"The biggest catalyst for the Linux revolution will be netbooks:
Gartner [IT] has predicted that about 8 million of the diminutive
machines will be sold next year, with that number rising to 50
million (yes, 5-0 million) by 2012. Right now, many netbooks come
pre-loaded with Windows XP, but Microsoft has set a deadline of
June 2010 for XP installations. Since most of the machines in
question feature low-power chips like Intel's [INTC] Atom and
inexpensive parts, and sell for less than $500, Windows Vista isn't
really an option; the per-machine licensing fee is too high, and
the software itself is too bulky and power-hungry for low-end
hardware.
"The way Windows is built is also anathema to the netbook
philosophy. It's coded to index, browse and execute local files
quickly and easily -- a task that is almost moot on netbooks, which
are geared toward working on the Web. Windows is also geared
towards handling multimedia, which netbooks don’t have the
hardware for; small hard drives, no optical drives, and weak video
cards mean that DVDs and music aren't really an option in the first
place. All the lowly netbook really wants is something to connect
it to the almighty cloud -- everything else is just dead
weight."
