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Strong Windows XP sales on netbooks could hurt Microsoft’s bottom line

The first netbooks to hit the market in 2007 shipped with Linux. Microsoft wanted in on the action, and began offering low cost Windows XP licenses to netbook makers, and today the vast majority of mini-laptops ships with Windows. And from Microsoft’s standpoint, that’s probably better than watching one of the fastest-growing segments of the […]

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Microsoft to give out thousands of netbooks to TechEd Australia participants

Microsoft has a history of giving out free software licenses to techies that attend the company’s conferences. Now the company is upping its game by not only giving TechEd Australia participants a pre-release copy of Windows 7… but it’ll be installed on a complimentary HP Mini 2140 netbook. Of course, you’ll have to pay a […]

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Netbooks may be faster than laptops to adopt touchscreen displays

Windows 7, which is due out in a few months, will include a number of touch-friendly features. But you’ll need a computer with a touchscreen to take advantage of those features. And while I think touchscreen notebooks and netbooks will likely remain niche products for the foreseeable future, since touchscreens are awkward to use unless […]

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Microsoft may ship Windows 7 on thumb drives for netbook users

Microsoft designed Windows Vista under the assumption that the computer industry was only moving in one direction: Faster, more powerful machines. The company was wrong, and a lot of people found that Vista simply didn’t run well on their older or slower hardware. Or on netbooks which tend to have slower processors than their more […]

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Multitouch support coming to Linux netbooks – Video

Microsoft is baking support for multitouch gestures into Windows 7, and that means we’re likely to see a growing number of laptops, all-in-one dekstops, and netbooks with capacitive touchscreen displays starting in the second half of 2009. But it looks like the fun isn’t going to be strictly limited to Windows. because a group of […]

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Rumor: Netbook makers may be reluctant to switch to Windows 7

Final pricing for Windows 7 hadn’t been announced yet, and what’s even less clear is how much Microsoft will charge PC makers who want to pre-load various versions of Windows 7 on netbooks. But DigiTimes is reporting that right now Microsoft wants to charge netbook makers around $45 to $55 for a copy of Windows […]

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Intel hasn’t validated Windows 7 Home Premium for Atom… yet – Video

I stopped by a panel discussion at the CEA Line Show today moderated by Laptop Magazine’s Mark Spoonauer.  The panel included executives from Samsung, HP, Verizon, and Intel talking about the current state of netbooks as well as the future. Afterward, I got a chance to catch up with Intel General Manager for nettops and […]

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Intel Atom Pineview may not be validated for Windows 7 Home Premium

Microsoft has made a big point of letting the world now that every version of Windows 7 will run smoothly on low powered computers like netbooks. That means you can run Windows 7 Starter, Home Premium, Ultimate, or Enterprise on a netbook if you want. You’ll just have to pony up a bit more cash […]

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Microsoft drops 3-app limit for Windows 7 Starter Edition

Windows 7 Starter Edition will be the first “Starter” version of Windows to be available int he US. The reason? Netbooks. Microsoft is feeling pressure from the people making and selling low cost mini-laptops to offer a low cost version of Windows 7, even though the operating system was designed so that even the most […]