The Netbook, Open Source Bargain

By Tom Dunlap

Brilliant article over on Datamation on why you should consider buying a small, $400 "netbook," and then outfit it with 21 open source tools.

Kudos to Cynthia Harvey for the piece, one of the best I've ever read on how to trick out a small notebook. It's amazing to me how little you now have to spend for a small, light notebook with decent performance. Seems like it wasn't that long ago when these portables went for at least $1,500.

It's also amazing how open source software continues to change the market and free us up from proprietary, expensive, and extremely restrictive software.

Netbooks are certainly a rapidly expanding market, as Harvey writes. IDC predicts netbooks will account for 12.3 percent of the laptop market with sales of 21 million units this year, and Gartner anticipates that all mobile PC sales will be up 9 percent, with mini notebooks accounting for most of that growth. And the availability of these low cost options has led to lower price for other, more traditional laptops as well.

On the other hand, I've tried tiny laptops, and they don't really work for me. I don't want a laptop that doesn't have a built-in CD/DVD drive and a decent sized keyboard and screen. Plus I'd like a certain level of performance. Harvey does a nice job addressing these issues:

The down side? Any low-cost laptop you buy will probably be missing something. It might be underpowered, fall short on RAM, lack hard drive space, and/or come without a CD/DVD drive. And it's almost certainly missing key security features.

The solution? Open-source software. In many cases, manufacturers of these lower cost notebooks are already relying on open-source technology as a means to lower the price.

Compared to its commercial counterparts, open-source software generally requires fewer resources and provides greater security. By going with open source on your laptop, you probably won't feel the effects of a slower processor and less memory, and you'll be less likely to be victimized by hackers.

Some may argue that the availability of Web apps and cloud computing means that you don't need software on your laptop at all. However, if you ever want to use your laptop when an Internet connection isn't available (and after all, the point of a laptop is that you can use it anywhere), you really need installed software.

My favorite choices in the Harvey list are Firefox, the VLC Media Player, OpenOffice.org, Zimbra, and the GIMP photo editing tool. I'd probably love the Ubuntu operating system if I ever got off the sideline and installed it. Check out her comprehensive article here.