Android netbooks on their way, likely by 2010

[greggh]

http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/01/andro ... y-by-2010/

The image above shows a netbook Asus EEEPC 1000H running on Google’s mobile operating system Android. Huh? You thought Android was for mobile phones, right? Well, as we’ve written before, Google is planning to use Android for any device — not just the mobile phones.

Besides writing as freelancers for VentureBeat, we also run a startup called Mobile-facts. It took us about four hours of work to compile Android for the netbook. Having done so, we (Daniel Hartmann, that is) got the netbook fully up and running on it, with nearly all of the necessary hardware you’d want (including graphics, sound and the wireless card for internet) running. See the images below for further impressions.

Here’s the significance: Imagine the billion dollar market at stake here if Google can make good on this vision. Netbooks are basically small-scale PCs. For Silicon Valley myriad of software companies, it means a well-backed, open operating system that is open and ripe for exploitation for building upon. Now think of Chrome, Google’s web browser, and the richness it allows developers to build into the browser’s relationship with the desktop — all of this could usher in a new wave of more sophisticated web applications, cheaper and more dynamic to use. Ramifications abound: What does it mean for the stock price of Microsoft? Microsoft currently owns the vast majority of the desktop operating system market share? In recent weeks, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer repeatedly dismissed Android as competition to Windows Mobile.

Back to our experience in compiling Android for the Asus netbooks. It shows us that there is a big technology push to let Android run on netbooks under way.

F**k Android. And f**k Google.

[LinuxMint-4]

"Ramifications abound: What does it mean for the stock price of Microsoft? Microsoft currently owns the vast majority of the desktop operating system market share? In recent weeks, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer repeatedly dismissed Android as competition to Windows Mobile."
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Again...clueless MSFT can't get it. They didn't see the netbook market coming despite their Billions of dollars and talented and highly paid developers and market analysts . As it was they had to drag XP out of the grave after declaring it all but dead just so they run it on the netbooks (in hopes of keeping Linux from taking away any source of potential revenue) after they were caught totally unprepared like a deer in the proverbial headlights.

Their Zune is a laughing stock, Vista is a joke, respected IT sites are telling users not to use Internet Exploder, Open source mandates from all over the globe including Russia spells big trouble for MSFT. And now Emballmer can't even see a new operating system that can run not only on phones but now netbooks.

While this could be a threat to Linux and its growth, the decked is still stacked against us. Sure a Linux netbook is available at Best Buy, but it is the weakest netbook for sale for $279 with only a 4 GB hard drive.

The other one @ BB sells for $299 ($20 more) contains a 8 GB hard drive and Windows XP (that classic operating system from the turn of the century..well almost...lol ). From that point on all the other netbooks are Windows XP with 160 GB hard drives for another $50 or more.

Micro Center isn't all that much better, seems they had some EEE PC's for clearance, but you had to ask for it (almost like one would ask for a porn film in a shady book store thats keeps them behind the counter).

If Android netbooks are a success and with Google's name recognition, and it being a alternative to Windows....it might help pave the way for Linux to finally get some more market share too in the long run.

But tactics like what Best Buy and Micro Center are doing...is not helping Linux one bit. And Android ...it is still early in the game...but something to look out for.