Windows 7 starter and Intel Atom: not for the big screen!

Some time ago Intel had announced that they did not want netbook manufacturers to put Atom processors in portable computers featuring a screen bigger than 10 inches. Now it is Microsoft who announced that the cheap starter edition of Windows 7 would only be available for small screen netbooks.

I can somewhat understand the behavior of Intel on the grounds that selling a full size notebook equipped with an Atom processor could be deceiving the buyer. A lot of people just assume that if it looks like a notebook it will have a notebook processor, and these customer would feel cheated when the Atom failed to perform heavy tasks like video editing. To be fair Intel is also preparing the 11+ inche notebook market for its new CULV ( Consumer Ultra Low Voltage) processors, but this may yet turn to their disadvantage as the AMD Neo is currently very well placed in this market segment.

The move by Microsoft to limit windows 7 starter to small screen netbooks is more intriguing. I can understand that they want to protect their sales of the "full" version of Windows 7, but the lack of Windows 7 starter on the smaller notebooks will seriously increase their price. That means that a lot of buyer will likely go for a small screen netbook instead of a big screen notebook, so Microsoft would lose the revenue anyway.

There is an added problem for Microsoft in that these small computers are more likely to be offered with a Linux based operating system like Moblin or Ubuntu than big screen laptops. These cheap netbooks may even use ARM based Snapdragon processors, meaning that the Microsofties are taking Intel down with them, something Intel probably hopes to avoid thanks to Moblin.

The only positive for Microsoft is that the limitation to 3 open applications on Windows 7 starter is now a thing of the past. To be frank the 3 application limit was one of their dumbest ideas and it would probably have weakened Windows 7 starter too much against Linux anyway, but this robs Microsoft of any possible upgrade revenue. It would have been better to give windows 7 starter away and make money on upgrades. All in all Microsoft managed to make a policy that is bad for the consumer AND bad for them. I would like to say that it is a new low for them, but unfortunately they have been lower in the past...
Image cc by impresa.mccabe

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