3 ms·

Netbooks Don't Have to Die

8 points by abennett 17y ago

SamAtt 17y ago
I don't disagree with the post but I think this kind of discussion is largely pointless. The media loves to say "That is dead" because it makes a good headline. But it doesn't mean anything. An example: how many years has it been since people declared the PDA dead at the hands of the smartphone? Yet all these years later there are still PDAs for sale (http://tinyurl.com/ydeufwh http://tinyurl.com/ydeufwh) Netbooks has a future as long as there's a reasonable market for people who don't want to pay a monthly fee for a smartbook (and I think that will be a long, long time). They may be overtaken in sales but I don't know if that really matters to those who want a netbook as long as they can still get one.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  By saying "X doesn't have to die" you're getting all of the sensationalism of "X is dead" but get to take the moderate stance while doing so.
tptacek 17y ago
Oh look. Another abennet IT World submission. Flagged. The highest-scored IT World post ever submitted here got 50 points. That's an anomaly, because the vast majority of abennett's IT World submissions get only one point ever (according to searchyc). Can we just ban this source?
- ilamont 17y ago
  So you want to ban the source based on a lack of points, or just because you don't like the source?
  - tptacek 17y ago
    Based on the fact that it's being spammed here, and that the stories rarely contribute to the site.
  - drats 17y ago
    I wouldn't ban it. However it's worth pointing out some of their other headlines: "Learn How To Print Pages In Order with Ink Jet Printers" "MS says you don't have to check some files for viruses. Bad idea." Perhaps not HN material. Edit: also have a look at abennet's submissions (all from itworld, every day): "Migrating favorites in IE, Firefox, and Chrome" "Essential Windows Tricks" http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=abennett http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=abennett Some of the articles might be relevant to HN, but this person isn't part of the community with those silly ones and is just spamming. I wouldn't be surprised if it was automated.
- drats 17y ago
  Indeed, the first result for "netbook growth" on Google is from 1st September 2009 and is titled "Report: Netbook Growth Continues Unabated". A better title might have been "Netbook form-factor here to stay" and talked more about form factors of newer possibilities (tablets) and how the "subnotebook/premium netbooks" haven't pushed down sales of the cheaper ones. But even his discussion there is lacking as he writes as if netbooks are being primarily driven by business users, which is ridiculous given I have yet to see a business user with one (although I am sure there are) compared to the tons of references to people using them on the couch and endless coffee shop and university sightings. I firmly believe tech journalism is the lowest form of journalism and is filled with trolls as often they are writing for online publications and literally justifying themselves to editors by their inbound links. Dvorak at least has the honesty to admit on video that he deliberately trolls (mac users in that case). The rest of them proclaim they are doing "journalism" and then basically reach into their hats filled with cards with "Xs don't have to die" and "is X an X killer?" and press releases printed on them and spew out an article in 10 minutes.
leftnode 17y ago
I wasn't aware Netbooks were up for dying. I guess I'm behind the times, but I still thought they were a pretty hot thing. I have an Asus EEE and its absolutely great. I use it as much as my desktop. Sure I don't develop or play games on it, but for sitting in front of the TV and browsing the web/answering emails, it's great.
philh 17y ago
It's not clear what relevance the pickup trucks have. Is he saying that a small truck would sell well (even though they presumably were discontinued for a reason), and that by analogy, small netbooks will continue to sell well?
- drats 17y ago
  It's not clear to me either as trucks that carry you and other things are entirely different to a computing device which you yourself have to carry. I would suggest that netbooks are not something you can just dump something on, they are not a big truck. The author's technical expertise reminds me of someone...

8 points by abennett 17y ago

I don't disagree with the post but I think this kind of discussion is largely pointless. The media loves to say "That is dead" because it makes a good headline. But it doesn't mean anything. An example: how many years has it been since people declared the PDA dead at the hands of the smartphone? Yet all these years later there are still PDAs for sale (http://tinyurl.com/ydeufwh http://tinyurl.com/ydeufwh) Netbooks has a future as long as there's a reasonable market for people who don't want to pay a monthly fee for a smartbook (and I think that will be a long, long time). They may be overtaken in sales but I don't know if that really matters to those who want a netbook as long as they can still get one.

stcredzero 17y ago
By saying "X doesn't have to die" you're getting all of the sensationalism of "X is dead" but get to take the moderate stance while doing so.

tptacek 17y ago

Oh look. Another abennet IT World submission. Flagged. The highest-scored IT World post ever submitted here got 50 points. That's an anomaly, because the vast majority of abennett's IT World submissions get only one point ever (according to searchyc). Can we just ban this source?

ilamont 17y ago
So you want to ban the source based on a lack of points, or just because you don't like the source?
- tptacek 17y ago
  Based on the fact that it's being spammed here, and that the stories rarely contribute to the site.
- drats 17y ago
  I wouldn't ban it. However it's worth pointing out some of their other headlines: "Learn How To Print Pages In Order with Ink Jet Printers" "MS says you don't have to check some files for viruses. Bad idea." Perhaps not HN material. Edit: also have a look at abennet's submissions (all from itworld, every day): "Migrating favorites in IE, Firefox, and Chrome" "Essential Windows Tricks" http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=abennett http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=abennett Some of the articles might be relevant to HN, but this person isn't part of the community with those silly ones and is just spamming. I wouldn't be surprised if it was automated.
drats 17y ago
Indeed, the first result for "netbook growth" on Google is from 1st September 2009 and is titled "Report: Netbook Growth Continues Unabated". A better title might have been "Netbook form-factor here to stay" and talked more about form factors of newer possibilities (tablets) and how the "subnotebook/premium netbooks" haven't pushed down sales of the cheaper ones. But even his discussion there is lacking as he writes as if netbooks are being primarily driven by business users, which is ridiculous given I have yet to see a business user with one (although I am sure there are) compared to the tons of references to people using them on the couch and endless coffee shop and university sightings. I firmly believe tech journalism is the lowest form of journalism and is filled with trolls as often they are writing for online publications and literally justifying themselves to editors by their inbound links. Dvorak at least has the honesty to admit on video that he deliberately trolls (mac users in that case). The rest of them proclaim they are doing "journalism" and then basically reach into their hats filled with cards with "Xs don't have to die" and "is X an X killer?" and press releases printed on them and spew out an article in 10 minutes.

leftnode 17y ago

I wasn't aware Netbooks were up for dying. I guess I'm behind the times, but I still thought they were a pretty hot thing. I have an Asus EEE and its absolutely great. I use it as much as my desktop. Sure I don't develop or play games on it, but for sitting in front of the TV and browsing the web/answering emails, it's great.

philh 17y ago

It's not clear what relevance the pickup trucks have. Is he saying that a small truck would sell well (even though they presumably were discontinued for a reason), and that by analogy, small netbooks will continue to sell well?

drats 17y ago
It's not clear to me either as trucks that carry you and other things are entirely different to a computing device which you yourself have to carry. I would suggest that netbooks are not something you can just dump something on, they are not a big truck. The author's technical expertise reminds me of someone...