And in this configuration list you see almost the entirety of what's available in netbooks today. Sad, really.

If netbooks all work about the same and that 'sameness' is good it makes the whole market look good. It also will lift computing out of the mud to make even thin margine products profitable.

For ubiquitous computing to work it MUST be like this where the devices work and act the same and have nearly the same basic parts. Do you think VCRs would have been in every house in the late 80s if they didn't all function the same and all functioned…good enough? We want netbooks to work, and we want them to provide a 'level' functionality base for ubiquitous computing to occur. That way people new to the market don't have to worry or think, “Which one do I buy?” They walk into the store and deal with buying a computer like buying an iron or a washing machine.

It really does help all of us when netbooks are differentiated at the level of the “remote” or “S-Video output” in a VCR analogy. It helps us because then everyone buys a computer or two. That in turn lowers prices, decreases 'lemon' models, and then in turn lowers the price of the outside infrastructure like broadband internet. This also lowers the price of software because the market for even small niche programs isn't in the tens of thousands but in the tens of millions if not the hundreds of millions.