Ubuntu Linux creator: "Delighted" at Windows 7's "excellent release"

Preston, check your facts please.

You quoted just one study of brick and mortar stores from March of 2009 to assert that 90% of all netbooks sold are Windows based. I would counter by asking the obvious question: What about online sales?

Dell has said repeatedly that one third of their netbook sales are Linux, not MS Windows. Returns of those Linux netbooks are in line with Windows returns, so the people who are buying them seem to be happy with them. As final proof of Dell's success in selling Linux (specifically Ubuntu) devices, they have continued to expand their offerings to include more of their laptops and desktops. Relevant links:

April 2008:
Computerworld -- "A year later, sales of Linux on Dell computers continue to grow"

February 2009:
Laptop Magazine -- "One Third of Dell Inspiron Mini 9s Sold Run Linux"

August 2009:
OS News -- "Close to a Third of Dell Netbooks Ship with Linux"

IT World -- "Dell, Linux, Netbooks, and Microsoft Lies"

PC World -- "Dell Looks to Linux to Expand Netbook Presence"

The small specialist Linux companies are also seeing a surge in demand. System76 saw a 61% increase in revenue year over year for the first quarter of 2009.

Works With U -- "System76: Ubuntu PC Maker’s Revenue Up 61 Percent"

Since a large fraction of all PC sales are still sold online, I would assume that netbooks follow the same model. In fact, given that shipping costs for netbooks has to be substantially lower than for PCs, I wouldn't be surprised if the proportion of online sales was more than half of all netbook sales.

Preston, check your facts please.

You quoted just one study of brick and mortar stores from March of 2009 to assert that 90% of all netbooks sold are Windows based. I would counter by asking the obvious question: What about online sales?

Dell has said repeatedly that one third of their netbook sales are Linux, not MS Windows. Returns of those Linux netbooks are in line with Windows returns, so the people who are buying them seem to be happy with them. As final proof of Dell's success in selling Linux (specifically Ubuntu) devices, they have continued to expand their offerings to include more of their laptops and desktops. Relevant links:

April 2008:
Computerworld

February 2009:
Laptop Magazine

August 2009:
OS News

IT World

PC World

The small specialist Linux companies are also seeing a surge in demand. System76 saw a 61% increase in revenue year over year for the first quarter of 2009.

Works With U

Since a large fraction of all PC sales are still sold online, I would assume that netbooks follow the same model. In fact, given that shipping costs for netbooks has to be substantially lower than for PCs, I wouldn't be surprised if the proportion of online sales was more than half of all netbook sales.

Google Chrome OS ...

... may be the game changer for Linux on netbooks. It will not look anything like the Linux we are all used to (think of your favorite, or least favorite, distro). Except for the Google Chrome web browser, the applications will be internet-based, even if they are used offline at times. No more having to keep your apps updated, as it will be done on the web server(s) (think distributed Linux servers for Google).

Kind of like Apple Mac OS X looks nothing like BSD. Even though Mac OS X has strong UNIX roots, most users have no idea.