Why Does Microsoft Limit Netbooks?

from the trying-to-figure-this-out dept

This is hardly a new issue, but an LA Times review of three new netbooks once again brings up Microsoft's odd limitations on netbooks, in which the company will only sell its operating system to be put on underpowered netbooks, with the belief that this will somehow "protect" its other markets. Those sorts of claims tend to have a way of backfiring -- and I'm a bit surprised that we haven't seen more alternatively-powered netbooks. Yes, there are a bunch of Linux netbooks on the market (and the original netbooks were Linux-based) but Microsoft machines have since taken over the market. It's encouraging to see companies like Lenovo now pushing much more powerful netbooks using a Linux-based OS, but I'm still trying to figure out Microsoft's reasoning. If the fear is that it will somehow cannibalize Microsoft's market for more powerful OSes on more powerful machines, it's difficult to see how ceding the market to others will help.

Filed Under: netbooks. limitations
Companies: microsoft