On the one hand, they have succeeded beyond expectations. Intel's low-energy, low-cost Atom N270 processor is being used in all but a handful of netbooks today. And despite Linux's early lead, .

But Microsoft and Intel's attempts to limit the specs of netbooks have met with far less success.

For instance, OEMs wanting to had to limit their , and to 1GB of memory maximum.

Meanwhile, Microsoft said it would until mid-2010 only for machines it called ultra-low-cost PCs (ULCPC), which could have no greater than 1GHz processors, 1GB of RAM, 80GB of storage and 10-inch screens. Both Intel and Microsoft wanted to protect sales of its higher-end products. In Intel's case, this was higher-priced mobile CPUs, such as its Core 2 Duo processor, which at one point last year cost 10 to 20 times more than Atom. Similarly, the price to license Windows Vista is far higher than XP.

In Intel's case, the chipmaker was also genuinely worried that end users would be disappointed by netbooks that aimed too high, said Solis. "It [the netbook] has got Intel's name on it, after all."