Microsoft Admits Windows 7 Is Not really Suitable for Netbooks

I don’t see this as a bad thing at all. I have a Netbook that runs XP Home and I’m perfectly content with it. Then again, it’s not my main PC, which runs Vista Ultimate x64, so I’m not that concerned with not being able to put 7 or Vista on my Netbook.

I do agree, though, XP becoming the bargain basement OS that will pull people off of the linux fence. I think Microsoft sees this and is one of the main reasons they’ve kept XP around this long.

Mark Vaughn

[...] the oracle placed an interesting blog post on Microsoft Admits Windows 7 Is Not really Suitable for Netbooks …Here’s a brief overviewNash declined to say when Windows 7 will be commercially available, despite the fact that Microsoft is making the final beta version — called a release candidate (RC) — available to testers today. The distribution of the RC is one of … [...]

As many, many people have installed Windows 7 beta on netbooks, you don’t really have to speculate on whether it can run well on netbooks or not. My experience is that it is quite usable on netbooks – much faster then Vista, slower than XP (especially if you only have 1GB of RAM), slower than Linux or OS X on the same hardware.

I think that 7 would do quite well in the netbook market – except for Microsoft making the boneheaded decision to offer a cippled version that can only run 3 apps at once.

It’s funny… Its windows 7 won’t do well on netbooks, not netbooks can’t handle windows 7…

Maybe we should stop asking for better, more featured opearting systems, and ask for ones that do less and have a smaller imprint, maybe they can go back to 98…

Lets get real people, technology advances, requirements increase. Physical technologies of computing is growing much faster then operating systems. Buy a machine thats not 3 years old, vista does perfect and you have the functionality…

Or we can ask that power steering be gotten rid of so the car can drive straight faster… Thats my bad analogy to contradict every-one else’s bad analogies.

[...] post: Microsoft Admits Windows 7 Is Not really Suitable for Netbooks … This entry was posted by admin and posted on May 1, 2009 at 12:31 am and filed under Windows 7, [...]

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[...] .. this could be a big oops for Microsoft .. Microsoft Admits Windows 7 Is Not really Suitable for Netbooks “extending the availability of Windows XP until October 2010″ I wonder if XP will out [...]

[...] Hmm .. this could be a big oops for Microsoft .. Microsoft Admits Windows 7 Is Not really Suitable for Netbooks “extending the availability of Windows XP until October 2010″ I wonder if XP will out [...]

[...] Refered by: http://www.lockergnome.com/theoracle/2009/04/30/microsoft-admits-windows-7-is-not-really-suitable-fo... [...]

Hello,

Have you tried using Windows 7 RC 1 (the official download from Microsoft, not a leaked copy) on currently-shipping netbook hardware? If so, how did it perform?

I do not have a netbook, nor have I finished downloading Windows 7 RC1 yet for testing yet, but everything I have read from journalists and bloggers who have received copies from Microsoft and tested it seems to indicate that performance is excellent.

Therefore, I have to wonder if Microsoft is acceding to manufacturer demands simply to (1) relieve any skittishness over Windows 7 due to Windows Vista; and (2) keep Linux out of this growing market by providing an OS consumers demand.

If Windows 7 does turn out to be successful, then Microsoft could stand to generate a hefty profit selling upgrades of Windows 7 to netbook owners running Windows XP.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

I did a write up of networks and the usage of them last night on my blog.

People don’t use netbooks for cloud computing like it was intended. They want a full blown OS on thing just like they do everything else. If you are working in the cloud then you are good to go with Linux, OSX, or Windows.

My biggest issue with Windows on the Netbooks is the replacement of SSD with HDD. I want SSD, and if Windows stays in that market with a 10GB foot print install of Windows7, then you will continue to have notebook like netbooks.

Oracle,

Have you tried using Windows 7 Beta or RC 1 on a current netbook or are you simply spewing anti-MS rhetoric?

I have been using the Beta and now the RC 1 and it does indeed run very well on an Acer Aspire One with 1 GB RAM and 120 GB HD and seems to be a little quicker than XP (IMO). I do think that since these 2 releases are the Ultimate versions that Home Premium would actually run a bit better as less junk but I’m quite pleased with this version of Windows.

SirTazofMania

SirTazofMania,

check out what Adrain Kingsley-Hughes has to say about it on ZDNet. In his tests XP booted faster and also IE on XP was able to open more windows without thrashing the disk.

Since those are things anyone who is awake is bound to notice, and judge, I’d say the jury has returned with a verdict.

There are other opinions besides mine – in general, 7 is faster than Vista, and slower than XP.

Also, one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor. What is acceptable to you may not be to someone else. It all depends on what you’re accustomed to, and what you are willing to tolerate (after all there are some people so deluded that they think Vista was a step forward)

Mouseclone, I agree with some of your assessments, but I’d go further.

I’d like to see netbooks with most of the OS in ROM, and a SSD as part of the deal. In fact, if there is no SSD, it should not be called a netbook, just a sub-mini.

Aryeh, I think that XP is still being offered as it is the only thing that comes close to Linux in speed on limited hardware – that is, as most people don’t want to be limited with Windows 7 Starter Edition. (for most, it would not be a problem, but the psychological factor of being restrained is a problem, a big one)

Thanks for the comment.

Nick T, I also wonder, but not Win 98, Windows 2000. Since it was designed to be efficient, it would have made sense for Microsoft to offer it, updated, for notebooks.

They could call it anything they wanted, but if it used that basic OS, it could be very speedy, and save energy by requiring only 512 MB for very speedy operation.

Thanks for the comment.

the oracle, this would seem to make sense at first, but then microsoft would have to open back up support for windows 2000, a new version to run on netbooks.

Although Microsoft makes many attempts to do many/all things possible, it seems like they are aware of the point to really have and maintain one O.S. While they still offer support for XP they would rather people get rid of it and go to one operating system, let linux win out on netbooks.

Eventually netbooks wont be netbooks, they will be laptops, and laptops will be called something else because computing is getting cheaper. Good idea though.

[...] Microsoft Admits Windows 7 Is Not really Suitable for Netbooks By extending the availability of Windows XP until October 2010, it admits that Windows 7 on a [...]

[...] Microsoft Admits Windows 7 Is Not really Suitable for Netbooks By extending the availability of Windows XP until October 2010, it admits that Windows 7 on a [...]

Nick T, you’re reading my mind. I’ve just been writing about how Microsoft has become the dealer on the corner.

Microsoft is just waiting for the next installment of Moore’s Law.

The current netbooks are about twice the specs of a 1999 HP laptop I use (a modern Xubuntu – newer than Vista!) for corporate presentations using Open Office. Netbooks fly on that OS software (I’m waiting for the netbook prices to go below $200 to upgrade, $150 and it becomes an easy choice).

Most netbooks are trying to fatten up to be laptops – and that isn’t what people want (they tell you that’s what they want in those consumer clinics, but what to they actually pay for?).

So Microsoft is using XP until the baseline netbooks are naturally fat enough to run Win 7. And Linux? Even faster… he he he..

I have Windows 7 running on an old Dell 260, Mini Inspiron and D830 and I am loving it on all three machines.

I also saw it running on a Go2 Mini and it worked great there also.

Who ever wrote this article has not tried to use it and does not know what they are talking about!!!!

Ron Cone, not sure if you mean me, or the original article I quoted from, but I have seen how Windows 7 is not terribly zippy on netbooks with iIntel Atom processors – but then some people are willing to tolerate poorer performance as a matter of course.

I am not, and I don’t think many who actually have to get work done efficiently do either.

[...] Microsoft Admits Windows 7 Is Not really Suitable for Netbooks [...]

[...] Microsoft Admits Windows 7 Is Not really Suitable for Netbooks ~ Revelations From An Unwashed Brain http://www.lockergnome.com/theoracle/2009/04/30/microsoft-admits-windows-7-is-not-really-suitable-for-netbooks – view page – cached By extending the availability of Windows XP until October 2010, it admits that Windows 7 on a netbook doesn’t really cut the mustard, and at the same time that the company has nothing to replace XP for that platform yet. It means that the lowliest version of Windows 7 is not a winner, and still gets beaten by Windows XP. ( Of course, they also want to take a huge swipe at Linux, all flavors – the availability of XP at bargain basement prices is going to make many think twice about ordering a netbook with any Linux distribution on it). — From the page [...]