His observation was the same as mine, that despite being an underwhelming machine, spec-wise, it perfectly suited such minimal needs. In fact, Atwood came to the conclusion that netbooks are not simply "small laptops" but something totally different. They are cheap, portable web browsers.

He points to Wakoopa - a site which helps people find new software apps that might be useful or interesting. Their top 10 apps, as used by its members, are listed right on the front page.

At the time of writing, these are

You can plainly see the prominence of the Web here. The top two apps are web browsers. The 3rd and 7th to 10th spots are populated by Web sites and Web applications.

So, what do people really need? And does it really matter what operating system you run? How much of what you do each day on your computer is delivered through a web browser?

Here's where the opening for Linux vendors really comes in. A netbook is cheap. That's a large part of its appeal. Linux adds exactly $0 to the price of the hardware used.

By contrast, Windows comes at a price - and what's more, we're only talking Windows XP here. A cheap netbook with its pithy disk space and RAM will choke on Vista with its far heavier hardware requirements.

This is the advertising campaign for the next breed of Linux netbooks: a compact web browser in the palm of your hand. Nothing more need be said. That's the expectation to set, and one that will meet the needs of much of the modern world.