I'd Actually Use a Netbook With Intel's Moblin 2.0 OS

Intel's Moblin 2.0 OS is designed specifically for netbooks, and marks the first time I've ever been tempted to utter "wow" and "netbook" in the same sentence. Just watch.

It's completely re-designed from the original Moblin, which was way more Linux-y. It's not just really modern and awesome looking, it seems like the first OS and UI really designed just for netbooks.

And it makes a lot of sense for netbooks to get their own OS and interface: Every hardware platform—which you can basically break down by screen size and input method, from desktop/laptop to mobile—works best with an OS and UI designed for it. It's why the iPhone OS, Android and Pre (theoretically) work so well when full-blown Windows running on UMPCs doesn't—they're designed to be mobile OSes, not simply a desktop OS stuffed onto a phone.

I sorta worry about Moblin being a bit limited since it's a custom OS, but Kevin says according to Intel, "thousands of applications" for Linux "just run" on it, no porting or middleware. If you're just using it as a web-oriented secondary machine, the light apps and WebKit browser should theoretically be just fine. Either way, the fact this makes me want to play around with a netbook is a pretty good start.