Hewlett-Packard said it will likely offer at least 3 different editions of Windows 7 - The Starter, Professional and the Home Premium editions on future models of its Mini netbooks.
Kyle Thornton, category manager for Business Notebook PCs at HP, said in an interview that Windows 7 Beta testing is going on in the Mini netbook line and it runs very well on the Minis, even with Aero turned on. Besides the three editions of Windows 7 that HP plans to support, Thornton also hopes to continue to pre-install both Windows XP Professional and Vista Business on its business-oriented netbooks. HP offers three operating systems for business users - XP Professional, Vista Business and Novell's SUSE Enterprise Linux in the Mini 2140 introduced last month.
Microsoft has planned to offer a total of 6 editions of Windows 7 so far to meet the needs of PC makers & users and confirmed that there will be no special netbook SKU of Windows 7. PC makers will be allowed to install the Starter edition on netbooks and low-end PCs for sale in markets worldwide.
The Starter edition however will limit users to running only three applications at a time. The three-app rule includes applications running in the background but excludes any antivirus applications. The restriction is designed to ensure that users get the best possible performance from limited netbook hardware. However, Microsoft will encourage manufacturers to install Home Premium for better-spec netbooks and Starter in lower-end netbooks which could possibly lead to the rise in the price of netbooks.
Meanwhile, if you have any questions regarding HP and its future offerings, you could very well post your questions to Phil McKinney, CTO of of HP's Personal Systems Group, here and in the coming days we'll get his responses posted.
Can't they make it simple ? 3 versions of windows 7, vista and xp? You've got to be kidding me. The starter version would get on my nerves, I can't believe they'd actually sell it.
So, Pidgin, PeerGuardian and Winamp for some music, and that's it. If you want to browse the Internet, shutdown Winamp. If you want to unrar an archive, first save the file, then exit the browser and then unpack the archive. What a stupid limitation for heaven's sake...
So, Pidgin, PeerGuardian and Winamp for some music, and that's it. If you want to browse the Internet, shutdown Winamp. If you want to unrar an archive, first save the file, then exit the browser and then unpack the archive. What a stupid limitation for heaven's sake...
Especially since these same netbooks have no trouble running full versions of XP or Linux.
So, Pidgin, PeerGuardian and Winamp for some music, and that's it. If you want to browse the Internet, shutdown Winamp. If you want to unrar an archive, first save the file, then exit the browser and then unpack the archive. What a stupid limitation for heaven's sake...
Get a REAL laptop and stop whining.
Have you ever actually used a netbook? My Acer Aspire One is running the beta of Windows 7 Ultimate just fine.
Starter edition is only available in emerging markets, just as Vista Starter was.
I must now rant on the internet and pretend anyone gives a crap about my opinion! I will just save up and buy a Macbook Air because I hate making decisions and I'm too dumb to make an educated purchase!!
bull****. It's there because marketing wants to tier a "freeware" version of Windows and this is the only thing they could come up with.
LOL
win7 pro all the way !
I like choice, but this is not MS's fault - it's HP's. Why not use one version for all netbooks? HP is also notoriously known for adding in a bunch of useless crap.
period.
The big problem is this: I don't know how it happens in US but here in Turkey, many OEM computer builders just choose the cheapest available OEM Windows for their builds. When Vista first came out the market was filled with very decent desktop systems (with Core 2 Duos, 1-2 GB of RAM, Aero capable Intel GMAs) that came with Starter. And people had no idea. A friend of mine bought a very decent desktop from a local OEM builder and asked me why "Vista was not able to run more than 3 apps at the same time". She didn't care about editions and didn't want to spend money to buy some other edition after spending so much on her new computer. She just formatted and installed her old XP licence.
This really happened a lot around me. And every time, people did not care about editions, emerging markets or anytime upgrades. It was Vista that didn't run the web browser without closing Winamp first and it was Vista that didn't run beatiful glass windows like seen on the retailer's demo system. Almost all these people reverted to XP because it worked without confusion. Microsoft is really stabbing themselves in the back with these "basic" editions and I'm not sure they're aware of it. If they really, really have to have starter and home basic, they must control what OEMs are doing with them, and make sure no one is selling Core 2 Duo machines with Starter, or they will face the same hatred that Vista had when it first came out.
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