Netbooks are disruptive and wreaking havoc in the industry.

[RealBlackStuff]

Is Micro$oft losing the plot?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=11579&tag=nl.e540

[Marin85]

I believe it has been always M$ non-official policy to make people buy better hardware...just to be able to run all fancy new features or to make the OS boot up faster and all the like hidden "incentives". However, the notion of better hardware has recently changed quite some in a way that nowadays not only performance but also minimality are considered as high tech. I bet Bill G. wishes he could control the technology stream...

Just my 2 cents

Marin

[mattbiernat]

MS should be smart now and introduce new O.S. that can run on cheaper hardware. If they don't then linux will gladly take over that market or maybe even OSX.

[jdhurst]

If a person has ordinary and not-complex needs, Netbooks running whatever OS will work just fine. ... JDH

[RealBlackStuff]

They could always revive Windows 98 SE, soup it up a bit and turn it into Windows 09 NE (Netbook Edition)

[GomJabbar]

They could always revive Windows 98 SE...

Nooooooooooooo!

[bill bolton]

Is Micro$oft losing the plot?

It seem Larry Dignan can't be bothered to do any real research.

Netbooks are only disruptive in a mild sort of way. They are a key component of cloud computing , which is something that MS is heavily committed to and does understand well. There's little risk that Microsoft has not already determined how to manage through the impact of netbooks in terms of their overall business.

Weak PC sales have pretty much nothing to explicitly do with Netbooks in any case. They are a simple by-product of the global financial meltdown, which has the term "weak sales" associated with a myriad of products across the board.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[BigWarpGuy]

Netbooks are about the only computer that is really selling well. There are many new netbooks being made and more on the way.
http://www.liliputing.com
http://www.justnetbooks.com

[Harryc]

MS should be smart now and introduce new O.S. that can run on cheaper hardware. If they don't then linux will gladly take over that market or maybe even OSX.

I agree with Mattt here. If MS has an issue with XP being sold (over Vista) on increasing numbers of Netbook sales, then stand aside, there is a Linux solution.

[dsvochak]

This could just be a minor blip. From the Microsoft statement linked in the article:

Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $16.63 billion for the second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, a 2% increase over the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.94 billion, $4.17 billion and $0.47, declines of 8%, 11% and 6%, respectively, compared with the prior year.

While income and earnings are down 6-11%, revenue is up 2%. Given that the economy's pretty much been in the tank for awhile, there are a lot of companies (say GM, Ford, Chrysler) which would be celebrating if their declines were only 6-11%.

And you've got to remember that they're still makings billions of $ in profit. I could probably live with a reduction in income from 6.4 billion to 5.9 billion.

[bill bolton]

http://www.justnetbooks.com

Its quite hillarious that a company with the name "just net books" has devices like the ASUS N10 on their site.

At least they do label the N10 as a laptop and not a netbook!

Cheers,

Bill B.

[NorrisCell]

I understand the concept of a netbook works for some people, but it seems to be so limiting. I don't need a blazing fast dual core CPU, but I need some power behind my laptop for the tasks I do. Inexpensive laptops are good, but with how much prices have dropped on regular notebooks, taking a netbook with far lower specs in order to save $200 doesn't seem worth it.

[Marin85]

I understand the concept of a netbook works for some people, but it seems to be so limiting. I don't need a blazing fast dual core CPU, but I need some power behind my laptop for the tasks I do. Inexpensive laptops are good, but with how much prices have dropped on regular notebooks, taking a netbook with far lower specs in order to save $200 doesn't seem worth it.

Good point! However some people just like them for their +ultra-portability, just something filling the gap between bigger PDA and portable computer like the X61 or X200 and yet having being "almost-a-laptop" if laptops (like X200 and X61) weren´t that HUGE... We have to admit that low-cost +ultra-portable laptops are quite a revolution

[hart22]

New York Times: $200 Laptops Break a Business Model.

Interesting read.

“The day of the Rolls-Royce laptop and the high-end computer may not be totally over,” said Charles King, an independent technology industry analyst in Hayward. Calif. “But certainly the audience for that type of product is getting smaller and smaller.”

Begs the question... what constitutes a "Rolls-Royce laptop"? Do some of the higher end ThinkPads (read... X300/1 or W series) count? And if so, are the members of this forum a dying breed?

[Temetka]

No, we are no going anywhere.

The t series still continues to not only stand the test of time, but remain pretty spritely in terms of performance. The T400/500 series are excellent machines. Over the years I have owned several T23's, T4x units and not a T60. None of them have ever let me down in terms of performance or reliability. I have seen other people with higher specced machines not be able to maintain the level of productivity that I take for granted when I am on my Thinkpad.

My coworker has a shiny alienware laptop and he has openly admitted his lust for my T60.