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.

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.

Windows 7 Starter Edition will be the lightest of 6 versions that Microsoft will be releasing. It will be made available to OEMs for installation on netbooks. It will apparently only allow users to open 3 applications at a time. Hardly competition for Linux on the netbook

An executive who heads up Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows business said Wednesday Netbooks, lower-priced laptop computers geared to less intensive work, posed a cannibalization risk to the Windows operating system.

Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9 Netbooks running Windows XP and Ubuntu are on sale. But US newspaper advertisements from Dell and Best Buy show Dell’s Windows XP netbooks to be a far better bargain than Dell netbooks with Ubuntu Linux. Here are the details.

One of the most touted advantage of Windows 7 over Windows XP and Linux is improved battery life. This may be trues for newer netbooks that would be optimized for Microsoft new operating system, but don't expect any gain from installing Microsoft's latest release on you current netbook! Many people have actually reported reduced battery life on their netbooks after an upgrade to Windows 7.

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.

Far from showing strength, the wide availability of Windows on netbooks is a sign of weakness.

Linux advocates had a lot of fun recently taking shots at Windows 7 Starter version, which Microsoft has positioned as an option for low-cost netbooks. What could Microsoft possibly offer in response to the "Starter is a comically bad attempt at an operating system" comments?