I see Robert Dyas has a windows netbook for less than £150. The catch – it is running Windows CE, the operating system aimed at mobile applications and very much not Vista.
So here are the main candidates for your netbook next year:
- Windows XP the clear leader at the moment, but for how long as it becomes seen as obsolete. The other issue – it won’t run on the new ARM processors for netbooks.
- Windows CE – somehow I don’t see it.
- Windows 7 starter edition which will run a maximum of three applications at any one time. ‘Starter’ in this case meaning you will end up shelling out for an upgrade to full-blown Windows 7 within weeks. This is, I suspect, a good option but expensive. Also it won’t run on the ARM processor.
- Linux – My favourite for the long run as it will run on any processor and has lots of good office applications courtesy of Open Office.
- Coming up on the stand site – Google Android. This is being hyped as an option. But will it run Open office? There is not a lot of talk about this in the Open Office community as it is seen as a mobile device operating system.
Bob Browning's blog 
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