USB could be answer to Windows 7 netbook dilemma
Published: 26 Jun 2009 15:36 BST
Microsoft is considering offering Windows 7 on a thumb drive to allow netbook owners to more easily upgrade their machines, a source has told ZDNet UK's sister site CNET News.
The move, which is still under consideration, is one of several things Microsoft has looked at to try to make it convenient to upgrade machines that don't come with a CD or DVD drives.
Microsoft executives have said that they recognize that upgrading netbooks poses a challenge and are exploring ways that the company can make it easier. In an interview on Thursday, senior vice president Bill Veghte said that Microsoft had nothing to announce on that front.
The challenge of getting Windows 7 on to older netbooks threatens to cast a shadow over the technical work Microsoft did to get Windows 7 running on netbooks. Its predecessor, Windows Vista, proved ill-suited to netbooks, forcing the company to continue selling Windows XP as its answer to the rising popularity of low-cost notebooks.
Although a USB flash drive could offer the simplest way to move a netbook to Windows 7, there are other options. Buyers with an external drive could hook up that to their netbook, while another option would be an upgrade through a service such as the Geek Squad.
In addition, Microsoft already sells a downloadable version of Windows, so in theory it could do the same with Windows 7, allowing buyers to put the OS on their own thumb drive.
Complicating matters is the fact that most netbooks are running Windows XP. People moving from Windows XP can buy an upgrade version of the software, but they must back up their data, do a clean installation of the operating system and then reload their applications.
The same goes for all XP owners, as well as users looking to move from a higher-end version of Vista to a lower-end version of Windows 7, and for all users in Europe trying to upgrade to Windows 7 using the browserless "E" versions — the only ones Microsoft plans to offer there.
Credit: Thumbing Windows 7 onto Netbooks from CNET News
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