Haha, outlook is a piece of BS, I like word though, and it works(word) fine in my machine(it flies emulated in virtualbox).

Man, I always used pegasus, now gmail, I couldn't understand how is that people choose such bloated software.

If you need a MacBook, buy one and stop whining like a little girl.

Netbooks are designed for users who spend most of their time surfing the web or using online apps. I am going to guess (from what I have read since I do not own one) that if you used as a typical designed user would, you would have a much better battery life experience as well.

I do not feel that netbooks are going to go away, but the market is going to cool considerably. Soon netbooks will simply be a form factor decision and nothing more. The next gen atoms will have support for better screen resolution (and HD video) and prices on notebook are dropping to the point that there is no real differentiation from netbooks, so the only question will be what size do you want this in and how much power do you really need? people generally choose extra power over lower price (at that range), so you would assume notebooks will win.

Here is a scary thought, if netbooks continue to do very well, then that is saying the OS is now of no real value (since I am doing all of my work via my browser or light weight apps). What does that mean for the flagship product?

I have to agree with loginx, in that it sounds like you might not be using your netbook correctly. I bought mine off a roommate who had a similar experience to you, and never touched the thing. The battery life is horrid, I believe it was abused, thankfully those are easily upgraded & a power outlet is never far.

I think the comparison to a razor scooter, though clever, is not valid. The fact is that computers can be used for a multitude of tasks, can be easily customized for lightweight work, & built however you need them to be.

I'm sorry to here you've had a bad experience with yours, and hope you can find some use for the machine. All the same thanks for the post, you have some good & interesting thoughts on here.

I purchased my netbook around the same time as you and have been living the dream since then, simply by using lightweight software. I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix on the first day, and configured my mail client to use IMAP. I find the performance to be astonishing (every app starts and renders entirely in under 2 seconds), the UI has been designed specifically for netbooks, so there is no waste of real estate (mine is a 10.1″, but you can now get them at 12.1″), and I get the full 6 hours of battery life on my 6-cell battery, though some new models apparently get over 9 hours on similar batteries.

Basically it sounds to me like you picked a very low-end netbook (I suggest waiting for a good sale on a good model instead) and installed some very resource-intensive software that was designed for larger computers, and use your experience to make sweeping generalization about the future of an entire market.

Also, regarding Sulfide's comment, i think there is some truth to that statement, but also, Microsoft tends to be a very reactive company with their operating systems. They have consistently failed to anticipate consumer needs for the last decade or so, but have been able to react and adapt to the market when the demand became obvious, so while Microsoft may not have a strong interest in the netbook market, they will do whatever is necessary if the demand is high enough to warrant it.

Haha, outlook is a piece of BS, I like word though, and it works(word) fine in my machine(it flies emulated in virtualbox).

Man, I always used pegasus, now gmail, I couldn't understand how is that people choose such bloated software.

If you need a MacBook, buy one and stop whining like a little girl.

Netbooks are designed for users who spend most of their time surfing the web or using online apps. I am going to guess (from what I have read since I do not own one) that if you used as a typical designed user would, you would have a much better battery life experience as well.

I do not feel that netbooks are going to go away, but the market is going to cool considerably. Soon netbooks will simply be a form factor decision and nothing more. The next gen atoms will have support for better screen resolution (and HD video) and prices on notebook are dropping to the point that there is no real differentiation from netbooks, so the only question will be what size do you want this in and how much power do you really need? people generally choose extra power over lower price (at that range), so you would assume notebooks will win.

Here is a scary thought, if netbooks continue to do very well, then that is saying the OS is now of no real value (since I am doing all of my work via my browser or light weight apps). What does that mean for the flagship product?

I have to agree with loginx, in that it sounds like you might not be using your netbook correctly. I bought mine off a roommate who had a similar experience to you, and never touched the thing. The battery life is horrid, I believe it was abused, thankfully those are easily upgraded & a power outlet is never far.

I think the comparison to a razor scooter, though clever, is not valid. The fact is that computers can be used for a multitude of tasks, can be easily customized for lightweight work, & built however you need them to be.

I'm sorry to here you've had a bad experience with yours, and hope you can find some use for the machine. All the same thanks for the post, you have some good & interesting thoughts on here.

I purchased my netbook around the same time as you and have been living the dream since then, simply by using lightweight software. I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix on the first day, and configured my mail client to use IMAP. I find the performance to be astonishing (every app starts and renders entirely in under 2 seconds), the UI has been designed specifically for netbooks, so there is no waste of real estate (mine is a 10.1″, but you can now get them at 12.1″), and I get the full 6 hours of battery life on my 6-cell battery, though some new models apparently get over 9 hours on similar batteries.

Basically it sounds to me like you picked a very low-end netbook (I suggest waiting for a good sale on a good model instead) and installed some very resource-intensive software that was designed for larger computers, and use your experience to make sweeping generalization about the future of an entire market.

Also, regarding Sulfide's comment, i think there is some truth to that statement, but also, Microsoft tends to be a very reactive company with their operating systems. They have consistently failed to anticipate consumer needs for the last decade or so, but have been able to react and adapt to the market when the demand became obvious, so while Microsoft may not have a strong interest in the netbook market, they will do whatever is necessary if the demand is high enough to warrant it.