Jeff Atwood nails the whole point of the Netbook form factor.
…netbooks are more than just PCs. If the internet is the ultimate force of democratization in the world, then netbooks are the instrument by which that democracy will be achieved.
Slightly more capable than a smartphone; slightly less capable than a laptop.
I’ve worked on my year and a half old Asus Eee PC 1000H many a time and although it isn’t ideal for every day use, it’s still more than capable of handling development work. It also far outstrips my smart phone in terms of practicality – I don’t even bother replying to emails or forum posts a good percentage of the time unless I’m on either my netbook or my home PC, even if I’ve first viewed them on the phone.
When I read articles like Joey deVilla’s, I wonder what the agenda is behind them – it’s so unbalanced that I doubt I’d bother reading anything else he has to comment on. Somewhat of an own-goal if he really is just trying to stir up some controversy to create traffic.