Microsoft bans MSI Wind U115 because it has Hybrid Storage
Microsoft is back and killing netbooks innovations in more, innovative, ways. The company has just banned netbooks with hybrid storage from running Windows XP. Thereby affecting netbooks using both a solid state drive (SSD) and a hard disk drive (HDD). Aka the MSI Wind U115 which is the only netbook currently offering hybrid storage, and netbooks from NEC and Asus which are set to launch in the coming months.
Milestones such as the achieving a 13hour battery life on a 6 cell have been in large part due to hybrid storage. The MSI Wind U115 is able to reach such a high battery life because Windows XP is installed on the SSD, and music, photos and documents are stored on the HDD. This way, the netbook is capable of running off the SSD and doesn’t need to start up the power draining HDD when used for light computing. Think of the HDD as a giant built-in USB.
But now Microsoft has included a ban on hybrid storage into its list of restrictions for Windows XP. By using hybrid storage people who would have been forced to use Vista are instead choosing their friendly neighborhood Spider-XP. The rationale seems to be that Vista can’t run on SSDs because it is such a bloated software and so XP shouldn’t be allowed to either. All this because Microsoft earns only $15 on a license of XP versus an estimated $50 or $60 on Vista.
Oh Microsoft! When will you learn, if you just provided the world with good software and admitted Vista was the worst product ever, we’d never be in this mess. Now hurry up and release Windows 7 so we can stop hating on you.
In the meanwhile though, we’re uncertain if current stocks of MSI Wind U115s will be allowed to keep selling in stores. The netbook is certainly still available at MSI’s website for $500 with a 9 cell battery!
This may just be the perfect excuse you needed to run out and buy yourself a U115. Don’t forget to come back and tell us how life is in ever-lasting battery serenity. And, you know, to thank Microsoft.
[...] is a follow up on our previous post on Microsoft bans MSI Wind U115 because it has Hybrid Storage. Under the new Microsoft restrictions, MSI would no longer be able to ship out the U115 Hybrid with [...]