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    Linux's Netbook Market Share Pegged At 32 Percent

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by theZoid, Dec 12, 2009.

  1. theZoid

    theZoid Notebook Savant

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    By Doug Caverly

    Maybe Windows isn't quite the behemoth most people believe it to be. New data from ABI Research indicates that Linux is doing quite well in a certain small-machine market, at least, with exactly 32 percent of netbooks shipping with a form of it installed.

    That's roughly 4.5 times higher than the market share Microsoft is willing to attribute to Linux. Microsoft likes to cite stats claiming that it controls about 93 percent of the netbook market, which of course only leaves 7 percent for everybody else.

    ABI Research, meanwhile, believes that Windows ships on just 68 percent of netbooks.


    While talking to Jeff Orr, an analyst at ABI Research, Eric Lai also uncovered this interesting view on the Linux-Windows war: "Orr predicted Linux will overtake Windows on netbooks by 2013. That will be driven by consumers in less-developed countries buying Linux netbooks as their primary PCs, rather than North American consumers buying netbooks as secondary machines as predominates today."

    All of this represents potentially great news for Linux developers, of course, if they in fact have a significant audience to serve now and a much bigger one to look forward to in the future.

    About the Author:
    Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.
     
    theZoid, Dec 12, 2009
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  2. v1k1ng1001

    v1k1ng1001 Notebook Deity

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    I think Windows dominated for a short period when Xandros was a consumer failure for Asus and their eeepc.

    But seriously, consumers really dig netbooks and smartbooks. The fact is that win7 isn't exactly congenial to this lower-end market which isn't going away any time soon. Meanwhile scalable linux offerings are filling in when needed.

    People love Ubuntu nbr and Moblin from what I've seen. Meanwhile Microsoft has failed to innovate. It seems unwilling to admit the emergence of new devices and too inflexible to consider that the desktop of the '10s might look different than the desktop of the '90s. Instead they seem to believe that window's success is dependent upon familiarity.
     
    v1k1ng1001, Dec 13, 2009
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