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I highly doubt that had much, if anything, do with the netbook's decline. From the beginning it was just a cheap, small laptop. Tablets are as cheap, smaller, a

I highly doubt that had much, if anything, do with the netbook's decline. From the beginning it was just a cheap, small laptop. Tablets are as cheap, smaller, and run operating systems that are designed for low-power systems, so they feel faster. The few people (e.g. me) who actually wanted a keyboard moved on to low-end ultrabooks.

discostrings 13y ago
A lot of people would love a cheap, small laptop. That's what they wish an ultrabook was. Unfortunately, they're only getting the small, not the cheap. If the specs could have been a bit higher and increased in a timely manner, netbooks would have been perfect for a lot of the market. They were limited in speed just below the edge of what most people would consider to be capable.
- jdjb 13y ago
  The specs only need to be higher if you want to run modern Windows on it. If Ubuntu netbook edition was more user friendly and more windows-like I'm sure a lot of people would've been very happy with a low specs machine that ran smooth enough for the kind of tasks you'd want to do on a <= 10'' screen.
  - discostrings 13y ago
    > The specs only need to be higher if you want to run modern Windows on it. I agree, and that's the tragedy of the situation. The first netbooks shipped with Linux, and Microsoft saw that as a threat, so they started licensing Windows at very low rates for netbooks. When the cost difference was minimal to ship Windows on netbooks, that's what vendors did, and the Windows netbooks dominated the market. Once they'd conquered the market, Microsoft pulled the bottom out by seriously limiting the capabilities of netbooks. Netbooks then developed a reputation of being slow because most of the netbooks on the market were running Windows and were slow. The "netbook" name was already tarnished, making it difficult for the original Linux netbook idea to succeed.
    - scholia 13y ago
      See my earlier answer here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6272342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6272342 > The first netbooks shipped with Linux The first netbook shipped with Linux but the launch announcement for the Asus included both Windows XP and Linux. Windows sold better and was more profitable. > Once they'd conquered the market, Microsoft pulled the bottom out by seriously limiting the capabilities of netbooks. No, the capabilities of netbooks were always limited. The netbook spec was upgraded twice to allow larger hard drives and screens etc. You could certainly argue that it wasn't upgraded enough, but then, it was limited to protect sales of laptops that were more profitable for Intel, Microsoft and the netbook OEMs. Netbooks had two main points: (1) provide a portable PC solution suitable for schools -- see Intel Classmate and, indeed, OLPC; (2) to provide a companion PC for existing PC users. It was nobody's idea to provide cut-price netbooks that would damage laptop sales. You might think it's a tragedy but it's just business.
jljljl 13y ago
MSFT certainly didn't help. For example, a lot of netbooks were packaged with Windows 7 Starter, a seriously limited version of Windows. I'm skeptical that the hardware couldn't handle full Windows (because Starter also provided an Anytime Upgrade option), so it seems likely this was an intentional decision to reduce the features of netbooks at the software level, in order to avoid cannibalizing larger PC's and laptops. EDIT: link to feature limitations for W7 Starter: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/windows-7-starter-what-are-the-limitations/422801d5-89de-494d-8cc1-6f4fc21c2ac0 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-w...
- scholia 13y ago
  The netbook manufacturers were free to install a full copy of Windows 7 or Ubuntu or anything else they wanted (except Mac OS X, obviously). They didn't want to install a full copy of Windows 7 because they would have had to pay the full price for it (after the usual discounts etc). After much argument, they came up with a compromise that had acceptable functionality (to Microsoft) at an acceptable price (to the OEMs). So Microsoft was helping, rather than "not helping". But you're right: the aim was to sell netbooks without having too big an impact on more profitable sales of laptops.

discostrings 13y ago

A lot of people would love a cheap, small laptop. That's what they wish an ultrabook was. Unfortunately, they're only getting the small, not the cheap. If the specs could have been a bit higher and increased in a timely manner, netbooks would have been perfect for a lot of the market. They were limited in speed just below the edge of what most people would consider to be capable.

jdjb 13y ago
The specs only need to be higher if you want to run modern Windows on it. If Ubuntu netbook edition was more user friendly and more windows-like I'm sure a lot of people would've been very happy with a low specs machine that ran smooth enough for the kind of tasks you'd want to do on a <= 10'' screen.
- discostrings 13y ago
  > The specs only need to be higher if you want to run modern Windows on it. I agree, and that's the tragedy of the situation. The first netbooks shipped with Linux, and Microsoft saw that as a threat, so they started licensing Windows at very low rates for netbooks. When the cost difference was minimal to ship Windows on netbooks, that's what vendors did, and the Windows netbooks dominated the market. Once they'd conquered the market, Microsoft pulled the bottom out by seriously limiting the capabilities of netbooks. Netbooks then developed a reputation of being slow because most of the netbooks on the market were running Windows and were slow. The "netbook" name was already tarnished, making it difficult for the original Linux netbook idea to succeed.
  - scholia 13y ago
    See my earlier answer here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6272342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6272342 > The first netbooks shipped with Linux The first netbook shipped with Linux but the launch announcement for the Asus included both Windows XP and Linux. Windows sold better and was more profitable. > Once they'd conquered the market, Microsoft pulled the bottom out by seriously limiting the capabilities of netbooks. No, the capabilities of netbooks were always limited. The netbook spec was upgraded twice to allow larger hard drives and screens etc. You could certainly argue that it wasn't upgraded enough, but then, it was limited to protect sales of laptops that were more profitable for Intel, Microsoft and the netbook OEMs. Netbooks had two main points: (1) provide a portable PC solution suitable for schools -- see Intel Classmate and, indeed, OLPC; (2) to provide a companion PC for existing PC users. It was nobody's idea to provide cut-price netbooks that would damage laptop sales. You might think it's a tragedy but it's just business.

jljljl 13y ago

MSFT certainly didn't help. For example, a lot of netbooks were packaged with Windows 7 Starter, a seriously limited version of Windows. I'm skeptical that the hardware couldn't handle full Windows (because Starter also provided an Anytime Upgrade option), so it seems likely this was an intentional decision to reduce the features of netbooks at the software level, in order to avoid cannibalizing larger PC's and laptops. EDIT: link to feature limitations for W7 Starter: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/windows-7-starter-what-are-the-limitations/422801d5-89de-494d-8cc1-6f4fc21c2ac0 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-w...

scholia 13y ago
The netbook manufacturers were free to install a full copy of Windows 7 or Ubuntu or anything else they wanted (except Mac OS X, obviously). They didn't want to install a full copy of Windows 7 because they would have had to pay the full price for it (after the usual discounts etc). After much argument, they came up with a compromise that had acceptable functionality (to Microsoft) at an acceptable price (to the OEMs). So Microsoft was helping, rather than "not helping". But you're right: the aim was to sell netbooks without having too big an impact on more profitable sales of laptops.