| Is Microsoft Trying to Kill the Netbook Market? |
| It’s no secret the disdain Steve Ballmer and Michael Dell have publicly expressed for netbooks. Both companies make more money from bigger iron running bigger versions of Windows.
Leading up to the launch of Windows 7, Windows XP was the operating system of choice for netbooks. Now comes Windows 7 and what does Microsoft offer as a trim version of Windows 7 for netbooks? Microsoft offers Windows 7 Starter Edition, a low-end feature-starved version that lacks many of the features that make other versions of Windows 7 so attractive.
That fact that 23 out of the 28 netbooks we looked at on Amazon are shipping with Windows 7 Starter Edition, Retrevo was interested in learning what consumers know about Windows 7 and netbooks and how they felt about having Windows 7 Starter Edition installed on their new netbooks. So we asked 1100 of our users. |
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| Are you planning to buy a netbook this year? |
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| For users who plan to buy a netbook this year, we asked them further questions: |
| Do you know about the different versions of Windows 7 (Starter, Premium, etc)? |
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| Do you know that Windows 7 Starter edition lacks some Windows XP features such as Multi-monitor Support, Desktop Personalization, DVD Playback? |
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| Will you be satisfied if your new Netbook came with a Windows 7 Starter edition? |
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| Retrevo was not surprised to discover that 61% of consumers intending to buy a netbook computer were not aware of limitations in Windows 7 Starter Edition. When Retrevo pointed out the differences 56% of those respondents said they would not be satisfied if their new netbook came with Windows 7 Starter Edition.
Here’s a list of some of those features missing from Windows 7 Starter Edition: |
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| No Desktop Personalization |
| Got a picture of you and the family on vacation that you might want to use as the background on the desktop? Not going to happen with Starter Edition, you’re stuck with that wonderful Microsoft background. |
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| No DVD Playback |
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Yes, we know netbooks don’t have built-in DVD drives but you can get an external USB DVD drive for around $50. Unfortunately Windows 7 Starter Edition won’t allow you to play DVDs even on an external drive. |
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| No Multi-Monitor Support |
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| Netbooks are great for taking on the road to access the Internet but there are times when you might want to hook up a second monitor. Yes, Windows 7 Starter Edition will “mirror,” whatever is on the screen of your netbook on the second monitor but it won’t allow you to have a different display on each one. |
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| No Aero |
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| It’s not as if netbooks don’t have the graphics power to run Aero, it’s just that Microsoft decided all the cool interface components on Aero including the new Aero Peek and Aero Snap are disabled in Windows 7 Starter. |
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| The List Goes On |
That was some of the more glaring omissions from Windows 7 Starter Editions. Here are a few more
- No Multi-Touch
- No Premium Games
- No Windows Media Center
- Presentation Mode
- Windows XP Mode
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| Like it or Upgrade it |
| Don’t like it? Well you can always fork over $80 to the Upgrade Anytime program and move up to Windows 7 Home Premium which is probably what most consumers will do. |
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Comments
Options for Netbooks
Anyone is free to solve the Windows 7 starter edition problem the way that I did (with no extra cost) buy a netbook with Linux installed. I just ordered a Dell Mini 10v with Ubuntu Linux installed. It's a great feeling to not be getting stuck win a crippled version of Win7, though for me I would chose Linux over any version of Windows
Myopia
Why didn't you even mention Linux as an option?
It was Linux that enabled the netbook market to develop. Microsoft then co-opted it and is now trying to kill it in order to switch users to more profitable machines. Google will soon save the day with Chrome OS.
Linux will ultimately enjoy overwhelming market acceptance on smartbooks and netbooks, as it does today with the latest generation of smartphones.
Is extrapolating smartphone dominance to smartbooks really that hard to see?
Will The Netbook Kill The Netbook Market?
Great information, and confirms suspicions about buyers and how little they sometimes know about what they are buying. It's not only the software limitations of the Windows 7 starter edition, that make one question the wisdom of a netbook being your only computer, but the other limitations such as lack of DVD support and the need to USB drive install upgrades etc. Long term if netbook buyers expect them to be a true mini laptop computer with features of the notebooks which they are so accustomed to using, they will become disappointed with the limitations. If in fact netbooks become the second or third portable computer you own, and are primarily used for net access and email then they will have a long future. Just a question of how many computing devices most of us want to own and maintain.