August 10, 2009, 3:35 PM — Microsoft, caught by surprise by the launch of Linux-based netbooks last year, unleashed the dead-then-reborn Windows XP zombie on the market. Zombie XP killed the Linux netbooks. Now Steve Ballmer officially listed what type of computers Windows 7 Starter Edition will be for: netbooks with “a super-small screen, which means it probably has a super-small keyboard, and it has to have a certain processor and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Yes, five blahs.
Claiming to sell XP “at cost” to netbook manufacturers, Ballmer plans to raise the price of Windows 7 Starter Edition to netbook vendors over the cost of XP. If we pay more, will we get more? Performance reviews have been mixed, but it seems Windows 7 won't be noticeably slower than XP on a netbook shipping in the fall.
You and I won't be able to buy Windows 7 Starter Edition for our existing netbooks, however. This product will only be sold to netbook manufacturers. And the price has yet to be set, so we don't yet know how much more Microsoft thinks Windows 7 Starter Edition is worth over eight year old Zombie XP.
Of course, Microsoft wants netbook vendors to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Edition, which I bet few netbook vendors will do. Screens are small, as are profit margins. Would you pay an extra $25 for a netbook to get Windows 7 Home rather than Zombie XP? I doubt it, and I certainly wouldn't pony up the extra bucks.
Now that Ballmer and Microsoft have crushed the Linux players in the netbook market, they're all upset about how pricing Zombie XP so low was such a horrible mistake. Really? You killed your competition in a new market segment by offering Zombie XP, that effectively costs you nothing, for so little it beat out the free operating systems. Reports have said Microsoft only gets $15 for Zombie XP on netbooks. I bet they would have made it $10 if the vendors didn't change from Linux for the $15 price tag. Or maybe made it $5.
Of course, Microsoft really wants us to forget netbooks and buy cheap laptops, because those vendors have to buy Windows 7 Home Edition. The cheap Windows 7 Starter Edition is only for netbooks, not laptops, so Microsoft will continue to insult netbooks whenever possible.
