Posted 01/06/2009 at 11:31:23pm

The person who received a netbook for Christmas should not mess around trying to install another operating system.

In your introductory paragraph you say the netbooks are not suited for more intensive applications like gaming or video editing.  Agree.  Then you go on to imply that this problem can be solved by installing a much more versatile linux distribution like Ubuntu.  Disagree!  This is like saying you can't pull a 20 ton trailer with a VW but you might be able to if you swapped in an automatic transmission!  None of the low end netbooks are designed to do gaming or video. And they certainly are not targeted to people who like to fool around with linux distributions!

The basic netbooks (512 MB, 8GB SS drive) are very good at doing what they were designed to do: Web, Office Applications, email, etc. I got the Acer Aspire One for $399. for my 13 year old niece and it is perfect for her.  I also got one for my wife to travel with, as she can drop it in her handbag and stop lugging around an extra laptop bag.  I would suggest that these are the type of users for whom the netbook was designed. Both of them can go a long way with Limpus and in fact they could go a long way and never need to see much of the operating system.  That's the whole idea!