Microsoft to Offer 'Several' Netbook Versions of Windows 7

When netbooks took off during 2008, few were as unprepared for it as Microsoft, and few lost as much from the growing trend. Because of how complex Vista is, netbooks with their smaller screens, less memory and lower-powered chips could not support the system. Microsoft lost money when they had to sell XP for netbooks so they're hoping that the several netbook versions of Windows 7 will solve their problems. But we're not quite certain the magic bullet will work.



We reported on the six different versions Microsoft plans on offering for Windows 7, and the odds of you ever really using or hearing about more than one of them. At the time, Windows 7 Starter seemed like a joke. It's so limited it's almost crippling and its ability to only run 3 programs simultaneously is laughable. But now we understand Microsoft a little better. Many netbooks will come with the cheaper Windows 7 Starter and will probably run just fine until consumers start to actually use their netbooks. That's when problems will start.

But that's all part of Microsoft's plan. They're hoping that once users get frustrated with the cheaper version, they'll fork out the money to upgrade to other netbook versions (seperate from the six that we've already heard about). It seems like a logical business plan. Microsoft will still get their OS on the netbooks and will still be able to increase their profit margin as users upgrade to a newer model.

This could be a risky move on Microsoft's part. If users aren't willing to pay to upgrade the limited features may be enough to drive some netbook users away from Windows 7 back to cheaper older versions or to Linux. There is really no way to say right now which way it will go. But, after this latest news on Windows 7, we're definitely ready for it to come into the hands of consumers so we can see how it will all work out.

For more information, see the netbook review site. For more tech news, refer to the TTR Tech News Blog: