Older Atom Netbooks Might Not Have Windows 7

i never liked the atom hype.........

Actually, there is a cost for selling a license; it's called support. All those folks at Microsoft that talk to you for free for a limited time have to be paid, and they wouldn't need to be paid unless people had licenses. More licenses, more support costs. Of course, Microsoft also has to figure in their development costs, not only in creating the software, but also supporting it with fixes (again, back to the "S" word). Then, they have to deal with legal fees, and fines from the EU, because they are so poor they always need to fine Microsoft so they survive. No licenses, no EU legal fees and fines.

Selling licenses do have costs. It's not all profit.

Actually, there is a cost for selling a license; it's called support. All those folks at Microsoft that talk to you for free for a limited time have to be paid, and they wouldn't need to be paid unless people had licenses. More licenses, more support costs.

Microsoft doesn't provide free support for OEM software.

Of course, Microsoft also has to figure in their development costs, not only in creating the software, but also supporting it with fixes

I'm pretty sure Microsoft has recouped their development costs for XP by now, and fixes don't cost more because you sell more copies.

I definitely hope I'll see some nice benches of the Atom processor on Toms!
Please,don't compare it with a corei7 and don't try to play Crysis on it for God's sake!
Pentium D or M and Celeron processors, as the slowest Core2duo processors on the market may already overwhelm the chip!
A great test would be to test the upcoming Atom in gaming benchmarks against such processors running an Intel GMA 945 or something... A chipset often found in laptops.

I know Toms only benchmarks ATI and NVidia, but the majority of laptops have an Intel integrated chipset. So of course I would love to see how the newer processor +IGP does in gaming benchmarks (of games like 3+ years old), and in HD video playback even on larger external monitors...

If the chip is overclockable or not, and at what speeds

Power consumption at normal and overclock is interesting

Perhaps compare the IGP to whatever comes closest in graphics processing power of ATI and AMD (eg: Radeon 9200 pro? TNT card? ...).

Although the chip will stun no one in graphics or CPU processing power, elaboration on it's performance and power draw would be greatly appreciated!

Uncle MeatAnd the other $10-$15 goes to who, exactly? There's no cost involved in selling a license.To the marketing droid$, and propaganda $hill$, like yummy boy. This constant bombardment with ads, new$, and review$ costs big $$$ - the lu$er finally pays...

Netbooks (atom) won't have vi$hta sp2+ (aka $even), because it's not capable to run on them - despite all the hype - even xpire struggles. The "new" netbook - shaped to "updated" m$ min specs, as the traditional one was deliberately killed - is a castrated notebook, with a high price tag: win(tel)- win situation for m$ and oems. Consumers just pay more for less.
ta152hActually, there is a cost for selling a license; it's called support. All those folks at Microsoft that talk to you for free for a limited time have to be paid, and they wouldn't need to be paid unless people had licenses. More licenses, more support costs. Of course, Microsoft also has to figure in their development costs, not only in creating the software, but also supporting it with fixes (again, back to the "S" word). Then, they have to deal with legal fees, and fines from the EU, because they are so poor they always need to fine Microsoft so they survive. No licenses, no EU legal fees and fines. Selling licenses do have costs. It's not all profit.Ever bothered to read a (OEM) license agreement? It basically says you're screwed.
Keep to your intel rants, the win part isn't your strength at all - the intel one, not much better, either.

Actually, there is a cost for selling a license; how do you think Microsoft pays its outsourced workers to confirm your windows activation over the phone?

As long as manufacturers don't give up on GNU/Linux then I'm happy. I can hardly wait to try the next version of Moblin on my Aspire One.