As the release of low-cost laptops based on Intel's upcoming Atom Processor draws near, Microsoft is getting boxed into a corner. The software company plans to stop selling most Windows XP licenses after June 30, yet most of these low-cost laptops won't be powerful enough to run Vista when they arrive later this year.
Windows Vista isn't a viable option in this product segment! It's too expensive and does not work on the stripped-down hardware configurations required to keep prices low. That leaves Microsoft executives with a choice: Do they extend the availability of Windows XP for low-cost laptops, or possibly concede this nascent market to Linux?
Link: ITWorld
Windows Vista isn't a viable option in this product segment! It's too expensive and does not work on the stripped-down hardware configurations required to keep prices low. That leaves Microsoft executives with a choice: Do they extend the availability of Windows XP for low-cost laptops, or possibly concede this nascent market to Linux?
Link: ITWorld
But I don't think Microsoft will extend XP. They may however release a cut down Vista.
They did.
I think that the point of the article is that these low end laptops are running a full version of the Linux kernel, so pretty much the whole world of software is open to use.
There's not really an advantage to deploying XPe in this situation; however, with Vista embedded you could potentially strip away the more memory intensive pieces (DWM, Windows Search, Superfetch) to slim down the OS
I agree, It makes sense.
As always, it's all about choice. But don't buy low-end hardware and then whine, cry (or in extreme cases, sue) because you weren't competent enough to understand that low-end hardware can't run a high-end operating system with good efficiency.
VISTA IS THE SAME COST AS XP!!!! Look on Misco, WallMart etc. Upgrade price for Vista Business is... £149.99. Upgrade price for XP Pro is.... £149.99. Home Basic Upgrade is £80, and XP Home is £80.... It's the same price.
Vista is fine running with 512Mb RAM on a 1.6Ghz box. Christ, until recently I had my Vista Ult media centre running on 512Mb and an Athlon 1500+ (1.3Ghz) comfortably.
The low cost laptop market is tiny. Whilst I'm sure MS would love to keep Joe Consumer away from Linux altogether, a 2% market share won't be causing Steve Ballmer to be losing much sleep at night. Can anyone see the low cost laptop being more than say 7% of the total market within the next 5 years? Any guess what will happen by that time....
Instead of having low cost laptops running chips at 1.6Ghz, they'll be running 3Ghz, with 1Gb RAM. And guess what will run quite happily on that hardware......... the latest version of the worlds most popular desktop operating system.
How have MS already 'lost' exactly? With Windows Mobile 5 and 6 licensed on 4 out of the 5 biggest handset manufacturers in the world and Microsoft's platform have over double that of Linux's market share....?
EeePC and Intel's yet to be released offering aren't exactly taking over the world now are they...
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