Microsoft Champions Windows 7-Based Netbooks
windows 7
“Looking forward, we can confidently say that no matter how netbook PC hardware evolves, we’re gearing up to ensure that Windows 7 will run great on them,” Brandon LeBlanc, a Windows communication manager, wrote in Friday blog post.
“We’ve been testing Windows 7 on netbook PCs since before Windows 7 was feature complete, and our plan is to enable these small notebook PCs to run any edition of Windows 7,” he wrote.
A beta version of Windows 7 was released in January.
LeBlanc’s comments were part of a “year in review” blog about Windows netbooks. He shot down suggestions that netbooks will hurt Microsoft, and touted the company’s gains over Linux-based netbooks.
“Initially, some in the industry viewed low-cost netbook PCs as a new challenge for Microsoft and an opportunity for Linux to make inroads in the consumer market. Some believed consumers wouldn’t want or need their netbook PC to be a full-featured PC,” he wrote. “In fact, the exact opposite turned out to be true – a number of analysts and researchers following the space see ample evidence indicating customers really DO want netbook PCs to work like their larger brethren – and that the way the vast majority of consumers make that happen is by buying a netbook PC with Windows.”
He pointed to NPD data that said Windows-based netbooks have gone from 10 percent of units sales in the first half of 2008 to 96 percent as of February 2009. LeBlanc also said that return rates for Linux-based netbooks were four times as higher than Windows, according to vendor data.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
ot and you will be given the option to boot from the USB stick.