Microsoft similarly expects the demand for Windows 7 to be strong, and it is encouraging vendors to pre-install the Home Premium version on all the machines aimed at consumers — both netbooks and notebooks. The netbook suppliers want a cheaper version to maintain their price differential. Microsoft has a Starter version that will do the job well on a netbook (where applications are run in the browser) but won’t be much good for notebook use, because it will only run three applications at once.
The danger is that PC vendors will turn to another free operating system instead: Google’s Android version of Linux, as used in the G1 mobile phone. That could emerge as the big battle over the next year.
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