Microsoft to Limit Capabilities of Cheap Laptops

[quaxo]

From PCWorld.com through Yahoo! News:

Partial quote (see link for complete article):

Microsoft is launching a program to promote the use of its Windows OS in ultra low-cost PCs, one effect of which will be to limit the hardware capabilities of this type of device, IDG News Service has learned.

Microsoft plans to offer PC makers steep discounts on Windows XP Home Edition to encourage them to use that OS instead of Linux on ultra low-cost PCs (ULPCs). To be eligible, however, the PC vendors that make ULPCs must limit screen sizes to 10.2 inches and hard drives to 80G bytes, and they cannot offer touch-screen PCs.

[Computer Hope Admin]

Good Luck Microsoft... Going to really be hard to compete with *nix when they limit and put restrictions on their own OS as a substitute.

[patio]

I smell more anti-trust legislation...i think the Legal division is the only one turning a profit in Redmond since the Vista release so they're willing to try anything.

[Broni]

Microsoft is launching a program to promote the use of its Windows OS in ultra low-cost PCs

Hmmm, I thought, it's been in works already....Vista computers with 1GB of RAM, XP computers with 256MB of RAM, etc.

[BC_Programmer]

And they insist that the manufacturers install a root-kit that communicates with microsoft headquarters, so they can um- "improve the customer experience". One way to do that would have been to concentrate some effort on improving malware protection in Vista rather then making sure that nobody can copy a single frame of their HD movie to any media.