Microsoft bans XP on hybrid storage netbooks

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Microsoft is barring netbook manufacturers from utilizing hybrid storage solutions. Miniature notebooks housing both SSD and HDDs will not be permitted to use Windows XP, reports bit-tech. Redmond’s latest restriction will join the already enforced rule which limits netbook manufacturers to a maximum of 1GB RAM – that is, if they want to install Windows XP.

The news comes as a tough break for MSI, whose Wind U115 hybrid netbook has already hit the shelves. The device is engineered to dedicate its SSD to the OS while offering a conventional 2.5” 160GB HDD for additional storage. As a result, the company reportedly has until the end of June to yank the U115 off the market. MSI seems to be interested in remaining at peace with the software juggernaut, and will cooperate.

It’s also a bummer for NEC who recently unveiled their hybrid LaVie Light netbook in Japan. Vista is too resource intensive for Intel’s Atom CPU and Windows 7 is still 4-5 months away, so it looks like companies will either play ball with Microsoft’s XP requirements or fall back on Linux for their hybrid devices.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/34999-microsoft-bans-xp-on-hybrid-storage-netbooks.html

 

[agissi]

Why would they do this?

 

[tengeta]

I'd be willing to guess its a glitch that they don't want to fix in XP, or its just that time that Microsoft starts feeling like IBM and wants to control all hardware and software aspects of your machine for you.

It makes me LOL, but it also makes me remember I got used to Vista for a reason.

 

[Guest]

This is undeniable evidence that one company controlling 88% of the OS market does nothing but retard innovation in which everyone in the end pays for more expense products with fewer options.

I hope that Android, Moblin, and Ubuntu start to take a few bites into that share so we can start getting better products and pricing in the market.

 

[OneArmedScissor]

All of this stuff in the news about how controlling they are REALLY makes me want to buy Windows 7!

I think they've pretty much lost it at this point. As if allowing SSDs and HDDs would somehow hurt Windows sales in any realistic way...

 

[agissi]

Now I know why they're doing this, its to push us to their new products. More money $$$$$$

 

[Julio Franco]

Not entirely sure about this but I believe the purpose of these absurd restrictions is to have a clear differentiation between netbooks and notebooks, since Microsoft gives a big discount to netbooks in order to compete with Linux-based models.

 

[Guest]

I can't understand why netbook makers don't just sell their products without an os but include a driver disc for windows. Most computer people have a "spare" copy of XP lying around. Just load up your copy of windows then the included drivers on you're good to go. This would avoid the microsoft "tax" and allow the netbook manufactures to have more freedom in the hardware offered. Plus it would screw microsoft using their own product. Sweet.

 

[Wendig0]

Guest said:
I hope that Android, Moblin, and Ubuntu start to take a few bites into that share so we can start getting better products and pricing in the market.

I hope they start charging for Ubuntu (nothing big, just a nominal fee for the cost of packaging) so that it becomes more mainstream and knocks Microsoft back down to reality for at least a while. I would happily pay $25 for Linux if it would take sales away from Microsoft.

 

[polidiotic]

The last word I'd use to describe Netbooks is "innovative." We act like netbooks are a grand invention, when all it is is the stripping of hardware and an operating system, in order to use limited functionality on a smaller surface.

Regardless, Microsoft isn't controlling the hardware market, they're just preventing further expansion of an 8yr old technology (that being XP). Get over it people, it's time to move on. Either learn Linux and use it (which is a pain in my ***, personally), purchase an old copy of XP or get it from your friend, OR grow with the software industry.

I was personally afraid of and turned off from using Vista, because of all the negative reviews about it... it took me until I built my newest rig that I actually tried/used it. It's not that bad. I don't like all the flashy crap, but you can dumb it down and it works perfectly fine.

You people need to get over this M$ bullshit, because they're just like any other company... they're trying to turn a profit (and they do a damn good job of doing it). Pushing XP would be ridiculously stupid, considering the research and development they've put into VISTA and then 7 (despite how similar they are to each other), not to mention the hardware limitations that come with XP. Grow, people... grow.

 

[Guest]

I think microsoft wants windows 7 to be percieved as a faster OS, and SSD fro the operating system improves performance a lot. So if you use the faster technology only for the latest Operating system, in comparison windows 7 will look faster if nobody tries XP with the SSD.
Si they want to use the slower OS with the faster hardware because Xp is a burden for MS by now.

 

[raybay]

Microsoft has the advantage of renting licenses, rather than selling operating systems. Some legal whiz should be taking a long look at how a license is justified when you "sell" 10 billion of them.

 

[Rick]

pol*****ic said:
Pushing XP would be ridiculously stupid, considering the research and development they've put into VISTA and then 7 (despite how similar they are to each other), not to mention the hardware limitations that come with XP. Grow, people... grow.

Negative. Microsoft cuts *really* special deals for OEMs that install XP on Netbooks (About $15 per license). This is part of the reason many netbooks are as 'cheap' as they are.

Like it or not, netbooks are a hot market and as netbooks get faster (they undoubtedly are), this cuts into Windows 7 profits (Well over $50 per license). Microsoft wants to mitigate this.

Microsoft has essentially laid the groundwork for limiting netbooks so much that they will be unappealing (Maximum 1GB memory, max 2Ghz single core CPU etc..). Most manufacturers aren't going to sit around making new netbooks with this kind of old hardware in the coming years, so they will be forced to buy Windows 7 licenses instead of XP licenses... Making netbooks more expensive for customers and putting more cash in the pockets of Microsoft.

 

[polidiotic]

Bleh... I can't get my head around a growing market for netbooks. Seems like a pointless trend to me.

I fail to see the logic of your reasoning, as to why it wouldn't be stupid to push XP. Maybe I'm missing it. It's an 8yr old o/s. If you halt your support for XP and push your new operating system, you'll be able to yield higher profits. Distributing XP at a considerably cheaper price, at the same time as producing Vista and soon releasing 7 is a conflict of interest within itself. XP, being the cheapest option, coupled with falsely negative reviews of Vista and 7 (probably), is obviously going to be the operating system of choice for these limited systems.

That, in itself, halts innovation, since you're catering to archaic and limited technology/hardware. It just doesn't make any sense from a business OR technology standpoint.

 

[Von RIff]

M$ is totally trying to take over the market...
vista was sucks (took me 15 minutes to reinstall my system to XP)
maybe 7 is slow that u have to use fast system to see it being fast lols
so the equation will surely be XP much2 faster with the fast system
which equal to M$ loss which is good!!!
dont talk about research n bla3 n development bla3
we are the consumer we should have the power to pay what we want
so if we dont want, screw M$
and i think netbook is pure stupid...
but i guess people love stupid things..too bad...

 

[TJGeezer]

Amen to that

 

[polidiotic]

lol, well said, sort of.

I really don't understand why people dislike the idea of developing/enhancing an operating/system. XP has its limitations... and maybe you should upgrade your pc if it's that slow. 2gb of ram and dual-tri-quad procs @ a min of 2ghz proc has been the standard of newer pcs for the past two years, at least. Before the beast I have now, I had a 2.6ghz dual-core athlon 64 w/ 2gb of ram, which would have been capable of running Vista, but I was turned off from Vista b/c of the negative reviews... I had that rig for 4yrs, before the mobo took a crap. The reviews are so biased, it's laughable. Vista is fine, and if you don't like all the flashy crap, you can disable it.

Everything I use to do in XP, I can do perfectly well with Vista. I don't use MS Office Suite or IE, but their operating system is just fine. Open Office & Firefox for me. ;] Haven't had any issues thus far... and believe me, if I do, I'll be sure to report it.

 

[Guest]

Sorry, but I think you've missed the point here: Aren't netbooks aimed at non-computer people, who want very cheap, mobile internet browsing, photo viewing and MP3 playback? They don't have spare copies of OS lying around and don't want to spend ages fiddling with intalations and settings - they just want to switch on and 'play'.

 

[Guest]

While it's probably true that some netbook buyers are not computer savvy I have seen websites that claim most people that buy netbooks use it as a second computer to supplement their notebook. Netbook buyers are basically anyone that wants access to the net with an extremely portable computer. I suspect most people today would have little trouble loading up xp and a driver disc with xp drivers even though netbooks don't come with a built in optical disc.Most people have usb drives now that they could boot from or perhaps spring for an external drive.
My point was I thought there should be a way for the manufactures to get Microsoft off their back and selling the netbook os free might be the way to do it. Just so long as they were sure to include drivers for xp. Plus I think it would be poetic justice to screw Microsoft with its own OS simply by not including it.

 

[Guest]

"I can't understand why netbook makers don't just sell their products without an os but include a driver disc for windows. Most computer people have a "spare" copy of XP lying around. Just load up your copy of windows then the included drivers on you're good to go. This would avoid the microsoft "tax" and allow the netbook manufactures to have more freedom in the hardware offered. Plus it would screw microsoft using their own product. Sweet."

I work in a computer store and let me tell you 80% of the people that come in here don't know how to turn off their computer properly, let alone install windows and drivers. If it's not ready to use out of the box it just won't sell to regular Joes.

On the other hand I think MSI should just put ubuntu on the new netbook discussed earlier and provide a driver disc for those who want to put XP on it.

 

[polidiotic]

Guest said:
Sorry, but I think you've missed the point here: Aren't netbooks aimed at non-computer people, who want very cheap, mobile internet browsing, photo viewing and MP3 playback? They don't have spare copies of OS lying around and don't want to spend ages fiddling with intalations and settings - they just want to switch on and 'play'.

And don't they have iPhones, iTouch, various other phones w/ web capabilities and already cheap laptops? Phft... my eyes are shooting blood, due to the ridiculousness of this so-called innovation for the new century.

 

[polidiotic]

Guest said:
I work in a computer store and let me tell you 80% of the people that come in here don't know how to turn off their computer properly, let alone install windows and drivers. If it's not ready to use out of the box it just won't sell to regular Joes.

That is so true. =X My sister and bro-in-law, including my parents and their friends, are just like that. Actually, my wife, co-worker and boss are the same way, as well. From my experience, there's just not that many tech-savvy people in the world. You'd think there were, now that it's 2009 and computers pretty much run our lives... but you'd be wrong. ;/

 

[Guest]

This is really quite simple.....As it was stated in an earlier post M$ is just trying to keep netbooks netbooks, and notebooks notebooks. They already give a pretty good discount to netbook manufacturers and dont want the hardware people to take advantage of a loophole. I do agree Microsoft has had its issues in the past but come on people, if you cry wolf at every thing microsoft does than how do you expect people to listen when they actually do somthing truly shiesty. Linux will never be mainstream until its as easy to use out of the box as windows (even ubuntu is not, i use it everyday at work, along with xp, vista, 7, fedora, and redhat) and once windows 7 is available to oem's linux will lose most the ground its gained with the failer of Vista. You cannot forget that 90% or more of the people that use computers will not by a product unless it does what a computer is supposed to do out of the box with no other work needed. "Web surfing", uploading pics from a camera, wordprocessing and listening to music is why most people by a computer and windows does all of those things out of the box without much or any tech knowledge needed. Until something better comes along Windows will control the majority of the OS market, Its capitalism people. If you dont like it develop somthing that the average person will like better, just like what we saw in the gaming industy with the Nintendo Wii. Im a tech person and i dont really want a wii, but 99% of the people in the world love it becasue its easy to use and fits the bill for what a game system is meant to be, fun.

 

[Guest]

Sigh. I may be in error to think most people out there would be capable of loading xp on their new no OS notebook. Human stupidity is the only thing in the universe more common than hydrogen. Still the obvious answer was posted above. Just include some free OS with the netbook as well as XP drivers and let those that can install XP do so.

 

[raybay]

Identify yourself if you want credibility