Sunday, April 12, 2009

Ubuntu accuses Microsoft of Linux netbook FUD

If you think that Windows now completely rules the netbook world, you've been drinking way too much Microsoft kool-aid according to Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu.

"LaBlanc opened by claiming that almost all netbooks sold today are sold with Windows. Well, no, not really. The numbers LaBlanc cites are from NPD's sales survey. NPD focuses on brick-and-mortar U.S. sales, not overall sales. Notice how many Linux systems you see at Best Buy? NPD numbers say a lot more about retail channel sales than it does over-all sales. Besides, as Canonical's director of business development Kenyon wrote, "However here is an interesting fact--when customers are offered choice on equally well-engineered computers around a third will select Ubuntu over XP."

"Kenyon also calls Microsoft on what he's polite to call an out-and-out lie. Microsoft claims that Canonical itself has said that its Linux netbooks are returned at a rate more than four times as high as Windows netbooks. No they're not. Kenyon wrote, "Continually repeating that we 'confirmed' a 4x return over XP when we did nothing of the sort is really not worthy of a great company like Microsoft."

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