Given the lower specs of the typical netbook, it makes absolutely no sense from a consumer's point of view to want Vista SP2..errr.. I mean Windows 7 on the netbook. The UI elements are bloated. Larger buttons, spacing, etc. are wasteful on a netbook's screen. It is highly doubtful that any so-called “Starter's edition” of Win7 will be as small in diskspace as the typical nLited XP.

I can understand why Microsoft would want Win7 on netbooks, but for the buying public?

Doesn't windows start up with alot of applications? Not to mention anti virus programs that normally run in the back ground.

I think this is getting blown out of proportion. Microsoft has always had a version for developing countries. That does NOT mean it will be bundled with netbooks. I would be very surprised to see anything running starter in the US market.

If you spend a few minutes customizing the UI elements, Win7/Vista fit quite nicely on a netbook screen. In fact, the new Win7 taskbar improves the usability by reducing taskbar clutter.

People aren't going to keep buying millions of netbooks with a gimped windows that arbitrarily tells you that you're running too many apps (with 2GB of RAM installed and a dual-core Atom processor no less) — totally absurd. Removing eye-candy, media center, stuff like that I can see in a netbook SKU, but trying to limit the number of running apps for no other reason than greed? I think true commodity throw-away impulse-buy computing devices are here and if MS insist on $100 OS licenses so people can use their $250 hardware unmolested then I think they'll end up giving Linux the market share it could never attain on its own.

As one post asked: What are they smoking in Redmond?

Let us just hope that none of the main-stream Linux distributions
start breathing too deeply of the second hand smoke.

Given the lower specs of the typical netbook, it makes absolutely no sense from a consumer's point of view to want Vista SP2..errr.. I mean Windows 7 on the netbook. The UI elements are bloated. Larger buttons, spacing, etc. are wasteful on a netbook's screen. It is highly doubtful that any so-called “Starter's edition” of Win7 will be as small in diskspace as the typical nLited XP.

I can understand why Microsoft would want Win7 on netbooks, but for the buying public?

Doesn't windows start up with alot of applications? Not to mention anti virus programs that normally run in the back ground.

I think this is getting blown out of proportion. Microsoft has always had a version for developing countries. That does NOT mean it will be bundled with netbooks. I would be very surprised to see anything running starter in the US market.

If you spend a few minutes customizing the UI elements, Win7/Vista fit quite nicely on a netbook screen. In fact, the new Win7 taskbar improves the usability by reducing taskbar clutter.

My Netbook Desktop

People aren't going to keep buying millions of netbooks with a gimped windows that arbitrarily tells you that you're running too many apps (with 2GB of RAM installed and a dual-core Atom processor no less) — totally absurd. Removing eye-candy, media center, stuff like that I can see in a netbook SKU, but trying to limit the number of running apps for no other reason than greed? I think true commodity throw-away impulse-buy computing devices are here and if MS insist on $100 OS licenses so people can use their $250 hardware unmolested then I think they'll end up giving Linux the market share it could never attain on its own.

Haven't installed Windows 7 myself, but from what I've heard/read the potential advantages might be:

- better SSD performance (unproven, to be tested, so far all I've seen is they will disable services like defragmentation automatically)
- better power management (again, to be tested)
- quicker boot times (haven't seen this one prove out yet vs. XP)
- quicker shutdown times (to be tested)

Also it does seem to me like some of the stuff, like the device stage, and the announcement service (replacing all those icons in your tray), and the icon based task bar are more space efficient than Windows XP.

Some of the stuff like the home group could be useful if you have other Windows 7 PCs on your home network, or you actually use your netbook on your corporate network (unlikely?) so maybe don't matter so much.

6 versions? Again? I thought the point of learning from history was so you wouldn't make the same mistakes again? lol

why not ship ONE version (like Apple do)?

Or cripple the shipping version and allow people to buy the extra bits if they want them? Actually, that won't work… people will just find ways to key enable the extra bits.

Go on MS, have the balls to ship one version with options to turn off performance sapping bloatware on low spec machines. There, it's been said.

I tried Linux. Sorry, it might be alright for basic users who just want to run a few simple programs but for us middle group who like to/have to run Windows programs or who want to do simple things (like add extra fonts for their work processing programs) Linux is not user friendly enough. In the end I put XP on the netbook instead. Ran well, worked as expected.

I'm not anti-Linux. I also played with Vista on a new laptop and couldn't stand the way they moved things around (for no reason) and slowed it down so much. Reverted that to XP too and suddenly the new laptop actually performed like it was a new laptop

What does Windows 7 do better than XP to make it worth buying? Really? When Windows gained plug-and-play and USB ports and DVD drivers it was worth upgrading. Now it's just steep relearning curves, some eye candy and nothing really new.

Actually, the “premium” tag is only being kept (quoting from Gizmodo) “because in market testing, Vista users thought they were getting downgraded, going from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home.”
So really, swapping out XP Home to W7 Home (premium) shouldn't be a big price hike on netbooks. Will keep Linux in the picture tho.

Microsoft will absolutely push Starter as an option for Netbooks. They say as much:

“For OEMs that build lower-cost small notebook PCs, Windows 7 Starter will now be available in developed markets.”
– http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/200…

It's certain XP will no longer be offered as an option by Microsoft for hardware manufacturers. They've been working on retiring XP for quite a while, but to fend off Linux on netbooks they've been forced to continue to offer XP– reportedly at giveaway prices. Starter will be the new giveaway OS to replace XP.

Some netbook makers won't touch it, because they know their customers will hate Starter. Others will be reluctant to increase prices on netbooks to include Home Premium, so they'll cross their fingers, install Starter, and promote the easy upgradability of Windows 7. I predict though that within a year or so the 3-app limit will have been so derided that most netbook makers will drop Starter from most machines, especially at retail. So there will be two versions of each netbook to choose from: a Linux version and a MUCH pricier version with Home Premium. It'll be a good day for Linux.

Microsoft could easily respond by offering Home Basic for domestic consumption (it's currently only for “emerging markets”) but I don't think they will. So Linux netbooks will sell pretty well.

I wasn't aware that Vista starter had a three app limit and a similar hard disk limit of 250 GB, but remember that this was planned for “emerging markets” only, to stop piracy (mainly because people could not afford Vita at all). That is why we never saw it. But the article says current plans are for 7starter to go into netbooks. We will definitely see that.

BTW did the version stop piracy or hacks to get around the limitatons? I have no data, but I guess not.

Now, your point about that the market will not tolerate the starter version is right. But there is a spillover of dislike to the other versions, as people see the stupid limitations of the OS. Add to that that it will (probably) not sell at all except to a few people who do not know about computers and I think it will be a net loss for Microsoft, and for 7. And it will not reduce piracy.

And for the people stuck with one what are the options? Jailbreaking, piracy or switching to linux.

Right. But what they're not saying is that they'll offer discounted
versions of Home Premium to netbook makers. So Asus, Acer, HP and all
the rest will have to decide whether they want to pay full price for
Windows and drive up the cost of their netbooks or offer Windows
Starter/Linux for around the same price they charge today. If
customers have a choice between a netbook with a crippled version of
Windows for $350, or a full version for $450, or a Linux version for
$300… I honestly don't know what will happen. But I'd be surprised
if we *didn't* see some companies using Starter Edition for the price
savings.

As a matter of fact there is quite a bit new. I'm not going to go into details about it but to an extent you are right. There are no “mind blowing” reasons everyone has to run out and buy 7, but for power users there are a lot of nice features.

As for your statement on one version, you are comparing apples to oranges, pardon the pun. Apple OSX was designed to be a home based operating system. Limited peer-to-peer networking and such. Windows on the other hand does MUCH more in a business environment, so it makes sense to have two primary versions of the OS, Home Premium and Professional.

Now, I don't condone the inclusion of Windows 7 Starter in North America, but I thought I should point out some of these facts.

If I recently purchased two computers from HP and one of them has the full version of Windows 7 and the other only the Windows 7 starter version, can I install the full version on both computers?