Which netbook OS is right for you?

David M Williams
Wednesday, 19 August 2009 05:54

Opinion and Analysis

While in part that may play a part a flaw in the initial design of Windows makes it easy for malicious types. Windows has given itself a tough legacy by allowing people to log in with full administrative access. Many lazy applications now expect full administrative rights whether they genuinely require it.

Linux began life with a clear distinction between the super-user and ordinary users. Linux makes it harder to log in with total access and immediately this action alone drastically minimises the harm any rogue software is capable of inflicting.

By contrast, while Microsoft made an attempt to repair this problem with user access control (UAC) in Windows Vista it is not uncommon to find recommendations online that UAC should be disabled because it is so intrusive – due, of course, to the amount of software that merely expects full control because that’s just the way things always were in Windows.

Let’s return to price. Another reason netbooks are lower cost than laptops is they use lower-end hardware. You won’t buy a netbook to run Crysis or power an enterprise. You will buy it because it is cheap and light and portable.

Even so, there’s no reason to not eke out the most from the hardware you do have. Why load it up with a bloated operating system plus a resource-chugging anti-virus product when you could be using a sleek and streamlined Linux distribution?

Linux consistently performs better on low-end hardware than Microsoft Windows. What’s more, modern Linux distributions will run. You don’t have to choose 2002’s Microsoft Windows XP when you could be using 2009’s Ubuntu 9.04.

Speaking of hardware, how big is the screen on your netbook? Even if you have a comparatively spacious 10” model you can get the best experience from an operating system specifically designed for the netbook.

Here’s where Ubuntu netbook remix comes in, or the soon-coming Jolicloud as well as other pure Linux distributions that sport a netbook-optimised facade.

Linux is a no-brainer; it’s a perfect match for netbooks. The price is right. The hardware will run better. The screen will look better. The software will be modern and up to date and won’t insult you by refusing to let you change background wallpaper.

So what will your next netbook operating system be? Do yourself a favour. Make the right choice.