Microsoft to use a new term for netbook
Microsoft plans to redefine mini-notebooks that Intel has categorized as netbooks with a new term - low cost small notebook PC, according to Steven Guggenheimer, general manager of the Application Platform & Development Marketing Division at Microsoft.
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft had already tied the netbook label to strict product boundaries: prior coverage described a warning that larger netbooks would face a higher Windows price and Microsoft and Intel exploring a 10.2-inch limit for Windows 7 netbooks. The new terminology turns a hardware-category dispute into a clearer Microsoft product-positioning choice.
The category matters because netbooks had been framed as both an opening for Windows and a challenge from Linux. By defining “low cost small notebook PC” separately from Intel’s label, Microsoft gains more control over how PC makers describe the machines attached to its Windows offers.
First-order effects
- Microsoft shifts its outward terminology from Intel’s “netbook” category to “low cost small notebook PC,” placing its own definition at the center of OEM marketing and Windows positioning.
- Intel’s category label no longer serves as Microsoft’s sole public shorthand for the small, inexpensive notebook segment.
Second-order effects
- PC makers such as Dell must align product naming and configurations with Microsoft’s boundary-setting if they want to position devices within the lower-cost Windows category rather than as standard notebooks.
- The terminology reinforces the commercial significance of size limits: hardware specifications become a way to separate Windows offers rather than merely a design choice.
Third-order effects
- If Microsoft continues to pair category names with licensing boundaries, the low-cost PC market will be segmented by software terms and eligibility rules as much as by processors or screen sizes.
- That segmentation sharpens the contest with Linux in entry-level notebooks, since Windows pricing and device definitions can influence which operating system OEMs choose for the lowest-cost models.
The trend: PC makers and platform vendors are turning the netbook label into a licensing and product-segmentation tool, not just a description of compact hardware.