open protocols and languages like Java allow portability everywhere), we'll continue to see a world dominated by Windows, even for something as simple as a netbook.
This is, of course, ignoring people that want to transform a netbook from a portable net device into simply a "Cheap Notebook". Those people need to realize that's not what a netbook is for, thats what a cheap notebook is for.
To me, Netbooks are just not worth it, it doesn't save you any cost for what you're getting. It's like getting an Athlon X2 desktop for $1000, doesn't make sense to me.
If I have a favourite application, or several of them indeed, I want them on my desktop, laptop, netbook, kitchen PC, TV, and mobile phone as well.
So I'm all for this, and I can't wait for Win7 to come out, so people can trully have one OS that works on all these types of hardware. Well, except on mobile phones.. we'll leave that for Windows 8 or 9..
And yeah devs really need to develop cross platform apps. Java's great for simple apps and has become quite a standard. And also in games if you don't need crysis like graphics why can't you simply build a cross platform app using something like OGRE or Irllicht?
Windows in a netbook rules?! what about your antivirus, antispyware, firewall, antispam, antiphishing......
when you realize, you have paid a huge amount of money and have shrank your resources to the ground, and what are you going to do?? install office and internet explorer???
Linux is just great for this, since you do not have to worry about all those, do not have to pay for any protection of office suite, and works well.
The problem lays in mis-information from the very sellers!! they do not know any of this, and the buyer asks them for info? One seller even asked me what the s-video was when I was looking for a laptop!! and that is the man who recommends windows.... cant't believe it.
This should read more like it's a huge loss at customers are unwilling to take a chance with the current OS and instead are switching or downgrading. As far as "less than 10 percent of the netbook pie", perhaps they were referring to Windows - as in Vista. So this prediction could still have truth to it.
it's not accidental that windows is Prosperous! simply, it's the best!
Also drivers, most drivers of linux based systems come opensource, while the installation of XP often is modified from an OEM version.
Meaning, installing drivers on a Linux will be just the same as when you purchase a linux, while installing XP on a Lin system you might miss some drivers or software that come pre-installed on an XP pre-installed system!
i remember working developing software at these firms and i was not even able to update the perl version that they gave me. if i did i was like on a list of people to get rid of my stuff would not be deployed, ect.
here is a better one, i remeber when i worked at sun they would not even deploy the stuff i did in java, yes java!, it took forever, took a blessing from god, their it folks were like very nervous, because they had still not blessed java to be used, sure they were telling the world to use it. they feared java had some hole which would create a hole in their network, surreal, but it's true.
one more funny thing about sun, all their executives had / wanted very expensive laptops running the latest version of windows and the latest version of microsoft office, not solaris, not open office. it was surreal, but true.
so i'm not surrpised, however sadden, by the news item.
So is this news a big surprise? to me... though it is sad to say..... but it is not really a surprise to me....