A recent study conducted by NPD group reveals that most of the recent Netbook buyers have gone for Windows as the OS for their Netbook. The figures amounts upto 90% share for windows in Netbook market !
Windows released their new OS windows 7 for beta testing by real users. Many have tried Windows 7 on their netbooks, and felt that it runs very smoothly in Netbooks !
Why Windows is preferred over Linux on NetBooks ?
Windows is the much familiar operating system for a less tech savvy person. When I was thinking of buying a netbook, linux was in my mind, since I can play around with it without taking it as a headache. Thats not the case with every one. People just need a device which they can use straightforward without putting much time on configuring it.
I looked at the comparison chart provided by ASUSTek, the battery life ratings on the Windows version as well as the Linux version clearly shows a gap with the Windows XP netbook offering a better battery backup time compared to the Linux one… Will you got for lesser battery backup for the sake of using Linux? A device like netbook need to have a good battery backup time, no one can compromise on that for anything else.
Price-wise there is hardly any difference for the Windows version over the Linux version, when you are getting licensed Windows XP preloaded, do you need to look for another option? That too for a smaller difference in price.
There will be Windows 7 coming soon after the beta test and will certainly have a good period on Netbook after windows XP, and there comes Google’s Android which is being tried on Netbooks. In all, what is layman’s choice? That determines the success of an OS on Netbook, not what decided by just tech savvy linux people (including me !)