Netbook Digest

Via Ars Technica:

9 out of 10 netbooks sold run Windows.  Windows/Intel has dominated the computing market for as long as anyone can remember, but at least one market analyst is predicting an upheaval and is citing the new focus on efficiency and low-power that has come with the netbook revolution as the catalyst.

Robert Castellano from The Information Network is daring to predict the future is going to be an Linux/ARM one.  Castellano says the onset of cloud computing will make local storage obsolete and consequentially lower netbook costs to levels that Windows/Intel simply won’t be able to compete with.  When a fully equipped netbook only costs $2oo, that extra $50 for a Windows operating system all of a sudden seems like much more.

This isn’t the first time a rogue analyst has sung Microsoft’s swan song, but Castellano makes a strong case.  2 or 3 years down the road in a market as new and volatile as this anything is feasible.  There’s never been any question that Linux is a more efficient system, but that’s never been the problem when it comes to sales.  People have always been reluctant to purchase an OS they’re unfamiliar with, and despite the numerous advantages Linux offers, people on the whole are unfamiliar with it.  Linux greater prevalence in the netbook market is slowly changing this fact however.  As more and more people own netbooks and Linux starts to become less of the bargain option and more the efficient option, a Linux utopia filled with Linux computers running on ARM processors might become a reality.