Are Linux netbooks really returned more than Windows models

One analyst questions the 'reliability' of Microsoft's evidence

Windows' dominance extends to 96% of netbooks sold in the U.S. in February. Worldwide, three-quarters of the 15 million netbooks sold in 2008 came with Windows. But Linux, which now accounts for the remaining quarter of sales, is set to challenge Microsoft this year.

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The first wave of netbooks using the ARM processor are expected to hit the market in the second half of the year, all running a version of Linux -- either the Google Inc.-backed Android, Canonical's Ubuntu distro, or even the Intel Corp.-created Moblin netbook OS.

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Windows' dominance extends to 96% of netbooks sold in the U.S. in February. Worldwide, three-quarters of the 15 million netbooks sold in 2008 came with Windows. But Linux, which now accounts for the remaining quarter of sales, is set to challenge Microsoft this year.

5 Tactics Microsoft Is Using To Battle Linux for Cloud Dominance

The first wave of netbooks using the ARM processor are expected to hit the market in the second half of the year, all running a version of Linux -- either the Google Inc.-backed Android, Canonical's Ubuntu distro, or even the Intel Corp.-created Moblin netbook OS.

The new wave of ARM netbooks are expected to be cheaper than the $300 to $400 of the cheaper Intel Atom-based netbooks today at about $200, and they are expected to boast longer battery life, as well as instant-on and other smartphone-style features.

Windows: A familiar desktop friend?

Microsoft says that Windows dominates -- and will continue to dominate -- netbooks because customers are looking for a familiar, PC-like experience, as well as compatibility with their peripherals and software such as Microsoft Office.

"Users simply expect the Windows experience," wrote Brandon LeBlanc, a Microsoft blogger, on the Windows Experience blog last Friday. "It's easier to use, just works out of the box with peoples stuff, and ultimately offers more choice."

LeBlanc cited several pieces of evidence focused around anecdotes indicating dissatisfaction with Linux netbooks that customers subsequently returned.

MSI, maker of the popular Wind netbook, said last fall that its research showed Linux netbooks were returned four times more than those running Windows.

"They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that its not what they are used to," Andy Tung of MSI told Laptop magazine in October. "They dont want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store."

Even Canonical echoed MSI's comments to Laptop magazine.

"The customer will get their netbook sent to their home and they imagine to find something like a Microsoft desktop, but they see a brown Ubuntu version. They are unwilling to learn it and they were expecting to have Windows," said Gerry Carr, a marketing manager for Canonical.

Reports say that Carphone Warehouse, a Best Buy-like electronics superstore chain in the U.K., stopped selling netbooks running Ubuntu last December after one in five purchasers returned them. The three netbooks it sells on its Web site today all run Windows XP Home.

Microsoft blogger LeBlanc writes, "When they realize their Linux-based netbook PC doesn't deliver that same quality of experience, they get frustrated and take it back."

Stephen Baker of the NPD Group Inc., which provided the market data, said, "Those Linux return rates jibe for the most part with everything I've heard in the U.S."

No shoo-ins here

But Philip Solis, and analyst at ABI Research, questions the "reliability" of this evidence.

Solis said in a March research note that Taiwan's MSI had not yet shipped a Linux-based Wind at the time of the comment to the magazine. When it did, it did "adapted" the OS for the netbook's smaller size -- an key ingredient to Linux's acceptance, Solis wrote.

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