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Microsoft answers Windows 7 netbook question

Microsoft has finally explained that all editions of Windows 7 will work fine …

This week, Microsoft announced that there would be six editions of Windows 7, though the company would only be pushing Home Premium and Professional in retail stores and via marketing. The question of how Microsoft would be handling the netbook market trend has come up more than once ever since Vista's successor was announced.

Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows Consumer Product Marketing, claims that Windows 7 has a smaller OS footprint, faster boot-up and shut-down times, improved power management for enhanced battery life, and other improvements that will make it possible for all Windows 7 editions to run on netbooks.

"These engineering investments allow small notebook PCs to run any
version of Windows 7, and allow customers complete flexibility to
purchase a system which meets their needs," said Brooks in a statement. "For OEMs that build
digital media and easily connect with other PCs."

In other words, Microsoft is saying that any edition of Windows 7 will work on netbooks. It all depends on what the OEM will be offering. For example, if you can get Windows 7 Starter Edition on your netbook, you could later on move up (using Windows Anytime Upgrade) to whatever version you like (remember, every Windows 7 edition is a superset of the previous one).

Alternatively, you could just start off with a higher-end edition like Ultimate, assuming the OEM offers it for the netbook you want to buy. It looks like many will be doing a lot of price calculating to figure out which route is cheaper.

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15 Reader Comments

  1. Given the limitations in Starter Edition, and the generally deep-discount OEM pricing of Windows to begin with, the OEM price will probably be dirt cheap, meaning we could see sub-$250 netbooks before the year is out, maybe even sub-$200 given the right hardware cost developments. This is the one segment Starter makes some sense. A sub-$300 netbook doesn't need Aero, and generally you won't be running more than 3 apps at a time anyway given the low memory in that configuration. The limitations aren't so bad when they bump up against the capabilities of the hardware.
    1421 posts | registered
  2. I'm currently typing this on my Lenovo S10, running Vista.

    After upgrading the memory to 1.5 GB, Vista runs surprisingly well, even on the Atom processor. I can't wait for 7, providing the hype is to be believed.
    474 posts | registered
  3. Actually, I'm testing the Win7 beta in Ultimate mode on a $280 EEE 900HA, and it runs perfectly, even with Aero on. Not bad for a box with a GMA945. It starts with a gig of RAM, so that's how I'm running it, and multitasking runs more smoothly than on my beefy Vista desktop with 3GB or RAM. Keep in mind, this thing is almost a straight Intel Atom N270 reference implementation, so Win7 should be good to go on a variety of devices.

    Now, if this was the model with the 4GB SSD instead of a real 160GB HDD, Win7 would be a different story. But thankfully SSD price/GB is in freefall, and that should be mostly taken care of by the time Win7 comes to market. It shouldn't be an issue to launch netbooks with an 8gb SSD, and that should be plenty of room for the OS and a few apps/docs/MP3s.

    I think Intel is in for a surprise when Moorestown hits and OEMs start using it over the "real" netbook chipset for laptops. They need to be very careful with their pricing. Intel is in a weird place right now with a lot of their sales being driven by value chips like the Atom. It's saved them from considerable losses in the slump, but it has blown their estimates to hell.
    68 posts | registered
  4. I'm curious how long it will be before someone unlocks the 3 concurrent app limit of the Starter Edition. That would make for a pretty decent basic machine.
    2000 posts | registered
  5. I was really hoping Microsoft would drop the idiocy of all these different versions of Windows. Apple has it right - one version of the desktop OS. Is there any reason other than misguided marketing to have so many versions, with slightly different software features enabled?

    Posting from my Acer Aspire One netbook... running Mac OS X 10.5.6.... the same damn version that runs on my Mac Pro.
    17801 posts | registered
  6. Emil - I made this point about Starter in a previous post by PeterB. Starter is ultimatly intended for the sub-netbook market, although its possible it'll get used in netbooks as well. According to InformationWeek 70% of netbooks shipping are now shipping with Windows, its possible that the 30% left still shipping with Linux could see Starter adopted instead, possibly with a simple UI. But even there I don't see it having serious penetration.
    6736 posts | registered
  7. reflex-croft, sure, I see your point. I guess we'll just have to wait and see Smile
    1015 posts | registered
  8. Lemurs, I gotta disagree. The 3 app limitation makes it a non-starter (har har) A laptop from 1995 could run more than 3 apps at a time. I don't think any OEM will be willing to downgrade a consumer product so far below consumer expectations. I don't know exactly what they constitute an application but between your anti-virus and anti-spyware software you're left with one running app -- most likely a web browser. You wouldn't even be able to open a game of Solitaire. I suspect when netbooks starting hitting $200 they will ship exclusively with Linux. At that price point even $25 to Microsoft is way too much. Running Windows with such huge limitations wouldn't really make sense at that point anyway. Someone who could live with running 3 apps probably only wants IM, WEB and MAIL. All things Linux can do out of the box with little or no difference between Windows. I just can't see any OEM putting more than 10% of their potential profit into Microsoft's pocket.
    2000 posts | registered
  9. The reason they have so many version is because when you are a monopoly the only way to increase profits is to get people to pay as much as possible for your product. By releasing many different versions you have stratify the customer base making sure there is a version for everyone. This is classic economics (although I might of of described it perfectly).
    831 posts | registered
  10. It's market segmentation
    37575 posts | registered
  11. quote:
    Originally posted by aoeu:

    I count two versions generally available: home and business. sure there's others out there if you're an OEM or a volume license customer, but so what? Does there existence offend you in some way?

    Yes Apple sell one version of their OS that only works on hardware they sell at a significant markup. Do Microsoft sell the PC hardware at a huge markup? Well then.
    17775 posts | registered
  12. SleepDirt: You bring up a good question. I would have assumed the 3-app limitation was around user-interface type Apps, not services like Anti-virus and Anti-spyware. Given the necessity of services like these, I can't see how MS would include them in the 3-app limit, except when you launch the UI perhaps. If you're right, then it doesn't make sense. If they don't include services, having e-mail, internet (assuming multiple IE/FireFox tabs don't count as multiple apps), and a productivity app is generally going to be the usage profile on a 512mb sub-$300 netbook. It's hard to pop open much more and still have a satisfying experience to begin with.
    1421 posts | registered
  13. Think three taskbar windows.

    It's a bonkers limitation anyway, most people run two apps or less, techies will sneer at "limitation" and pirate a version without that restriction; I can't work out why MS bothered. Why not get the wallpaper covered in sponsership for the Starter Edition, it list then they're getting some moolah out of it instead of suckering themselves into beleiving they've created "value".
    17775 posts | registered
  14. I hope they will put all 5 wallpaper positioning settings in Home Premium that is already in Ultimate, but I doubt it. It seems like a silly thing to limit to Ultimate.

    If you're not price-shocked at the fact that Ultimate costs as much as your netbook, then I think why not run Ultimate on it if it can.
    56 posts | registered
  15. The starter edition is called 'let's kill off Linux on these low-end netbooks once and for all' edition. This lets the netbook manufacturers sell their products at a ridiculously low price yet still have Windows. It is a bit of a 'bait-and-switch' Windows, because you'll probably want to upgrade as soon as try it out of a bit.

    Of course Microsoft will say that all the editions of Windows 7 run on these netbooks. They claim Vista will run on netbooks!
    1656 posts | registered

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