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Windows 7 Starter Edition upsets netbook users
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Will netbook users be happy with Windows 7 Starter Edition?
First we learned that the recent update to Snow Leopard did in netbooks “Hackintoshed” to run Mac OS X. Legal or not, many netbook users recently stumbled over this new twist from Apple. Now we have learned that some netbooks users have been rather displeased with Windows 7 Started Edition—the very version of Windows 7 intended for netbooks.
According to Windows 7 News and Tips, “a recent survey run by consumer electronics site Retrevo suggests that consumers may be shying away from netbooks running Windows 7 Starter Edition, the lowliest of the many editions on Windows 7’s totem pole.”
Windows 7 News and Tips reported that, “Retrevo’s survey asked 1,100 'users' if they were planning to buy a netbook this year. Of the 21% who responded 'yes' a little over half said that they would be 'unsatisfied' with a netbook running Windows 7 Starter, based on lack of features (in Windows 7 Starter Edition.)”
To be clear, 1,100 may sound like a decent number, but in reality this represents a fairly small sample. Microsoft sells many million copies of its Windows products. A better sample would have included far more potential and current netbook users. This means that the sample may be so small that data may be skewed and somewhat less than accurate. Still, common sense suggests that netbooks users may find the restrictions offered by Windows 7 Starter Edition (is anyone calling this “Win 7 SE” yet?) a bit too odious to overcome. Running Windows 7 Starter Edition means that netbook users lose, among other things, multi-monitor support, Aero, desktop personalization including the ability to change the desktop wallpaper.
“Having leveled those criticisms, their main point stands – Windows 7 Starter Edition is just a little too neutered,” Windows 7 News and Tips observes. “I don’t think that Microsoft is trying to kill the netbook market..but I do think that Microsoft is trying to have its cake and eat it too – offering a low-priced cut-rate edition of Windows to maintain its dominance over Linux in the netbook market, but removing just enough significant features that a large percentage of users will be tempted to cough up the $80 that it costs to do an in-place upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium.”
To set the record straight, and to clarify things for readers who have wondered, my MSI Wind business netbook dual boots into Windows XP Home or Windows 7 Enterprise. And to further clarify, whether or not Microsoft intended this to be the case, Windows 7 Enterprise runs quite well on the netbook. Yes, it's pricey, but I have full Windows 7 functionality and all seems well with the netbook running this Windows edition. Netbooks deserve a good OS and vendors like Microsoft and, yes, even Apple do well to pay attention to the rapidly growing netbook market.
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