Ubuntu AppCenter and Android apps on Ubuntu
The App Center (in other words, an app store) is now high priority for 9.10, and UDS is showing off Android apps. Hmmmm. These couldn't be related in any way, could they?
UNR doesn't have vision Summary: Netbooks aren't small notebooks. We need to treat them differently and the Internet has to be woven into every interface. Take: I agree on the intent of using a netbook, but the market (and I mean customers) dont, and are pushing to make them small, cheap notebooks. Good luck changing their minds.
Free software will kill Redmond
Redmond ain't dying any time soon, folks. There's one real truth here, though: Free and Open Source software are going to destroy 90% of the market for software sales (not implying that total software-related income will drop). Once a class of app is commoditized in FOSS, you'll need good luck selling a license for similar software. What will be left? Niche markets and service contracts (including web services).
Linux desktop adoption "easier than expected"
The Linux desktop is ready for the enterprise. Businesses have the ability to start with more amenable groups and expand the roll-out later. Once the change is obviously permanent, people deal with the change.
Migration:Netbooks have quickly moved from their intended purpose (appliances) into extremely low-cost notebooks. Screens went from 7" to 10". SSDs became HDs. 256 - 512MB RAM became 1GB. Prices went from $199 to $500. People expect all the same functionality from these new machines as they do of their normal notebooks, and that requires Windows software. XP wins through the network effect.
Poor promotion: Linux netbooks were never promoted in stores or evenly reviewed by tech journals. Those located in stores were always the "cheap" option with lower spec'ed hardware. Salespeople didn't understand how to promote the Linux systems. Reviewers tended to ding the Linux models for not having XP. XP wins through a premium image.
Poor education: Consumers often weren't aware that what they were buying wasn't a notebook and wasn't intended to run random software. They went home, opened the box, and were unpleasantly surprised. XP wins due to ubiquity.
Poor OEMing:OEMs didn't do their job -- they supplied machines which weren't completely functional out of the box. They didn't tune. They didn't test. They sold machines without wireless drivers. There were sleep/resume issues. The distributions provided were crippled. All of these things would have been easy to fix (and they were in the XP models), but the Linux models got little to no engineering effort. The only Linux models still selling well are Asus EEEs. Asus put a lot of effort into their custom distro. Win XP wins through adequate engineering from the OEMs.
I said that Windows 7 will kill Linux on the netbook. Win7 will be too late to do any more damage and Linux will continue to sell 5-10%. Android and ARM netbooks still hold promise, but the chances are slim.
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