Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft and the MSBBC Say Sub-notebooks Are Dying So It Must be True

Microsoft BBC



Summary: The death of the sub-notebook has been greatly exaggerated... by those to whom sub-notebooks are a huge and disruptive business risk

FOR the uninitiated, Intel and Microsoft colluded against sub-notebooks, as evidence we gathered in the following posts ought to show:



Microsoft hates sub-notebooks, but not as much as it hates GNU/Linux (or GNU/Linux on sub-notebooks). The BBC, which accommodates many former Microsoft executives [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], seems to be giving lip service to (what they hope are) self-fulfilling prophecies of the demise of sub-notebooks.

Among the responses to it we have:

And guess who is keeping the prices and specs up? Why are Linux netbooks over specified so that the sale price is the same as Windows netbooks? The answer is market manipulation by Microsoft using OEM incentives and punitive measures written into OEM contracts and marketing and advertising discounts. Effectively Microsoft is running a series of price fixing and specification fixing cartels with PC OEMs. Hopefully Google and the ARM based Smartbooks will blow the PC cartels wide open.

By the way where did you get the idea that Smartbooks will be chained to a contract? Smartbooks are just ARM based netbooks.


More signs of Microsoft vapourware:

So.. we have an article talking about netbook's doom being close, things about ARM,GNU/Linux running 2 times longer than windows on equipment and then they throw the rumor bomb of Windows 8 or 9 being able to run on ARM. What the heck? Windows 7 is barely out (which hasn't stopped IE from losing market share, by the way), windows 8 would be easily 2 years away, windows 9 would be 5 years away (both optimistic projections, anyway) and why do they name this in the article? And who is creating such buzz? Steve Ballmer? It sounded so much like vaporware stories created by Microsoft PR for so long. Can't believe reporters still buy that crap.


Those vapourware tactics are a Microsoft classic which we wrote about many times before. See for example:



Another person hits the nail on the head:

They don't say it but they are talking about Windows netbooks.



What the author is talking about but doesn't actually say is Technology changes (ARM based) outstripping (Windows) netbooks, users chafing against (Windows market distorting) restrictions on netbooks, and rising prices (due to Microsoft forcing OEMs to put Windows on netbooks with inducements and punitive conditions) making them too expensive and unappealing.

Hopefully the upcoming Chrome OS netbooks, ARM smartbooks, and resurgence of Linux netbooks will put and end to that.


Pointing out the obvious:

This is yet another line of "logic" no doubt generated by Microsoft, realizing that there is no way it can scale down Windows 7 for netbooks. So let's declare netbooks dead.


Is it 1984 again?

These pundits forget that machines five years ago and more were and are perfectly capable of every daily task (apart from hi-def video). "We have always been at war with Eurasia!"

With the economy in such poor shape, do they really expect people to keep buying when prices keep rising?

First they disparage netbooks as toys, to discourage people from buying them. Then they wonder why they aren't selling?

"It is impossible to teach a man something when his income depends on not knowing it."


This whole routine ought to sound familiar. Microsoft's attacks on ARM-based sub-notebooks (which it calls "smartbooks" rather than "netbooks") is a subject that we wrote about in:



The BBC may be acting innocently here, but who funds those analysts whom the BBC is citing? Suspicion is justified here because of prior observations [1, 2, 3, 4].

Related posts:



Recent Techrights' Posts

The FSF Board and FSF Beard
So the FSF's Board has grown
Law Firms Facing the Consequences for Patently Abusive Litigation on Behalf of Microsoft Employees Who Got Arrested for Strangulation and Had Done Even Worse Things
Having spent 1.5 years bullying me with patronising letters on behalf of Microsofters, last week they got served a massive bill and, in effect, lost the Hearing
LLMs Breaking Everything
Computing and the Net became a playground for scammers and "bros", like people who "invented" fake currencies and also try to tell us that LLMs spewing out things will have some real value
 
Links 22/06/2025: Giving Up on Smartphones and 'Jaws' at 50
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Furniture Construction and Bubble for Comments
Links for the day
Links 22/06/2025: Windows TCO Tales and YouTube Getting More Hostile to Users
Links for the day
New Report From the EPO's Staff Representatives in The Hague (LSCTH) Reveals Many Unsolved Issues
Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) wrote to staff just before the weekend
Links 22/06/2025: More Slop Lawsuits (Copyrights) and "America’s Oligarch Problem"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Gigantic Toolchest and Annoying Bots
Links for the day
The Calling
Persist and persevere, justice will come your way
So Far Every BetaNews 'Article' is LLM Slop, So BetaNews is Officially Just a Slopfarm
They just don't seem to value what they have
IBM Rumour: Mass Layoffs (RAs) Lists Being Made for Consulting, With Effect in July 2025
Bogus companies with no viable products and no world-leading (in their field) staff are doomed to perish
Links 21/06/2025: Data Breach With 16 Billion Passwords, Dutch Government Recommends Children Under 15 Stay off TikTok and Instagram
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Notes about Typst (and LaTeX) and Opos
Links for the day
Microsoft's Competition Tactics: Sabotage GNU/Linux Installs, Block Chrome
Edge is dying
1989: Free Software as "Open" Software (OSI Didn't Coin "Open Source", It Also Predates Linux)
"One man's fight for Free software"
The Microsoft OOXML Modus Operandi: Throw 1,000 Pages of Other People's Work for a Judge to Read Ahead of a One-Hour Meeting
No time to discuss this - that's the point
Formalities Officers (FOs) at the EPO Are in Trouble, Reveals Internal Report
We already know, based on an HR pattern we saw at IBM and elsewhere, that reallocating roles can be prerequisite for dismissal and those who do so expect many to resign anyway
The Web is Slop and FUD, Let's Go to Gemini Protocol
Lupa sees self-signed capsules at 92.4%
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 20, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 20, 2025
Links 21/06/2025: Phone Bans for Concerts, Tensions in Taiwan Strait
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Spoilers, Public Yggdrasil Node, Changes to AuraGem Search
Links for the day
"Six years of Gemini!"
From gemini://geminiprotocol.net
Gemini Links 20/06/2025: Summer Updates and Hardware Failures
Links for the day
Links 20/06/2025: Google Shareholder Sues Google and Google Sued for Defamatory Slop ('Hey Hi') Word Salads ('Summaries')
Links for the day
Linux Journal Might Have Become the Latest Slopfarm Targeting "Linux", the Trends Are Concerning for Dying News Sites
They tarnish the Web with junk and then die
On "Learning to Code"
quality may suffer, plus things get bloated
Quick Points Regarding This Week's Court Hearing
it paves the way for us to squash all the SLAPPs from Microsofters
Common Mistake: Believing Social Control Media Will Document Your Writings/Thoughts and Search Engines Like Google Will Help You Find These
Many news sites wrongly assumed that posting directly to Twitter would be acceptable
The Manchester Bees and This Hot Summer
We have had a fantastic week so far this week
Gemini Protocol Enters Its Seventh Year, Growth Has Accelerated!
Maybe in June 20 2026 there will be over 3,500 active capsules?
Mastodon and the Fediverse Have an Issue: Liability for Content (Even in Other Instances) and Costs
self-hosting is the only logical path forward
Why Microsoft and Its 'Hey Hi' (Slop) Frenzy Fail While Sinking in Deep, Growing Debt
Right now, like Twitter around the time it was sold to MElon, "open" "hey hi" is a big pile of debt with a lot to pay for that debt (interest payments)
Europe is Leaving Microsoft, the Press Coverage Isn't Sufficiently Helpful
The news is generally positive, but the press coverage leaves so much to be desired
Slopwatch: Linuxsecurity, BetaNews, and Linux Journal
slippery slope
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 19, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/06/2025: Gemini Protocol Turns 6!
Links for the day