Will Windows XP keep ruling the netbook?

section: windows, for your questions: KezNews forum, 10.4.2009

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Since the shipment last year of the earliest netbooks, Linux has fallen drastically behind Windows XP, according to new research by two industry analyst groups, Ovum and the NPD Group.

Meanwhile, some people are touting both Windows 7 and the Android variant of Linux as future replacements of sorts for the existing netbook operating systems. Specifically, XP's share of netbook units shipped soared from less than 10% in the first half of 2008 to 96% as of February 2009, according to data released this week by NPD Retail Tracking Service.

"After a strong start, Linux netbooks have been overtaken by Windows," concurred Laurent Lachal, an Ovum analyst, in summing up the results of a new netbook report by Ovum.

But the Ovum analyst also pinpointed Google's Android as a Linux distribution that might work out better than its predecessors as a netbook OS.

Just this week, an Acer executive cast doubt on the notion that either Android or Windows 7 has reached readiness yet for netbooks.

Undoubtedly, the massive shift to XP is partly due to the late arrival of viable Windows-based netbooks. Asus led the way with a Linux netbook at the start of 2008. By November, however, Asus' emphasis had turned to XP -- in the United States, at least.

"Linux is going well for us, especially in Europe. But now we're focusing on Windows XP, becauuse a lot of people find it easier to use," Josh Norem, senior technical marketing specialist at Asus, told Betanews at a pre-CES press event in New York City in January.

source: betanews.com
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