Netbooks a dilemma for Microsoft
Microsoft’s drive to force Windows into every computing device can stand in the way of progress. (See this previous post.) Most newer versions of Windows need pretty hefty hardware and that rules out the small, mobile devices that would suffice for many people. Microsoft sees smaller devices as a threat to its profits and is exerting pressure to keep netbooks from becoming primary PCs. Gregg Keizer writes at Computerworld:
Microsoft’s quandary is that while the jump in netbook sales means more copies of Windows are sold to computer makers, the versions suitable for the smaller systems — primarily the ancient Windows XP Home — are its lowest-priced. Every netbook, then, is a lost sale of a so-called “premium” edition of Windows.
“It has a vested interest in minimizing cannibalization as much as possible,” said Baker, referring to netbook sales eating into those of more powerful, and higher-priced, notebooks that run, for instance, Vista Home Premium, or in the future, Windows 7 Professional.
So far, Microsoft’s clout with the OEMs has kept Windows XP Home as the main operating system on netbooks. Of course, Microsoft wants to replace XP with the pricier Windows 7 and is trying various tactics to ensure that. Microsoft has had to back off of one tactic where it was going to cripple Windows 7 on netbooks but it is trying others.
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