Our friends over at Ostatic have posed a good question, one I’ve thought about in the past. They are looking at the feasibility of Android-based netbooks, something we’ve covered here, and give a good case for open source netbooks. The problem they point out is that such netbooks, often running some flavor of Linux, usually have lesser hardware components than Windows-based netbooks.

Back in February I wrote about how Linux had gone mainstream as netbooks became ubiquitous. Nobody doubts that Windows has captured the overwhelming majority of the netbook market. Even so, Dell claimed around that time that one third of their Inspiron netbooks were selling with Ubuntu preloaded rather than Windows XP.

Google will start rolling out its Linux desktop on netbooks. The company will begin there because netbooks are the only division of PC sales that's actually still growing.

We know Linux has enough potential to be a consumer desktop and we also know that Linux has less than 2% of desktop market share. Let's admit the truth. Linux enthusiasts may site a thousand reasons on why Linux does not sit on consumer desktops, or conversely why people are not ready to Linux even after Linux is absolutely ready.

Netbooks are fantastic portable devices. They’re portable, lightweight and–perhaps best of all–really cheap. But netbooks can seem hopelessly limited when used with standard desktop operating systems such as Windows or Ubuntu. This is why I recommend every netbook owner look into getting a netbook operating system.

ABI Research predicts that Linux and "alternative operating systems" (OSes) will overtake Windows XP in netbook sales by 2012. Reasons cited by ABI include the arrival of low-end ARM-based netbooks, as well as mobile stacks such as the Linux-based Android that are suited for these platforms.

As netbooks surge in popularity, open-source Linux-based operating systems have established a toehold on the low-cost, stripped-down computers as an alternative to Microsoft Corp's Windows.

The past couple of weeks saw a flurry or articles debating the future of Linux on netbooks. Stephen Lim, the General Manager of Taiwan based Linpus Technologies, made the surprising prediction that Linux will regain 50% market share from Windows on netbooks by next year.

...the sector hasn't been a hotbed of innovation. Except for a few exceptions, most netbooks share pretty similar specs and are based on the same Intel Atom processor and Microsoft Windows XP operating system. But now, as the netbook sector enters its third year, new chips and operating systems hold the potential for massive change in the sector.