Netbooks are cheap and selling like hotcakes.
But they will never make up the majority of the market, says Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie.
Traditional laptops built on Windows and Intel-based chips will still account for the majority of sales, Ozzie said Thursday at the Churchill Club in Palo Alto.
Netbooks will never be the majority of the market, says Ray Ozzie
That’s because most people who buy netbooks expect to use them as laptops and not as stripped down, browser-based devices for roaming the Web.
They expect to install Office and to download PC-oriented software. And if the devices fail to do everything they want, they will be disappointed.
These expectations will work against ARM-based netbooks because ARM chips aren’t built to run all the world’s PC software, says Ozzie. “It will be a different type of device.”
As for the opportunity facing Microsoft, Ozzie said the company’s forth coming Windows 7 will run well on netbooks. Up to now, PC makers have used Windows XP and Linux, but not Microsoft’s more memory-demanding Windows Vista.
