Being among those quick to realize that Linux is not for everyone due to a combination of legacy apps or for other reasons, asking users to rely on an OS from 2001 is just asking for security problems. Yet this is exactly what Microsoft has been doing. Despite the price being asked being reasonable, the problem is the fact that XP is security wasteland. Even Vista, be it not an OS I was impressed with, is more secure by leaps and bounds.
I feel that on the netbook front, for those wanting to be able to use webcams, digital cameras and maybe do some email checking/blogging, desktop Linux provides all one could possibly need. Best of all, it is not like the user is forced to scour the house for their now lost MS Office CDs w/ licenses to boot. This stuff comes out of the box with distros included on the netbooks of today.
This being said, what will be interesting is how Windows 7 will be received. Vastly better than XP and Vista, considering it does not require a new PC investment to operate, Windows 7 might put people off however as the version to be included on some netbooks will have application used at once limits of three at a time. Then again, with the netbook’s limited resources, this might not be a big deal? It’s not like I would be using more than three apps at once on a netbook when I use Ubuntu on a netbook, right? Realizing this, I think it will come down to what is recognized out of the box when each user is buying their selected netbook.
Speaking for myself, I own NOTHING that is not recognized out of the box with Ubuntu. And this includes wireless, one all-in-one printer that I connect to over the network hosted by Ubuntu, plus all of my webcams and digital cameras. Even my wireless Wii guitar is supported with no silly driver hunts.
Windows? Should be interesting to see how Windows 7 does here once it is released. Likely, there will be a lot of hardware support out of the box as I believe this to be focus based on my own early testing, but something tells me that there will also be a LOT of install CDs needed despite this. Call it a hunch based on past experience with XP and Vista…after service packs for each.
Disclaimer: I am stating the facts based on personal experiences. I am sharing what does and does not work. Simple as that. Even the opinion given on the security problems is based on the fact that XP is NOT a secure OS by any stretch of the imagination. Vista might be, but XP is simply not.