Computerworld blogger Cyber Cynic Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols wrote an interesting post this morning about Microsoft’s ploy to suck in netbook users with Windows 7 Starter edition, have them get “disgusted” with it and then pay to upgrade to full Windows 7.
The ploy put forward by Vaughn Nichols makes me feel almost lucky that I have netbooks with full version of the aging Windows XP Home Edition, which is not limited to running only up to three applications simultaneously which is the alleged to be the case with Windows 7 Starter.
But the conspiracy theory here is beyond the pale. If netbooks continue to be the only sweet spot in the PC market, a bad user experience with Windows 7 would give the entire family a bad name. Cyber-Cynic Vaughn-Nichols suggests that Microsoft has deliberately hamstrung Windows 7 Starter to get folks to eventually pay to upgrade to full Windows 7 which the more netbooks in the pipeline will run just fine.
The upgrade is Microsoft’s way of solving the netbook conundrum which is reaping far fewer dollars on pre-loaded XP than Windows on full notebooks and desktop PCs. Such a ploy seems so utterly transparent, but I can’t deny the Windows Starter scenario is plausible.
The Windows 7 version strategy is explained in a Feb. 3 Q&A with Windows general manager Mike Ybarra (also referenced in Vaughn-Nichols post).
“With Windows 7 there will be two primary editions: Windows 7 Home Premium, and Windows 7 Professional. For a majority of our customers the choice is really simple: Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional” Ybarra says. But that’s not really the case because in the next breath, he talks about an Enterprise version, Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Ultimate. I add that up to be six versions. Windows has more than a billion users so obviously there’s many, many niches the ubiquitous operating system.
So I will go out on limb (I have not run Windows 7 beta) and say for many millions of netbook users, Windows 7 Starter probably be perfectly fine especially if it solves the performance problems netbook users currently experience. Stay tuned.
