I recently bought a netbook (I travel a lot and sometimes a laptop isn't convenient to lug about) and as Scan were selling the CNM (also sold under other brand names) very cheaply - it seemed worth a punt.

And it is very good for the price - a bit underpowered, but connects as it should, has a good browser and e mail client.... but...

The OS is a Linux variant, and boots straight up into a graphical screen. No password, nothing, so there is immediately a physical security risk - don't lose it or keep anything sensitive on it - bank account passwords etc - and that might include e mails just in case it does get lost or stolen.

I have not (yet) found a way into the operating system itself. The built in file manager says that there are hidden files/directories but has no way of displaying them. It updates automatically - some version of APT or YUM I would guess, but no indication of where it is updating from (or any code signing etc). The device is made in China, the only language options are English and Simplified Chinese, but it did occur to me that it would be very easy to ship this (or subsequently download) a trojan that sent any or all information stored on it to an unknown third party.

Now this is true of any OS, but with a mainstream OS (Windows, mainstream Linux OS) there are some checks and balances. With a closed source system like Windows, there are some controls and if such a malware (and it has happened) was shipped, it woulkd be soon discovered by ther large user base. With a 'conventional' open source OS (mainstream Linux) there are lots of developers who can peer review and sign the code, giving some quality assurance that it only does what it says on the tin.

But this doesn't seem true of the generic netbooks, and I'm now wondering whether they are quite as good as they appear!