Operating Systems (OS)

Windows

As of January 2009, over 90% (96% claimed by Microsoft as of February 2009) of netbooks in the United States are estimated to ship with Windows XP, which Microsoft was later estimated to sell ranging from US$15 to US$ 35 per netbook. Microsoft has extended the availability of Windows XP for ultra-low cost personal computers from June 2008 until June 2010.

However, the discounted license costs only applies to reduced size and functionality netbooks, which effectively enables the production of low-cost PC’s while preserving the higher margins of mainstream desktops and “value” laptops as well as avoiding increased use of Linux installations on netbooks. Microsoft is also testing and has demonstrated a ‘Starter’ edition of Windows 7 for this class of devices, and Windows 7 is likely to replace XP on netbooks, and as of the first quarter of 2009 many netbook models previously announced with Windows XP for the US market were in fact being released with Windows 7 Starter instead, at the same price point previously announced for the Windows XP editions. However, unlike on regular desktops or notebooks that were sold with Vista but included a coupon for 7, users could not get a coupon for 7 Starter if they bought a netbook.Windows CE has also been used in netbook applications, due to its reduced feature design, that keeps with the design philosophy of netbooks.

Some netbooks have also been sold with Windows Vista (mostly prior to the release of Windows 7).

Many netbooks are by default unable to activate Windows in an enterprise environment using a Microsoft Key Management Service (KMS) as they lack System Locked Preinstallation (SLP) capability in their BIOS. The missing feature artificially segments enterprise customers from the lower end Netbook market; some hardware vendors offer an optional SLP-compliant BIOS to enterprise customers at additional cost.

Linux

As of November 2009, customised Linux distributions are estimated to ship on 32% of netbooks worldwide, making it the second most popular operating system after Windows. As Linux systems normally install software from an Internet software repository, they do not need an optical drive to install software. However, early netbooks like the Eee PC failed to use this benefit by disabling access to the full range of available Linux software, and by failing to provide the normal desktop experience that people have come to expect from Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems.

Netbooks have sparked the development of several Linux variants or completely new distributions which are optimized for small screen use and/or the limited processing power of the Atom processors which typically power netbooks, such as Ubuntu Netbook Remix which is based on Ubuntu and viewed as a “remix” rather than a new distribution, Easy Peasy, JoliCloud (which claims full GMA 500 graphics support for Z520/z530 Atom variants), and Moblin, originally supported by Intel but now supported by the Linux Foundation. Both JoliCloud and Moblin purport to be “social oriented” or social networking operating systems rather than traditional “office work production” operating systems. See the full list of Netbook Distributions. An Intel-sponsored beta version of Moblin version 2.0 became available in the autumn of 2009.

Android

Google’s Android software platform, designed for mobile telephone handsets, has been demonstrated on an ASUS Eee PC and its Linux operating system contains policies for mobile internet devices including the original Asus Eee PC 701. ASUS has allocated engineers to develop an Android-based netbook. Freescale have also announced plans for a low-cost ARM-based netbook design, running Android. In May 2009 a contractor of Dell announced it is porting Adobe Flash Lite to Android for Dell netbooks. Acer announced Android netbooks to be available in Q3/2009.

In July 2009, a new project ,Android-x86, was created to provide an open source solution for Android on the x86 platform, especially for netbooks.

Since the initial work on Android, Google announced a netbook specific operating system, Chrome OS, and future operating system development may be forked into Android for smartphones and similar handhelds, and Chrome OS for traditional keyboard driven machines like netbooks.

Chrome OS

Google’s upcoming Chrome OS is expected to be loaded on some netbooks; some even speculate that Google will launch a Google-branded netbook running the Chrome OS.

Mac OS X

Mac OS X has been demonstrated running on various netbooks as a result of the OSx86 project, although this is in violation of the operating system’s End User License Agreement. Apple has complained to sites hosting information on how to install OS X onto non-Apple hardware (including Wired and YouTube) who have reacted and removed content in response.

In November 2009, Apple Corporation won a summary judgement against Psystar on the grounds that Apple’s method of preventing Mac OS X from being installed on non-Apple hardware is protected by the DMCA.

Apple unveiled the iPad on January 27, 2010. Though officially a tablet PC, the iPad is considered by some to be Apple’s closest compeitition to Windows-based netbooks. The iPad will operate on the iPhone OS rather than Mac OS X but departs from completely mimicking the iPod Touch by including a touch screen operated version of its iWorks program ($9.99 per module) and offering an accessory keyboard.

Other

Netbooks have been demonstrated running other operating systems including FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Darwin and Moblin.

The Cloud operating system attempts to capitalize on the minimalist aspect of netbooks. User space is limited to a browser application only, in effect making this operating system a browser. In other words there is no operating system; as far as the user is concerned there is only a browser.