On one hand, Microsoft today is running Windows XP Home with on 90 percent of all netbooks, according to research firm The NPD Group.
Yet cheaper, Linux-based netbooks that plan to run on low-cost but efficient processors from ARM pose a steady , one that could increase .
Further confusing matters: PC OEMs such as Asus, Dell, and Samsung, can't seem to decide whether they and cost more than $500 or be ultra-basic tiny laptops that cost less than $300.
Analyst of independent research firm Directions on Microsoft says that netbooks will continue to be defined by price, not features. "Soon it will be hard to consider something over $500 to be a netbook," he says, adding that inexpensive netbooks offer the "greatest potential for Linux to grow with consumers."
Microsoft partner Hewlett-Packard may have just contributed to that Linux growth. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that . It is still unknown if HP will use ARM processors or Intel's lower-end Atom processors.