The Adventures of AlisterComputeron

With Microsoft reporting that Windows now runs on 96% of netbooks, the time of the Linux OS may have come and gone.

Various flavors of Linux OS’s dominated the netbook market when the form factor was first introduced.  But Windows has caught up quickly, and this is largely a shame.

I dual boot my Dell Mini 9 between Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux.  I much prefer booting to Linux, because the interface is cleaner and better suited to the smaller screen.  But I’m tech-savvy and like playing with different technologies.  The average users wants to stick with what’s familiar.

And I think it’s that familiarity with Windows that will keep it the dominate OS, regardless of the PC form factor on which it’s installed.

Despite the fact that Linux is more stable and more secure, the vast majority of users are comfortable with Windows.  They are familiar with Windows’ quirks; they know what to do when Windows freezes; they know how to end an app that has hung.  They know where everything is in Windows.

This familiarity factor may be one of the reasons that Windows Vista has been met with so much disdain.  Show users what Vista can do – as with the Mojave Experiment – and users think it’s cool.  Have them work with it hands-on and suddenly those cool differences become cumbersome.

If Linux doesn’t make it on netbooks, I don’t think it will ever become mainstream: Linux is a perfect OS for netbooks.  But not only is Linux locked in a battle with Windows, it has to fight human nature, too.  It’s human nature to stick with what’s familiar, and it’s human nature to fear the unknown.

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