ITNews, an Australian business publication, is reporting that the Department of Education of the state of New South Wales is using a variety of management software and techniques 'to roll out 240,000 netbook computers into what CIO Stephen Wilson calls "the most hostile environment you can roll computers into" - the local high school.' Students are offered a netbook in 9th grade through 12th and can keep them if they graduate.
Was just going to post this also. The Acer mentioned though is one of the absolute cheapest notebooks one can get. Not sure that it was the best comparison. There are some netbooks that have amazing battery life (8+ hours) in the sub $350 range. If the article's point is about resource intensive apps like video, it should also clearly point out that the acer's battery will die out well before a similarly priced netbook from samsung.
Google is going after Microsoft with their new open source operating system designed originally for netbook users - so no software has to be installed. It is all browser based and stores docs on Google servers - great for computer crashes - security???