Will Microsoft hand the netbook market to Linux?

Every time Microsoft seems to sew up the netbook market, it makes yet one more blunder, giving Linux a big market opening. This time around could be the worst: Microsoft apparently plans to charge netbook makers up $55 for Windows 7 Starter Edition, about double what it charges for XP. At that price, buyers just may opt for Linux instead.

Digitimes reports that Microsoft is telling netbook makers that it will charge them between $45 and $55 for the Windows 7 Starter Edition, around double the current $25 to $30 price for Windows XP.

The site adds that because of that, netbook makers are considering not making the move to Windows 7, and continuing to sell Windows XP on their netbooks.

Here's the problem, though: Windows XP is starting to look its age. It was first released eight years ago, in 2001, and looks it. Windows 7 has a slew of features missing from XP, and because it's designed to run on netbooks, won't have performance issues as did Windows Vista. Netbook buyers won't be happy buying an operating system that's nearly a decade old --- they'll want something newer.

That something newer may well be Linux, which has changed a great deal since 2001, and become much more of a consumer desktop operating system, even though installing and updating software can still be a chore on it.

I'm not convinced yet that Microsoft will charge such a premium for the Windows 7 Starter Edition. After all, it initially said that it was going to limit to three the number of applications that can run simultaneously on Windows 7 Starter Edition, then backed off when it became clear netbook makers and buyers wouldn't stand for that.

It may be that Microsoft will lower its pricing for Windows 7 Starter Edition. If not, it just may give Linux a very big opening.