[citation][nom]leo2kp[/nom]Why not just NOT make a scaled-down version for Netbooks then? :-/[/citation]
It's called capturing all the different market segments with a product still from you. It's a very common business practice for a company to release a high end, mainstream, then low-end part. In hardware we call it binning. In software they call it "scaling down" or limiting features, if you will. The tri-core AMD processors are quad cores, but one core is disabled. Even though this has practical reasons, such as preventing one defective core from wasting an otherwise flawless CPU, it also captured AMD market share in the mid-low segment. MS wants a cheap product to compete with the Linux netbooks, and possibly those who buy a 'nix netbook and throw a pirated copy of Win 7 on it. Now OEMs and home builders can get a cheap version of Windows to go with their cheap computers. No longer do they have to buy Home Basic or Premium and get a lot of features they don't need. They can buy the cheapo starter edition with more limitations, and save themselves some money, as well as have a quicker OS install and less headaches, maintenance, and software troubleshooting on a platform that has very little profit margin ... case in point: the netbook.
And to Elbert .... Win 7 starter doesn't NEED XP mode. Why the HELL do you need XP for surfing the web or looking at pictures? Windows 7, Vista, Linus, whatever OS does just fine. If MS can release a cheap OS to replace XP on netbooks, than at the very least our end user cost will stay the same, and Win 7 and XP run similar performance-wise on similar hardware. MS's operating costs will only increase if they have to increase support on Windows 7 and still support new XP computer products. To keep clinging to XP is STUPID STUPID STUPID. Do you want prices to go UP??? If Dell releases a new netbook with Windows 7, and sells netbooks and notebooks with Vista, netbooks also with Linux, and continues to sell netbooks (which account for a very large and growing number of PC sales today) with XP, look at all the different platforms they have to support now.
Get over it, XP zealots. I loved XP as much as the next man, but we've got to move on. XP needs to be phased out, because the new OS's aren't going away. We need to transition the product to the newer, more recent software or support is going to be a financial and logistical nightmare, and our costs will never go down if we keep it up.