Even after considering the success seen with Linux on netbooks, there is really no question that it feels like something ominous is holding back desktop Linux from the masses.

We have to commend VzWireless: its "iDon't DROID does" ad campaign sparked plenty of buzz about the Motorola DROID - arguably the first business-targeted Android phone. Over 250,000 DROIDs were sold in just the first week; total sales are expected to top one million by year-end.

A team of Dell engineers has released a very unofficial version of Google's Chrome OS for use on the PC manufacturer's Mini 10v netbooks. Dell isn't on the official list of Chrome OS hardware partners. And the company's founder and CEO believes his netbooks go sour after 36 hours.

A demo of a smartbook prototype from Qualcomm may have provided more details of Lenovo's smartbook for AT&T, including its choice of OS.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin says that Chrome OS and Android are likely to merge at some point, say reports. Meanwhile, we sample the response to Chrome OS from across the Googleverse, and explore whether calling the cloud-oriented, Linux-based OS "underwhelming" is a diss or a kiss.

One of those Powerful Ideas is to provide Sharp Tools, as opposed to the weak idea of canned lessons on individual topics that go no further. They were originally designed for the factory automation model of education. You know, everybody in an entire state or country gets the same lesson from the same textbook on the same day. Efficiency!

It's interesting, for sure, but Google Chrome OS as a game changer? No way! Everything from assuming people will want another Apple-alike 'buy the hardware to get the OS' model to thinking the average user is ready to surrender a PC paradigm for a cloud-based existence is wide of the mark. Google would appear to have got this one about as wrong as it got Google Answers or Google Lively.

It's not shocking that we're super tantalized by the prospect of yet another netbook flooding the oversaturated market in the near term. The sub-$200 price point that's being floated about definitely has us interested, though the Ubuntu operating system is likely to fend off any non-adventurous would-be buyers.