Windows works with everyday programs like Microsoft Office and popular applications like Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Zune,....

I think you missed the punctuation, should look like this:
"Windows works with everyday programs like Microsoft Office, and popular applications like Apple's iTunes, and Microsoft's Zune,...."

Otherwise, it looks like he's saying iTunes and Zune are both popular, and no one can say that with a straight face.

Does the three application limit include processes for antivirus, firewall, and DRM? What if I want to run something useful?

We will see if win7 actually delivers its promise.

MS could say it with a straight face, but only MS, hehe

"Microsoft Windows works with Microsoft Office [...] and with Microsoft Zune." What a ridiculous statement. I mean, I HOPE they work together, those products are all coming from Microsoft.

Anyway. I do agree with this: "Customers expected a Linux-based PC to look and function like their Windows-based desktop PC and they were disappointed". Linux isn't Windows, and if you expect it to be exactly the same, you sure will be disappointed.

Good god, I would not be using Linux if it was anything like Windows.

I heard that netbook is supposed to be a trademark by Scion, so we may have to use a different term in the future... like "webbook"

Why is Tom's using that fake 'Windows Se7en' logo. That was created by some graphic artists, that's not the logo for Windows 7.

But I'm sure the 3 app limit will be based on the apps in the Taskbar (as in, only having 3 windows in the taskbar at a time). I'm sure there will be a registry hack to open that up.

Although I doubt many netbooks will be able to run 7 well, except for those with ION.

I have been really impressed with the 7 beta on my msi wind. I think this starter idea with only 3 programs is pretty stupid. If they had 5 or prefered 7 would be much better but the overall idea is still stupid and step down not up. My wind runs just fine for everything I use the netbook for: IM, office, surfing, a few other little things. Windows runs well and overall I'm impressed enough to stick with it. Got about 5% increase in batt life too.

The return rate of linux based netbooks/notebooks isn't surprising. Most of them are morons that expect a non macintosh computer to have windows. The thought of having something other than windows is too much for them to handle, even though linux has all the programs and utilities you need.

That's a shot at the waist.... As much as I hate Microsoft, what he's saying about Linux is somewhat true.

"Somewhat" is correct. Closed-source driver availability is dependent on the manufacturers. If they feel like having their existing products support newer versions of Windows then they make drivers available. If they don't then you have to replace them which is effectively "planned obsolescence". If open-source drivers are available then as long as someone feels like maintaining them then the hardware can still be used. Microsoft had all kinds of complaints about manufacturers not having drivers ready when Vista was released in spite of it's ridiculous development time. I've encountered a lot of hardware, especially wireless NICs, softmodems, softprinters, and video cards, that aren't supported on Vista (and now Windows 7). Since Linux has both open and closed source drivers available it supports many more older devices and quite a few of the newest depending on the manufacturer. Office (X), iTunes, and World of Warcraft are available on Macs also. The Zune is insignificant compared to the iPod.

I'm on my way to the patent office now to coin that term, so dont even think about it.

"The fact is that Windows XP is getting way past long in the tooth..."
People keep saying this, but I've never seen a decent explanation for it. What is it that XP fails to do on netbooks? Aren't most of them Atom-based, and isn't that about as powerful as a Pentium 3? Do any of them use more than 3GB of RAM? How many applications for netbooks can benefit from being 64-bit?

Is it just inadequate security, or something?

So by that logic I guess I should be able to use my copy of Office on my Xbox, right?

F*** all of you MS bootlicks!!!! You rated me down to a -5 for the pointing out that MS actually suggested that iTunes and Zune are popular, when the stats show that the Zune is virtually dead. Others made essentially the same point, but were less obvious about it and they're at +2?

Y'all need to lighten up a whole lot and get related to reality. Zune is a failure, iPod and iTunes are kicking butt. By the same measures, Windows is still kicking butt on Mac OS X and Linux, despite the recent gains of those systems. Just because someone points out that MS is not dominant in every market, or that Apple is winning/dominant in one market, doesn't mean you have to rate that post down.

Buy a clue or get a life. I don't care which, but do something!

It has nothing to do with what you said, we just hate you, and love to see you pissed.

Microsoft...
You might not want to steal your logo from a movie about a serial killer.

You do know that's not the Windows 7 logo, right?

Wasn't made by Microsoft, and Microsoft hasn't used it in any of it's publications or products.

heh

Can Windows 7 run under 256 Mb RAM?

I just made this experience: created a virtual machine with just 256 Mb RAM and installed XUbuntu -- a lightweight desktop system.

When I turned on the machine, the operating system would use just 130 Mb of memory. Here's a screenshot:

http://i40.tinypic.com/vfj9k3.png

Then I turned on Firefox, and memory was still below 180Mb.

That's why Linux will dominate the low-end ($200) netbook market: not only because it is free, reducing the software cost by $30-$60, but also because it requires less hardware, reducing the overall cost by other $30-$60.

If you consider software AND hardware, Linux is what will make it possible to sell netbooks for $200, while Windows netbooks will start at $300. (Windows at $200 will be a non-starter.)

If you want to repeat this experiment, try XUbuntu:

http://www.xubuntu.org/

Unless MS comes up with a cheap, low resource mobile 7 version of Windows there's no point to running anything other than Linux. I don't think I'd ever waste my money on a netbook or whatever we're supposed to call them now, but if I did I'd be running Linux without a doubt.

obviocapitao: while Xubuntu may be the smaller of the Ubuntu installs, it would be in the manufacturers' interests to cut it back significantly more... I love Ubuntu and use both the desktop and server version for various tasks, but I bet you could cut a standard lite Linux distro footprint down by another 50% as far as memory goes. In these netbooks we know we aren't going to be getting new video cards, etc. and that overhead would cut down on both the kernal and the add-ons for x.

Got to love the 'long in the tooth' comment about XP. I wonder if that factors in when it comes to the fact that it still has a larger install base than Vista does. I would think calling it a 'mature' OS would be better.

Regarding the linux expectations, I agree with that. Most consumers don't even know what linux is, let alone how it's different from Windows. To them, there are only 2 systems, Microsoft and Apple.

The problem is, the average Joe does. While Ubuntu is probably the most user-friendly distro so far (and is still getting better with updates), it's still not quite there. Flash drives should "just work" when plugged in, not require commands in a terminal window to mount it. There are a lot of great open-source substitutes for known software products out there, but think of how a high-school teenager views the world: a $100 pair of Nikes are "hipper" than a $20 pair of "Buddies" or something. Macs and PCs with Windows come off "hipper" while Linux is that nerd with a pocket protector--while the nerd has plenty to offer to society, he/she is so socially inept that his/her offerings to society come off awkward or strange. Same with the 'nix.

I've never had that problem. They always mount automagically, the only thing I have to tell the rest of my family about is to "unmount" them before they take the drive out. Since nobody used USB stuff before we got Ubuntu, they're not used to clicking "Safely Remove" in Windows, so the whole thing is new to them anyway.

"There are a lot of great open-source substitutes for known software products out there, but think of how a high-school teenager views the world: a $100 pair of Nikes are "hipper" than a $20 pair of "Buddies" or something. Macs and PCs with Windows come off "hipper" while Linux is that nerd with a pocket protector--"
Is that really how teens think? How many of them even know about Linux? How many of them knew about Linux as it was before the major Ubuntu and Fedora releases that were so much easier to use? I think a lot of the "Linux is for nerds" stigma will wear off just because every year that passes means more people's first exposure to Linux is something that's nearly as user-friendly as Windows and works on most hardware without issues. Plus, we've got the best eye candy nowadays with Compiz (which is also getting a major overhaul to clean up and unify the projects under one roof), and it doesn't even need a Direct X 10 class graphics chip to run it.

Wow,they're pretty confident about themselves huh?
I initially bought a netbook because it was cheap, and because it had Linux.
I wanted to get away from the overloaded Windows,and learn what Linux was.
Apart from that, I wanted to play old dos games via a DOS emulator.
Something that all worked pretty fine in Linux.

XP still is the best operating system on the market for netbooks, but I guess MS went through their budget, and don't earn much with Windows anymore.

Who will want an OS that cost them money every 3 years when an upgrade is available?

Ubuntu is very similar to Windows 98 se in system response, but with more of a vista appearance.
Most Linux versions are like Windows 3.11,but with increased security.
Despite the fact that I like Linux, no Linux version is as advanced as XP or Vista, yet a lot of them are much more optimized for mini notebooks.
Multithreading, driver issues, and the much wider gamma of software available on the market on Windows machines, are strong points of Win.
Then again, they get paid for it (and outrageously much; almost $200-300 per disk).
I guess XP has brought the scientists at MS to their maximum in the amounts of flaws the OS has.

What I do on my netbook...

I do stuff like web browsing, play 2D games, listen to music, use IMs, run my mail client - oops, past the 3 applications that Windows Starter allows (to answer the firewall and AV question: those actually run as services, only their control panels actually are applications).

Luckily I'm not constrained to 3 applications: I run a Linux-based OS. What, exactly, do I need Windows for?
- 3D games? Can't run well enough on the hardware. Actually, since most netbooks use Intel graphics, it may be easier running 3D games on a Linux netbook than on a Windows one, seeing how their respective drivers are written...
- Internet Explorer? I think I'm better off not starting here; I use Firefox, or Opera, or Konqueror, or Lynx instead.
- MS Office? Remind me, how much screen real estate does the Ribbon take? I'll use OOo's modular toolbars instead, as I can put them on the side; for a page layout, a wide screen isn't appropriate, and the ribbon forces a 2:1 ratio on usable area, when a 1:1 ratio would be better
- Aaaah - Outlook. Well, either I connect to an Exchange server with Evolution, or I (gasp) use Thunderbird or Kmail to connect to the mailbox alone with IMAP...

I do have 2Gb of RAM on my netbook; it means that I don't really need a swap file/partition, the system boots in 30 seconds (it's not SSD-based) and shuts down in 10. Best thing is, not only can I run more than 3 apps simultaneously (and virtual desktops and workspaces offset lack of screen real estate quite nicely), I have 3D desktop compositing and HD media playback capabilities without having to fork over 150 bucks to 'upgrade' first to Home Basic, then to Home Premium - and I retain ActiveDirectory connection capabilities through Samba, so I even save on the Ultimate edition - and all's well, since for the price I would have needed to pay for a 7 Ultimate netbook, I have 2 netbooks with Ultimate-like capabilities.

Last week, a friend of mine who used to say 'MS Windows is great', and who switched to Vista (he then nuanced his opinion to 'MS Windows XP is great') soon found himself pitted against these limitations:
- Windows XP, while nimble and fast, doesn't support modern features and hardware quite well, and is getting a bit, well, outdated in its design
- Windows Vista, while more modern and with a better overall design (I mean, both visually and in UI navigation), is a Pig. A big, fat, smelly pig.
- Windows 7 is, well, not here yet, and anyway nowhere in his budget since he bought the Vista laptop last year.

Guess what?

Yup, he's tinkering, quite heavily even, with Linux now.