Microsoft bans hybrid storage netbooks that run XP
June 4, 2009 at 5:44 pm
As things stand, there aren’t too many netbooks that have hybrid storage systems. The most notable one is MSI’s 10-inch Wind U115 Hybrid that uses both a 8GB SSD and 160GB HDD. One of the benefits of such a system, is that battery life can be prolonged by disabling the HDD when not in use.
However, it appears that we won’t be getting too many more netbooks that employ similar systems if Microsoft gets its way. According to bit-tech, Microsoft is banning netbook manufacturers from producing hybrid storage netbooks, when using Windows XP Home.
If true, this seems to be an extension of Microsoft trying to separate low-end netbooks from more premium models by renaming the ‘netbook’ term. To get around this, I imagine vendors could use Windows 7, but it’s unknown whether Microsoft has placed stipulations on Windows 7 too.
The report says that MSI has until the end of June to remove the U115 Wind netbook from the shelves. I really hope that is not the case, as the U115 is one of the most unique netbooks on the market. It offers the longest battery life and very good performance for a 10-inch netbook. Yes, the styling isn’t inspirational and it comes at a premium, but there is no doubt a market for this type of netbook.
I do wonder whether MS has the power to take the U115 Hybrid off shelves. Surely a change of OS to maybe XP Pro would appease MS, but consequently this will raise the price of the U115 Hybrid. More news on this as we have it.
June 5th, 2009 1:15 AM
Microsoft is afraid to loose their Empire.
The Microsoft´s nightmare start the same day that one professor dream about to give one laptop for each child of the world. One Laptop per Child.
The humanitarian organization contacted the processors makers, Intel and AMD, they made the numbers, and think, why to support this humanitarian project if we can do the big business by ourselves. Soon the small Chinese makers of computers “San Jai Ji” started to produce low cost mini laptops.
Acer see the business and run for it, Dell too, HP ofcourse, and then and then. But, what happened. They all are tideup or well with Intel or well with Microsoft because a lot of thing I can not tell here. You can look over the internet for example for the Lawsuit against Intel, Microsoft, etc anti monopoly laws brokerage, etc, and you will find a lot of info regarding to this.
Well the thing is, the netbook market will not just vanish, on contraire, will be just bigger and bigger everyday. Linux, and now Google with their Open source Os, will start the world conquest, why?, well just because the above mentioned open the Pandoras Box, and now people know that they do not have to expend $1.000 USD for a laptop computer anymore, and for the vast majority of users, there will be no more earlier obsolete OS or computers because makers desires….
Don you never has question your self or think on why you buy a laptop with a windows OS that runs fast like hell, and months later, after a lot of patches and OS upgrades, your laptop runs so slow that you can even take a batch mean while you power on it? And when you as they just say, your computer is obsolete, you need a dual core or what ever….. Why, I just whant to connect to internet, check my mail, write in to my blog…. I do not want to send a rocket to the moon…why I need now a dual core processor?
Asus was one of the precursors of the netbook, but apparently Microsoft buy them and now they will not support open source os on their netbooks or Eee pc as they call it. No problem, they are not important for this netbook business, there are a lot of small assemblers and makers that will take their share as Acer, BenQ that is launching soon their Joybook u121, NetColors with their 10-N270(for me the most powerful and affordable 10.2 inches netbook around there), and all of them support the opensource OS and all of them will include soon integrated 3G that is for me the MUST for those small computers.
June 7th, 2009 2:52 AM
seems like its about time to shift to ubuntu if that’s the case.. im sure ubuntu wont deny such possibilities
June 8th, 2009 10:50 AM
Hmm. Do Microsoft even have the right to tell a HARDWARE manufacturer how to build there machines?
Whats the difference between this and a PC running windows with 2 hard drives…..
Where does it all stop…
June 15th, 2009 4:35 AM
Well, to the netbook makers, you can use opensource OS anytime and scrap Microsoft OSes!
July 17th, 2009 10:50 AM
Is it too much to hope, a bit churlishly perhaps, that the chickens are finally coming home to roost for Microsoft? They’ve been flogging over-priced, under-performing fatware for too many years and the fact remains – windows still does pretty much what it’s done for ten years, yet each new iteration of the O/S requires vastly increasing RAM and disk-space, just to run at the same, barely tolerable speed it’s always run at. Now there’s a problem – mass-marketed netbooks, not over-blown with resources, such as will be required for a truly world-computer concept, are being soaked up by eager buyers. Surely, as “perfect” monopolies go, Microsoft is one of the ugliest and it does not like any new competition sailing over the horizon. So, how do they deal with the issue? – Well, true to form, they seem to be trying to destroy any innovation they cannot control or exploit. But, as they found with the web, the netbook is not a fad, will not go away and will go from strength to strength, if that is what the plebs (that’s me!) want. EVEN IF they could release a cut-down version of windows (ie; the OS without the crap, such as movie-maker, internet-exploder, etc), they will struggle to get traction against Google’s new free(?) O/S due late next year. Presumably, Google’s OS, “Chrome”, will be slick and quick, being targeted at the one thing most of we plebs want to do with a netbook – that is … communicate, browse and transact other online tasks. This particular “new” market (it isn’t!) does not want $600 word-processors or to spend 10 minutes waiting while their sponge of an O/S downloads and instals “updates”, every time the machine is turned on. Then there’s Linux, still the elephant in the room – Ubuntu is great, but sooner or later some-one will sort the last of the computing-for-plebs issues that are still stopping Linux from sweeping the world like swine-‘flu. Well, that’s what i think, anyway – I feel better now, thanks. (Hmm. that’s the 5th. time in half an hour that that black car with blacked-out windows has cruised slowly past my house) …
PS – note to Google – how vulnerable will your new OS be to viruses, hackers, trojans etc.? Will it soak up appreciable, annoying online time every time it boots, as uncle windows does? Will Chrome be a relatively “safe’ platform, as Linux corrently is, to quite an extent?