Blog: Android netbooks will fall to Windows stronghold, Linux indifference
- 09 June, 2009 11:34
- Comments (5)
Should Microsoft be scared about Google expanding its mobile OS Android to netbooks? Well, how scared can a company be when it owns 98 percent market share of something?
Not very. Let's face it: The netbook "battle" between Windows and Linux is a straight-up massacre.
At least for now. Android could be the young buck that can turn the netbook market on its ear. Who else could do it? Apple? Puh leeze. The whole point of netbooks is low price and we all know Apple doesn't do "low price."
But a Linux/Android netbook will compete well on price, likely to cost $50 to $100 less than a netbook running Windows XP.
I think most people interested in the PC industry want Android on netbooks now, for more choice, a better price, longer battery life and to see if Google can actually be a PC player. The same way that many people want Microsoft to go after King Google on search (Bing!), just as many want to see Google challenge the powerful Windows OS on PCs. There are many layers in this war of tech titans.
It's unknown exactly when Google will deliver Android to the netbook masses, but PC maker Acer lit a spark this week. It announced it will begin selling a version of its Aspire One netbook running Android by the third quarter of this year. A few days later, Acer then announced that its Android netbook will come with Windows in a dual-boot configuration, which took some luster away from the big news.
Chip makers are also hovering around Android, with both Intel and smartphone chip developer ARM Holdings clamoring for use on Android-based netbooks. Acer's Android netbook will use Intel's low-power Atom microprocessor.
But Android netbooks using ARM-based chips are also in the works and promise the best price, battery life and energy efficiency. Some of the ARM-based machines are being dubbed "smartbooks", a somewhat redundant category that Microsoft is not threatened by. The PC version of Windows does not work with ARM-based chips and so Microsoft will not offer Windows on so-called smartbooks.
Nonetheless, netbooks remain a daunting prospect for Google. Sure, the Google brand name provides some comfort, but public indifference to Linux will be a tough cross to bear.
Say what you want about Linux and all its wonderful freeness and support — a tiny percentage of people use it (about 3 percent of netbook users in the U.S.). Microsoft recently wrote on its Windows Team blog about how Windows netbook market share is now 98 percent and how the UK's biggest computing retailer has stopped selling Linux netbooks in its stores.
Why don't people use Linux? It could be fear. Or long-time comfort and trust with Windows and its compatibility. Or it could just be that most business users and consumers don't know what the hell Linux is. They don't know Linux from a Lexus.
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Comments
Anonymous
blog_android_netbooks_will_fall_windows_stronghold_linux_indiffe
Windows would have something to fear if stockists would sell/order linux, Android or any other OS besides Windows, but they do not. Do you know how much more expensive a linux netbook is to the windows one? It's stupid why pay more for something free. I'll buy a windows netbook and format it for the OS I want (like most do) because it's cheaper and I can then reinstall windows if I want. I can't see Android being any different (at least here in AUS)
benfrank
nice comedy piece
Don't waste your time, it's just flamebait. No real information, nothing of value, just a big ugly waste of space. It should be a sin to waste any opportunity to publish something of value, and instead run sensationalistic, inaccurate crud like this.
Anonymous
No Windows on ARM
A number of netbooks will run the ARM processor and are not i86 compatible. Microsoft has already gone on record that they will not port Windows to that platform, thereby ceding the field to Linux.
Anonymous
it's all about choice
I don't think Google is out for "world domination" with Android *at all* it's not something they charge for, it's not something they make direct money off of. It's simple an additional mechanism to deliver network content to devices (mainly phones). Google wouldn't be cooperating with Apple on Google apps on the iPhone if they were out to "dethrone" Apples iPhone. It doesn't make sense for them. The fact of the matter is: when more people are connected to online content, Google has a better market to sell too. Plain and simple. They are not trying to "beat" anyone, they simply want to get connectivity more widespread. I'm surprised more people to catch onto this.
Magice
Wake up, please
Either you are utterly ignorant, or you are trying to spread FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Despair). Anyway, wake up.
First and foremost, Android (or any flavor of GNU/Linux for that matter) provides the producers of netbooks and similar devices extreme freedom:
1. Cost freedom: They can invest as much money as they wish, and as little as they want, into the OS. Windows is fixed price
2. Content freedom: they can customize the system into their own needs; for example, some companies in Europe are planning to remove Google from Android, and replace it with a specialized set of application
3. Taste freedom: the producers can put whatever interface they want into their products, much like how mobile phones are today. Each product will have a distinct taste, even at software level
4. Install-base freedom: Windows comes with strict restriction on where you can install a software. Nonsense! Instead, you can install Android on whatever device you can make it work. Remember: GNU/Linux works on more platforms than Windows. Much more
Plus, Windows 7 for netbooks (aka starter version) is a dumbed down version, with no graphic effects, no streaming media, no Windows Media Player, no DVD player, etc. etc. etc. Earlier, it couldn't run more than 3 applications. Yeah, right. Like I will buy that! Plus, it cannot be installed on devices surpassing a certain size/power. Again, yeah, right.
Massacre? Excuse me, but Windows has never been able to kill anything GNU or Linux related. The communities have never decreased in sizes (if not increase). The developers, from my research, are moving toward either Mac (overpriced) or GNU/Linux (free and liberated). Nowadays, GNU/Linux boasts applications for every need, from programming to 3D games. And, GNU/Linux is offered everywhere, from mobile phones (including Android) to desktops and laptops (Dell comes to mind) and up all the way to server. Massacre? Massacre with deep financial losses? Mass lay-off? Yeah, right.
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