Forums | MacLife

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/30/swit … r-edition/

"Hello, I'm a Mac."
"And I'm a PC."
PC is trying to juggle.
"Hey, PC. What's with the juggling act?"
"It's my new operating system. See, it only lets me run three programs at a time so I need to stop doing one thing when I want to do another. Really keeps me on my toes thinking about which three programs I should use. Of course, I could upgrade to a more expensive version that gives me the capabilities I should have had from the beginning."
PC drops the balls.
"Hmm, really? Every Mac lets you run as many programs as you want out of the box."
"Well, that would be nice. I'd sure like to send someone an e-mail about that."
"That's a good idea, PC. Why don't you?"
"Because I had to quit my e-mail program to say that."
PC starts trying to juggle again. Cut to iMac with "Mac" desktop

MS's eventual demise has been apparent to me for about 5 years now.  This is just one more nail in the very large coffin.

Some1 wrote:

From what I understand "Windows 7 Starter" is there to save netbook OEMs money, and be a hinderance to the end user. I imagine its basically a trial of the OS, after which point you need to buy a "Full Version" of it.

Of course I'm talking from a dishonest position here, as Microsoft probably won't see a dime of my money apart from my Xbox-live subscription.

Basically for each netbook MS will be able to sell windows twice. Once to the OEM, and once more to the consumer.

Indeed you're right. They want to "compete" with cheap Linux netbooks. The difference is that Linux on them won't be crippled at all.

mrreet2001 wrote:

Well not anymore crippled than Linux on a desktop is. ROFL

How exactly is linux crippled?

Some1 wrote:

From reports from my friend using a pirated version of Windows 7 RC, it runs very well on his netbook, faster than XP, with improved battery life.

He couldn't wait two more days? W7 RC1 goes public 5/5.

Chickenhawk wrote:

mrreet2001 wrote:

Well not anymore crippled than Linux on a desktop is. ROFL

How exactly is linux crippled?

No itunes foo.

Linux has no a-lot-of-things. Adobe CS, for example. But it's not much more crippled than OS X is vs. Windows, at least as far as overall application support goes.

*cough*and*cough*games*cough*

Also, some of the past Linux derivatives I've seen on low-end PCs are a little more like a cell phone or a pre-multifinder Mac in their one-app-on-top-all-the-time method of presenting an application. Don't recall what distro it was, I think it was at WalMart. (I also just kind of assume it was Linux and not some other custom OS.) Like it or not, it really does simplify things. Think WebTV or those old email appliances from the late '90s.

Re: Win7 and a 3-application limit in the ultra-slim version: First off, if you're using a netbook, don't run more than 3 apps. You probably don't have the RAM anyway, and swap file use still wears out SSDs faster than a normal HD. Secondly, if the OEM Win7Lite is really cheap, and if MS has a reasonable upgrade price from that to the basic home version, it's not a big deal - MS is just offering a crippled version for less money. A proverbial "consumer tower." Third, if you can order Netbooks with the full OS preinstalled, it's a nonissue.

If the iPhone OS could also run normal OS X apps, but only 3 at a time, I bet there'd be a line around the block to get macs preloaded with it, especially if there was a cost savings.

Pariah wrote:

A web browser and a chat client. What else ya gonna need running on a net book?

Yeah. And maybe a media player too, even if not iTunes. Burn and re-rip your iTunes store music if you must.

I have an 8.9 inch EEE 900A and it's a wonderful little netbook for what I paid: $199. I just got an image of Windows XP SP3 onto a USB thumbdrive to replace the incredibly bloated Linux distro they tosses on it.

I would be very interested to see what kind of hardware Apple would field for a line of netbooks.

Dropped.

In some really encouraging news, Paul Thurrott at SuperSite for Windows is reporting that Microsoft isn't gonna put the arbitrary limit on its netbook-bound Windows 7 Starter Edition where users could only run three applications at a time. Now the only thing holding you back from simultaneous Skype, AIM, browsing, DVD playback, and Plants vs. Zombies will be the space on your screen and the specs in your portable. So how will they tempt users to upgrade to Home or Premium now? We'll just have to wait and see on that one.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/22/micr … windows-7/

Moblin 2.0 is a very interesting "Netbook OS"

http://gizmodo.com/5142693/intel-shows- … d-linux-os

It's completely re-designed from the original Moblin, which was way more Linux-y. It's not just really modern and awesome looking, it seems like the first OS and UI really designed just for netbooks..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsCpIeLL … r_embedded

Shadowless wrote:

Pariah wrote:

A web browser and a chat client. What else ya gonna need running on a net book?

Text editor of some sort, e-mail client...
Oh, and if you had to run updates, that probably counts as one of your 3 programs.

Emacs only counts as one