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 t

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.