Vista is a dog as soon as you go under 1 Gb of RAM, less than dual core CPU, and use integrated graphics - for a machine that is supposed to be used for mere web browsing and some documents editing here and there, 2 Gb of RAM, a dual core CPU and a dedicated video chip (with dedicated RAM) are, simply put, overkill.
Current netbooks literally have the power of mid-range laptops of 5 years ago (in a much smaller package) - and that's more than enough for what they're supposed to do.
@Luscious: can you hear yourself talking?! 2GB of RAM for Web browsing! Current browsers need at most half a gig with a dozen tabs open! Would that mean that Vista needs the rest to merely boot?! And Atom isn't built to be powerful - it's built to be cheap. Dual core Atom would be more power consuming (I agree with you about the chipset though) for very little improvement: netbook screens don't really allow the kind of multitasking a dual core CPU is made for - and the Windows desktop doesn't allow what Xorg's virtual desktops allow.
Finally, this kind of gadget is interesting only when it's cheap; thus, only one version of Vista qualifies: Home basic - which is slower and has less features than XP Home, and at the same time is a bit more expensive.
That's where Linux is interesting, and allowed the EeePC to be successful: cost is zero; it's a server-worthy OS, thus it's stable; it's modular, thus it's fast; code is optimized, thus eye candy is there if you want it even on puny hardware; and main use being browsing, it provides Firefox, Flash and Java - more than enough.
In fact, the only reason Microsoft grudgingly allowed XP to be sold again, is because they have no OS ready to go on such machines (they would qualify as 'Vista Ready, but you know, the class action suit...) while Linux runs on pretty much anything with a CPU and RAM - and it SCALES.
The net result:
- slightly more expensive or hardware-crippled XP home-equipped netbooks, that look old, can't connect to an enterprise network, and come with little to no software installed
- fully powered, fully able Linux-equipped netbooks, that come with OpenOffice.org, Skype, a multiprotocol IM client, games, pedagogic softwares, encyclopedia, a media player... and a smooth 3D desktop if you feel like tinkering.
In fact, if you look at the MSI Wind U100, the Linux version is cheaper and comes with more software installed.
If you feel like removing a perfectly working system to replace it with a pirated, crippled OS, or directly pay more for said crippled OS, go ahead; but you should at least give the Linux version a whirl in typical use. I know what I'll use anyway.
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