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Find a market where they need a high performance desktop-style system with PC-peripheral support based on MPC8610 or MPC8640D and we'll jump on it and go with it.

Right now the buzz is around ARM so we'll do ARM. Our MPC8610 Netbook spec is not abandoned.. it's just looking for a partner. Unfortunately the advantages in an MPC8610 Netbook are basically only in better performance and lower power consumption than Atom, however it will not run Windows and "but it can run MorphOS!" is really, really not a selling point to anyone.

While this is true, an MPC8610 Netbook may appear but you will still have to pay again for MorphOS. Unless there is a way MorphOS can be subsidised through sales of a MUCH higher selling product or OS, it needs to be that way.

The other problem - which strikes ARM too - is that Linux distributions available today DO NOT come up to scratch as a viable alternative to Windows. No, not Ubuntu, not Fedora, not SUSE. Linus Torvalds just switched back from KDE to GNOME, even though he thinks GNOME sucks, just because KDE 4.x is really not ready yet and won't be for another 6-9 months.

What are you meant to do here? Ship something that sucks, according to the creator of Linux, that's what. It's the only solution anyone has. All you can do after that is hope that you can ship a viable upgrade later.

Good things are on the horizon though; while KDE 4.3 or 4.4 appears you may be given a Qt-based desktop written by the Ubuntu guys, since it went LGPL this makes it a complete, open-source compliant platform which you do not need to play with the KDE exception to enjoy. However, this "Netbook Qt Desktop" will probably be 12 months or 18 months away..