
Lazy
People are basically lazy and what the easiest option, the one of least resistance....unless there is big money to be made from something, then they make an effort.
Linux, much as I like it, only got a show on netbooks because of the initial cost differentials between the two 2 OSs plus a bit of curiosity is building up re Linux, especially since the vista disaster and its inability to tun on netbooks.
But unless someone can really provide a linux distribution that will not cause a massive % increase in returns and support costs and p!ssed off customers who expected to run some particular windows software on their machines, then linux ain't gonna take off in a big way (desite my personal preferences for it - I have "Ubuntu Studio", very nice, on the family PC plus XP for the kids games)
In this case I blame HP almost completely for not taking the time and effort to think this through properly, and implement it properly...plus the British public being so thick and bloody whinghing and suing that they deserve what they get.
And I don't think MS are evil, just bloody successful and protecting their business same as any other business of any size tries to protect its business interests.
Only if MS became a non-profit, or communist collective, would some people be happy, but then those same people want everything to be free whilst still having all the luxuries and tech available to support their high-carbon lives - kind of impossible unfortunately given human nature and the overwhelming capitalist system.
More to the point, why does anyone want a bloody netwook anyway when you can get a smartphone or ipod which is just as useful and far more portable. Life with a laptop (so no desktop needed), plus a smartphone keeps me nicely productive wherever I am, even when on the bog.