At today's ASUS product showcase in Sydney the entire range was there, from ultra-portable, touch screen netbooks to high-end, quad core Lamborghinis (I'm not joking). Even Windows Vista was there. There was only one thing missing - Linux.

Reports of the Linux netbook's death at the hands of Microsoft have been greatly exaggerated. A flood of Linux netbook news will be made next week at the Computex trade show in Taiwan.

Not all that along ago, I was hearing rumors that the release of Windows 7 will spell the death of Linux on tiny notebook type computers called netbooks. At the time the argument was that people expected Windows on their PCs and that familiarity would win out over anything that desktop Linux distributions can dispense in response.

Shuttle has released a fanless mini-PC using Via's 1.0GHz Nano U1700 processor. The Shuttle XS29F is said to feature both VGA and DVI video outputs, up to 4GB of RAM, SATA 2 storage options, four USB ports, and total power consumption of less than 50 Watts.

Rumor has it that Microsoft has arbitrarily limited its definition of "netbook" to machines with screens smaller than 10.2 inches.  This move is presumably intended to force more consumers to pay for the full version of Windows 7, rather than buying the less expensive (and less usable) "Starter" or "Home Basic" editions.  But this strategy could backfire by driving sales of Linux-based netbooks,

A U.K. startup called Interead will soon ship a Linux-based e-book reader claimed to be about 40 percent lighter than an Amazon Kindle 2, and over $100 cheaper.

What is the true market share for Linux? A: Depends who you ask! You can find desktop penetration of 1%, 2% and 4% - and a server share right up to 46%!