Finally the software behemoth has found its way into the heart of netbook market. According to Redmond-based Microsoft it now controls 96% of netbook market! If figures from research firm NPD, LeBlanc are anything to go by then Windows' share of the U.S. netbook market has ballooned from less than 10% in the first half of 2008 to 96% as of February. "The growth of Windows on netbook PCs over the last year has been phenomenal," wrote LeBlanc.

LeBlanc said Microsoft's success in the netbook market has come at the expense of the open source Linux operating system, which was popular on early netbook models because of its small footprint and low cost. "Not only are people overwhelmingly buying Windows, but those that try Linux are often returning it," wrote Leblanc, noting that the United Kingdom's Car phone Warehouse dropped Linux-based netbooks after seeing return rates as high as 20%.

[via InformationWeek]