Microsoft has revealed that netbook manufacturers looking to ship the new Windows 7 operating system on their products will need to agree to some fairly hefty restrictions to keep the Redmond giant happy.
The move will allow only machines with a specs list that does not exceed:
- a screen size of 10.2-inches
- 1GB RAM
- Maximum hard drive size of 250GB/64GB if SSD HD
- Single-core processor of 2GHz or less
- Processors must also not draw more than 15W in power (excluding integrated graphics)
Putting hardware restrictions in place is not a new phenomenon for Microsoft but the terms contained in the Windows 7 netbooks seems to be considerably more prescriptive than any that it set out when licensing its Windows XP counterparts.
If you combine these restrictions with the proposed 3 simultaneous app limit for Windows 7 Starter, it would seem to be some uncertain times for Windows 7 on netbooks, although we have heard today that there is talk of scrapping this rule that would see only a maximum of 3 applications running on Windows 7 Starter at any one time – a restriction that would go a long way towards making Windows 7 Starter an even more unattractive prospect on a netbook.
***UPDATE***
It seems that Microsoft has wisely decided to repeal this decision to deliberately restrict the Starter edition to only 3 apps running at the same time. Huzzah!
3 thoughts on “Microsoft restrict Windows 7 Starter edition *UPDATED*”
That looks like price fixing: an agreement intended to ultimately push the price of a product (laptops) as high as possible, leading to profits for all the sellers, at the expense of buyers.
According to wikipedia, price-fixing can also involve any agreement to fix, peg, discount or stabilize prices. The principal feature is any agreement on price, whether expressed or implied.
In this case, the agreement is implied: maximum screen size, memory, storage, etc.
Microsoft is coordinating sellers to sell at a common “minimum” price, limiting discounts, and adhering uniformly to previously-announced terms of sale.
That’s illegal.
the 3 apps limit has been lifted btw :)
Well, no sooner was I logging in to post my update on this story and I noticed that one of our eager eyed readers had beaten me to it!
Good work Gonzague!