So I haven't posted in a while.  Not because there hasn't been anything to post about, but because there has been too much.  With all the news that's come out lately, Palm Pre ~ Project Natal ~ iPhone 3GS ~ Bing.com ~ Google Wave, I've been inundated with keeping up on everything.  Plus, with news of this scale, there are much more qualified people (see my technology links on the side) who can write on these topics.  I prefer to write about either lesser known technologies, personal views, or ways to use existing technologies in a different way.  Just posting for the sake of posting is a waste of everyone's time.

Today, however, I visited the finally opened GDGT site which I must say was worth the wait.  The site looks great and I can see a lot of great uses for it.  For a quick review of the site, I'd suggest being lazy and watching the video they produced.  This is more than just an engadget or gizmodo blog remake, this site also allows you to link the gadgets you have, had, or want to your profile and follow the discussions on those gadgets.  It's still working out the bugs but I've traversed the site and have seen some good community feedback which will make the site better.  I've suggested one idea myself which would be to allow us to link our gadgets between each other to create relationships between the gadgets for use as a research tool (which headsets work with which phones, etc).  I'd also love to see a way to print out my 'have' list in case of an emergency.  Ya never know when you need to send a list off to your home or auto insurance carrier.  Ha!  Anyway, I'd suggest taking a look at the site.  I can see this idea they have used on other niche's as well.

Windows 7, the new proposed entry edition slated as the 'perfect OS for Netbooks', is anything but.  Windows 7 Starter Edition, part of the new line-up of Windows 7 OS's, boasts a 3 application limit that is surely to aggravate and confuse the average consumer who attempts to run this pseudo OS.  What is Microsoft telling consumers?  Basically, The Windows 7 Starter Edition can run 3 applications and numerous instances of those applications.  The 3 application limit does not include services such as Anti-virus applications, nor does it encompass windows included applications such as Notepad, Command Prompt and presumably Paint.  All this will do is cause the market to attempt to circumvent the limit by building more cloud applications, as pointed out in the GDGT podcast.  The average consumer will be even more confused as to why some apps (windows apps) aren't affected by the 3 application limit and others are.  What is an app?  Try to explain this to your grandma who just bought a $200 Netbook initially only to view pictures and read your emails that she has to shut down something if she wants to run skype to talk to her grandkid?

So, rather than blast Microsoft, I thought I'd suggest an alternative.  Scrap the Windows 7 Starter Edition, or make it what it truly is, a free product for people to test the new Microsoft OS or as a minimalistic alternative to Linux.  Heck, Give it the "Express" name and put it with their other free Express products lineup.  Create the Windows 7 Netbook Edition.  Windows 7 Netbook Edition could encompass the physical limits of a Netbook without confusing the consumer at a later stage.  Some limitations could be:

• Limit the Screen Resolution.  Netbooks typically have a limited screen size or resolution.  Use that.  Don't offer resolutions greater than would (or should) be found on a 10" Netbook.  Limit it to a single display.
• Limit the UI Settings.  To give the best Windows experience, limit the UI settings.  Don't offer aero glass features or any other UI features that would slow the processor.
• Limit many of the services that should never come into play in a consumer Netbook environment to keep the Netbook edition from being ported to (and competing with) the higher price-point editions.  Routing and Remote Access, Fax Service, Group Policies, Task Scheduler, etc. are not essential in a Netbook experience.
• Remove many of the applications that are not essential in a Netbook environment.  Remote Desktop, Task Scheduler, Import portion of Windows Easy Transfer, limited System Restore functionality, etc.

The advantage of some of these limitations is it would allow Microsoft to sell a cheaper version of their OS without risking it diluting their full fledged OS consumer and business market. It will also limit any PR issues as the users experience will typically not change through the life of that particular product.  The product will still perform as would be expected in a Windows 7 experience but within the confines of a netbook.  I specifically left out cpu requirements since those can change in the future.  It is unlikely however that the physical and usage requirements for a netbook will change however (small, light and streamlined).

Since Microsoft is planning on making a Basic Edition as an low-grade inexpensive (read: lousy) alternative for the Desktop and Laptop Computing environment, a case could be made that the Netbook Edition could offer the limited functionality of the Basic Edition within the hardware confines of a Netbook and at a cheaper price-point.  A case could also be made that the Netbook edition should be for sale to the public for those who buy one of the Linux netbooks on price-point alone and decide later that they'd prefer the windows experience.

In short, simple is better.  Make your OS lineup easily understandable by the consumer.  Don't surprise them with weird tech lingo or variable limitations.  Let the consumer buy the OS based on the features and product they own with the expectations that they'll continue to have the same experience when they purchased the product throughout the life of the product.  So, in closings, I'd suggest this:

1. Windows Netbook Edition - Streamlined Netbook edition
2. Windows Basic Edition - Entry level desktop & laptop edition (needs a better name than "Basic" !)
3. Windows Premium Edition - Full version of the Windows 7 experience
4. Windows Profession Edition - Enterprise version (group policy and other functionality needed for enterprise)

Agree, Dis-agree, thoughts?