Samsung wants full Win 7 on future netbooks, no Linux plans
March 25, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Microsoft has openly talked about its hopes for Windows 7 running beautifully on netbooks. It does not want to make the same mistakes it has made with Vista and is keen for netbook vendors to ship with Windows 7 on launch rather than XP. Higher margins is one of the main reasons MS has actively talked about the netbooks + Win 7 combination. Windows 7 Starter (crippled) Edition will only allow three applications to run at one-time and MS are banking on being able to upsell the more premium versions to consumers.
It is not surprising to learn that Samsung is already actively developing netbooks with the Windows 7 platform. However, whilst Microsoft is pushing the Starter Edition, Samsung say that there is a possibility of including the fuller Windows 7 versions on future netbooks. The main hurdle right now is the royalties it has to pay to Microsoft according to Tech Radar.
“Currently Microsoft provides Windows XP for netbooks. For Windows 7 they would like to give us Windows 7 Starter Edition for netbooks. That’s the current plan,” said Samsung’s Head of Worldwide Sales and Marketing, Kyu Uhm. “[Different versions are a] matter of how much we need to pay to Microsoft. It is an open issue. So we can ship other Windows 7 versions, but it is a matter of royalties.”
Samsung also said that it is unlikely to make a Linux netbook, however it may change its made if users demanded it. Patrick Pavel European Product Manager said: “The normal user, they are used to XP and how to install a printer and so on. We can do Linux if the market is demanding it. If there’s demand, let’s do it. We even started to develop some Linux platforms.” It sounds unlikely then, but with a number of different Linux based kernels coming soon like JoliCloud, gOS and Moblin, Samsung may embrace Linux yet.
March 26th, 2009 2:35 AM
Let’s see how these guys go when they have to compete against much cheaper, Linux based ARM-core netbooks. Wonder how quickly they’ll ship with Linux then….
March 26th, 2009 1:57 PM
“For Windows 7 they would like to give us Windows 7 Starter Edition for netbooks. That’s the current plan.”
I think Microsoft should *pay* Samsung to bundle this piece of crippleware into an otherwise perfect netbook.
Otherwise, Samsung should provide users with two options: Linux for $200, and Windows for $250, so people know exactly what they are paying for.
March 26th, 2009 3:37 PM
I don’t have a lot of experience with the pinguin but honestly when it comes to Microsoft I prefer to stick with the tried and proven and pretty stable XP rather than be a ‘tester’ for Microsoft’s windows 7…
March 30th, 2009 8:26 PM
An operating system limited to three simultaneous applications? Come on!!! Even Windows 95 could run more than 3 simultaneous applications.
Microsoft should pay manufacturers to bundle this piece of crippleware into their computers.
May 6th, 2009 2:25 AM
Devils Advocate here, there aren’t many circumstances that you actually need to open more then 3 applications at a time when you’re on a netbook.
You’ll most likely have open a Web browser, Media player, and instant messenger; what more are you gonna do on a Netbook anyway?
May 6th, 2009 1:21 PM
Dat: programs that I run simultaniously include web browser with embeded movies (apple trailers, youtube,…), skype, word processor, winamp, and everynow and then several cleaning tools such as ad aware and of course an anti virus is always running in the background.
Up till now I don’t have any issues with all this. Need to confirm but the anti-virus may count as a running program in Windows handicap version which leaves you with just 2 other programs you can run…