Windows ruling Netbook market
Recent proclamation by Microsoft citing market research statistics from NPD that 96% of netbooks market is dominated by Windows OS is in fact, a revelation. It was believed that Netbooks where the size and processing has been optimized to carry out the basic tasks like surfing the web, sending mails and simple word processing tasks, would have to be dependent upon Open Source Linux or the Google Android Operating System for netbooks.
But the way Windows OS has reportedly garnered the market share leaving its rival Linux behind has baffled many analysts. Netbooks are now predominantly running Windows XP. Netbooks is the only segment in PC market which in expected to show positive growth during this fiscal. And a market share of 96% must obviously mean windfall for Microsoft, the dominant player in the OS segment. But probably not so. Microsoft has long been grappling with the problem of piracy. It is rumored that for every Windows OS sold there is at least one pirated copy floating around in the market.
Instances of Vista on netbooks have been rare and as it considerably slows down the system. However Windows 7 which is expected to be released in 2009, is expected to have a definite netbook version. Microsoft it seems is well poised to maintain their dominant position in netbooks also.
We all in the open source community love Linux and would like to see it evolve and mature. But the fact of the matter is Linux has promised a lot but the figures in netbooks segment now suggest otherwise.
LeBlanc, Microsoft’s In House blogger writes in his blog.
It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since we first started to see netbook PCs running Windows come to market,” said Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft’s in-house Windows blogger, in a post.
Not only are people overwhelmingly buying Windows, but those that try Linux are often returning it.
The reason that people are returning Linux netbooks, has more to do with their individual preferences and familiarity with the Windows OS. Most of the single users who have tried Linux on their netbooks have grown in Windows environment and though Linux does everything what a Windows OS is expected to do but familiarity of features plays heavily in to the minds of a common user.
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