A few of the contributors over at VentureBeat, Matthaus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann, spent about 4 hours compiling Google's open source Android OS, designed to run on mobile phones like the T-Mobile G1 and the Kogan Agora, so that it would run on their Asus Eee PC 1000H. This is really not that surprising or amazing of a feat, considering that Google Android is an open source operating system, similar to popular open source operating system, Linux. For years now, enterprising Linux hackers and tinkerers have spent hours and hours customizing the operating system so that it will run on everything from their store bought laptops to iPods and iPhones. This usually involves taking an operating system that was designed to power a full desktop computer and customizing the code and the drivers so that they will run on the smaller processors and different hardware found on notebooks and other smaller, less powerful devices. Krzykowski and Hartmann have done the reverse here. They've taken an open source operating system that was designed to run smartphones and have customized the code and the drivers so that that slim mobile operating system can power a netbook.

While this is definitely a cool hack, to assume that this means that Google's Android operating system is designed to eventually be released on netbooks is a bit of a leap in logic. Just because it can be adjusted to run on a netbook doesn't mean that it will run well on that netbook.

Also, in this writer's opinion, given Linux's small marketshare compared to both Microsoft Windows and OS X, the operating system track record already points toward established paid-for operating systems being the route that most consumers take. Given the amount of time and energy Google has been putting into designing various applications like Google Chrome and the various online Google Apps that compete with Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Microsoft's Office suite and which run or will soon run in Windows, Mac, and Linux, moving towards building a more robust Android that would support computers, even entry level computers like netbooks, seems outside Google's current strategic approach with the desktop. I'm sure someday Google will eventually venture into the desktop realm, but I don't think now is the time given the current state of the market, and I think they'll probably focus on perfecting Android as a mobile OS before tackling any other operating systems.

That being said, undoubtedly some enterprising third-party people out there like Krzykowski and Hartmann who have a stake in their own currently in stealth-mode start-up Mobile Facts, may offer Google Android-based netbooks that they compile themselves. The big question is will there be enough market interest and will Google Android run well enough on these devices to warrant the effort. Linux's track record answers that question with a somewhat resounding no. 

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