'When we launch Windows 7, an OEM can put XP on the machine at one price, Windows 7 Starter Edition at a higher price, Windows 7 Home Edition at a higher price, and Windows 7 Professional at a higher price.' 'With today's netbooks, we sell you XP at a price,' Ballmer continued. 'We want people to be able to get the advantages of lightweight performance and be able to spend more money with us, with Intel, with HP, with Dell and with many, many others,' he said. or smaller screen, no more than 1GB of memory, a hard disk drive of 250GB or less (or a solid-state drive no larger than 64GB) and a single-core processor no faster than 2GHz.īallmer was frank with analysts about Microsoft's rationale for setting Starter's limitations. According to TechARP, Microsoft will only sell Starter to OEMs for use on netbooks that have a 10.2-in. Last May, the Malaysian Web site, which regularly leaks information provided to computer makers by Microsoft, reported that the company would restrict Starter to specific netbook configurations. Although other Microsoft executives earlier this year said that the company would place restrictions on the kinds of processors and screen resolutions supported by Starter, Ballmer is the highest computer official yet to spell out Starter's limitations, if only in the broadest terms.

Windows 7 starter edition oem