It's to keep manufacturer's from beefing up specs (and charging accordingly) but keeping it cheap on the Windows license by bundling Starter/Home Basic. Microsoft wants to see more $$$ per license on the better hardware. Otherwise, seeing Starter/Home Basic on a decent notebook would remain a possibility. Manufacturer's aren't likely to do it because they might have enough sense to anticipate that users want Home Premium+ but still, if MS hadn't put these limits it would have remained possible. Then MS would take shit from end users because Starter/Home Basic is balls but users didn't know any better when the manufacturer offered it on their non-netbook.
Single-core limitation is balls, though. That rules out dual-core Atom (Diamondville), doesn't it? No dual-core Atom = No Buy.
I'm not sure you guys are getting this. There are no dual core Atom netbooks. There aren't going to be any. The move from Atom (N or Z) is going to be to Pineview, which is STILL single core. A little faster, but still single core.
Dual Core Atom's will show up in nettops and small servers. But not in netbooks.
Ballmer doesn't care about end users period, the end. His customers are the OEMs and they managed to get Monkey Boy to agree to license XPHE on netbooks for the whopping sum of $7 per. He agreed to this awful deal because he's paranoid as hell about Linux and Vista was DOA for netbooks. But this stupid move absolutely killed profits and Microsoft could only watch in horror as soaring netbook sales poisoned one of its cash cows.
Now Ballmer is trying to get well and make up for the lost profits. W7 has positive buzz and he is hoping end users will force OEMs to sign a deal that raises the price above the $7 he got for XP. Naturally they don't want to pay any more for W7 than they did for XP, so Ballmer is tellink them, "OK you can have W7 cheap, but it's going to be crippled shit,"
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It's to keep manufacturer's from beefing up specs (and charging accordingly) but keeping it cheap on the Windows license by bundling Starter/Home Basic. Microsoft wants to see more $$$ per license on the better hardware. Otherwise, seeing Starter/Home Basic on a decent notebook would remain a possibility. Manufacturer's aren't likely to do it because they might have enough sense to anticipate that users want Home Premium+ but still, if MS hadn't put these limits it would have remained possible. Then MS would take shit from end users because Starter/Home Basic is balls but users didn't know any better when the manufacturer offered it on their non-netbook.
Single-core limitation is balls, though. That rules out dual-core Atom (Diamondville), doesn't it? No dual-core Atom = No Buy.
Why in the world would you want W7 starter?
Anything with a dual core atom is going to have W7 HP anyway.
I'm not sure you guys are getting this. There are no dual core Atom netbooks. There aren't going to be any. The move from Atom (N or Z) is going to be to Pineview, which is STILL single core. A little faster, but still single core.
Dual Core Atom's will show up in nettops and small servers. But not in netbooks.
Ballmer doesn't care about end users period, the end. His customers are the OEMs and they managed to get Monkey Boy to agree to license XPHE on netbooks for the whopping sum of $7 per. He agreed to this awful deal because he's paranoid as hell about Linux and Vista was DOA for netbooks. But this stupid move absolutely killed profits and Microsoft could only watch in horror as soaring netbook sales poisoned one of its cash cows.
Now Ballmer is trying to get well and make up for the lost profits. W7 has positive buzz and he is hoping end users will force OEMs to sign a deal that raises the price above the $7 he got for XP. Naturally they don't want to pay any more for W7 than they did for XP, so Ballmer is tellink them, "OK you can have W7 cheap, but it's going to be crippled shit,"
Who will blink first?