According to Lance Ulanoff of PC Magazine in his article titled Windows 7 Starter Won’t Open Any Doors for Android or Linux, Android has about as much of a chance with competing in the netbook market (and desktop computing market) as Linux does, and that’s a very slim chance. Ulanoff mentions how many people are thinking that Microsoft’s crippled Windows 7 Starter Edition (made for netbooks) will open the doors for Linux and Android to take over in that market. However, we’ve already heard that story back when Microsoft released Windows Vista and it wouldn’t run on low-end netbooks. What are the advantages to having a netbook running Android?

Some people bought Linux netbooks back then, but they were returned. Manufactures clamored to install Windows XP on their netbooks and those have been the best sellers.

What exactly will Android be able to offer that Windows 7 won’t? Will Android be able to connect to your printer, external CD drives, or other accessories? Can it run Microsoft Office or even connect to home network file shares to access music and stream TV shows from your Media Center? Does the browser even support Flash?

Maybe an Android Netbook will be better used as a PC Companion or “Personal Digital Assistant” in the same way that the old Windows CE Handheld PCs were supposed to be used. Although that’s the same way that any smartphone these days can be used too. It seems to be very difficult to justify the need for an Android Netbook.

A Windows 7 netbook on the other hand would be able to run all the full Windows applications that don’t run on my phone already. It would be a great portable compliment to a smartphone in its ability to do laptop things (on a smaller scale performance-wise) without being as big and bulky as a laptop.

I suppose the advantage to having Linux or Android on a netbook is its “free” price tag, but Windows XP costs $15 on netbooks and we suspect Windows 7 Starter Edition will be practically free to OEMs as well. So that would seem to nullify that argument. Wouldn’t you rather spend $15 extra on a netbook that runs all the Windows programs you’re used to?