Summary: News about Microsoft's next incarnation of Vista

● Windows 7 crippleware!' scream outraged netbook owners

Microsoft has once again upset many in the netbook user community with news of artificially imposed limitations on the entry level version of its upcoming new operating system Windows 7. All over the web netbook users are accusing Microsoft of crippling Windows 7 Starter edition for no other reason than to extort extra dollars from them.

● Opinion: Microsoft may shoot itself in the foot with Win 7 pricing

But as desktop Linux becomes a significant challenger, Microsoft is losing its price advantage. Microsoft managed to snatch the netbook market away from Linux by reviving XP Home and offering it to OEMs for next to nothing. It's foolish of Microsoft to think it can hold on to that market with restricted hardware and bottom-end versions of Windows 7.

● Why Windows 7 Will Fail on Netbooks

When consumers have a choice and know it, they’re not going to blindly embrace whichever pricing schemes Microsoft decides to impose on the market. Rather than paying for Windows 7 Home Premium–which is likely to cost as much as a netbook itself–costumers will simply opt for Linux.

Neither will hardware manufacturers obediently acquiesce to Microsoft’s demands as they did in the past. If they find it difficult to sell netbooks whose price is doubled by being bundled with Windows, OEMs are likely to market Linux-based computers more vigorously–which will, in turn, increase public awareness of alternatives to Windows, fueling a cycle that ends with the collapse of Microsoft’s monopoly.

If Microsoft continues to operate under the delusion that consumers will choose Windows simply because they don’t know there’s an alternative that’s been embraced by mainstream users and hardware manufacturers, it’s in for a painful shock.

● Ballmer Cannes Lions media person of the year 2009

Sure, the award reflects the great public attention Microsoft received with its viral marketing star Ballmer and the Seinfeld-Gates advertisement campaign. The Seinfeld-Gates advertisement series used the trick of confusion to let customers speak up with their appreciation of the Microsoft products and services. What came out of it was the “I’m a PC” campaign which takes on the operating system competitor Apple and it seeks to improve brand profile by a focus on core messages.