It has suddenly become fashionable to diss the Netbook. Some of the blame goes to Intel, which didn’t understand who its buyers might be.

I remember when cars like my Toyota Scion and the Honda Element came out their makers assumed they would sell to first-time car buyers, kids. Instead they got people like me. Many now call the Element the Elderment.

Point is there were buyers. And there are buyers for the Netbook. But it’s also important to note that this year’s models are just Version 1.0 for the form factor. It will take some tweaks for these guys to replace desktop or notebook kit wholesale.

In my Linux Laptop series I described some of the Netbooks’ problems, as seen by friends and relatives. So let’s focus on what we have learned:

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