Friday, September 11, 2009

Microsoft Insists It Hasn't Underestimated The Netbook Industry

Microsoft may have been criticized from all directions for pricing Windows 7 at nearly 20% of the price of most netbooks, but they still insist they haven't underestimated netbooks in the least. Microsoft's Chris Liddell explains:

"I don't think we've underestimated demand for netbooks… "One of the great successes of last year is customers went from a 10 percent attach rate [for Windows XP] to 92 percent … 92 percent of people who buy a netbook want this Windows experience. They might be bargain hunting on the hardware side, but not on the software side."

Is that true? Canonical believes that sufficiently educated users choose Ubuntu Linux over Windows 1/3 of the time, and choosing a free OS is certainly bargain hunting.

So what do you think? Did Microsoft underestimate netbooks? I've got my own opinions, but I'd love to hear yours.

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