“Microsoft at Computex has said it wants PC builders to avoid using the term ‘netbook’ in the future. Application Platform and Development marketing general manager Steven Guggenheimer told the press that Microsoft now plans to call them ‘low cost small notebook PCs’ as the original emphasis on web-first use has become outdated. Many of these devices are capable of extra features and are no longer just for the web, the executive insists,” Electronista reports.
“While ostensibly claiming it’s primarily a definition, Microsoft is believed to be using the new label to better let it force system makers into using more expensive versions of Windows 7 on certain computers,” Electronista reports.
Full article here.
Marvin Ma and Joseph Tsai report for DigiTimes, “The new definition will require mid-range to high-end mini-notebooks, which may fall into the netbook category because of their size, to adopt higher-end versions of Windows 7, added the market watchers.”
“Microsoft declined to comment on the speculation, saying Guggenheimer would provide more details of the strategy while delivering a keynote speech at the company’s Computex forum on June 3,” Ma and Tsai report.
“Microsoft has recently decided to lift the restriction on Windows 7 Starter Edition being able to run only three concurrent applications on a PC at a time, and it has also decided to make the Starter Edition available worldwide instead of only in certain regions,” Ma and Tsai report.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft changes mere words in order to milk their monopoly position. They’d better get milking while the milking is good; a little birdy tells us that Apple is poised to redefine and forever alter the netbook market with yet a another revolutionary product sooner than later.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Wandering Joe” for the heads up.]
