Netbooking with W7SE: No Connectify!

I installed the Beta version of Connectify to turn my Windows 7 Starter Edition netbook into a wifi router for my Sierra Wireless card but I couldn't get it to turn on. I discovered that I needed to turn on internet connection sharing in my control panel, but I couldn't find the option to do that. Then, I found this in the help:

Internet Connection Sharing. A computer running Windows 7 Starter can't use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to share its Internet connection with other computers on the network. With Windows 7 Starter, you must use a router to share an Internet connection among several computers. For more information, see Setting up a home network.

Microsoft is just taunting me for that $80 anytime upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. Grrr!

HP Saved Me from Windows 7 Boredom

Tired of that one blue wallpaper that Microsoft so generously provides with Windows 7 Starter Edition? That badge of frugality that says I'm not paying you another $80 just so I can put a photo on my desktop? I decided to check out the software and drivers page for my HP Mini 110-1125NR and low and behold, they have a software download that installs a program called My Colors that allows me to change my desktop to one of those girly swirly ones that HP paid somebody to design or any photo in my pictures folder. Yeah!!!! Take that MSFT instead of my $80! Link

Is Windows 7 Starter Edition a Non-Starter for Netbooks?

Photo from Redmondpie.com

Like this desktop? If you buy a new netbook with Windows 7 Starter Edition, you better because you can't change it. What?!! That's right.  Starter Edition is apparently only available to OEMs to install on low-end portable devices we call netbooks.  Netbooks sporting Starter Edition started appearing in stores on Windows 7 launch day (October 22) and more will be coming soon.  Machines with Windows XP installed should start to disappear as stocks get sold off.  If Windows 7 is so much better than Vista as Microsoft wants us to believe, this is a good thing, right?

I'm not so sure.  According to the Windows Team Blog, Microsoft has imposed some pretty significant limitations on Starter Edition that may make netbooks running this OS less useful than the same machines running Windows XP.  What are these limitations?

First, as I mentioned above, users of Starter Edition cannot personalize the Windows desktop in any way. No color changes, presumably no bumping the font size for readability, and no changing the desktop background.  Got a JPG of the kids or that cool volcano you saw in Hawaii you want to see on your desktop?  "No desktop for you! Next!"  Guess what? I can show whatever background I want on my XP netbook.

UPDATE: My trip to Microcenter showed that there is an option in control panel on Windows 7 Starter Edition to display everything at 125% of normal for improved readability.  But there is no way to change the desktop background.  That is just flat evil to make people pay for an $80 upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium just so they can view the new puppy on their desktop.

Second,  Windows 7 starter edition won't play a DVD.  Sure, netbooks don't HAVE a DVD player, but ever heard of a USB external DVD drive? My XP netbook can play a DVD.

Third,  netbook screens are small, right?  Maybe you have a nice big LCD screen at home that you'd like to plug your netbook into when you are using your netbook at home.  Maybe, you think your netbook is perfect for taking along on the road when you need to make a presentation with a projector.  Not so hard to imagine, is it?  Maybe you should rethink getting Windows 7 Starter Edition installed on that netbook.  My XP netbook can do these things.  Windows 7 starter edition has disabled multi-monitor support.

UPDATE:  A trip to Microcenter calls for a correction.  I found a Toshiba NB205 running Windows 7 SE next to a LCD panel that was connected to a Sony netbook.running XP.  I quickly unplugged the VGA from the Sony and plugged it into the Toshiba.  What Windows 7 Starter Edition disables is extended desktop mode. You can mirror displays (at 1024x600) or display only on the LCD (at display's native resolution) or display solely on the netbook.  Thus, with Windows 7 SE it is possible to plug the netbook into a larger screen and work off the big screen. My apologies for getting that wrong.

But, you've seen how pretty Windows 7 looks and you're tired of how boring XP looks after all these years, right?  Umm, there's just one little problem. All that eye candy is disabled on Starter Edition.

Folks,  something is happening here.One possibility is that Microsoft is hoping to cripple netbooks so that you pass over them for more useful computers that allow you to put a picture of the grandkids on the screen. Or, perhaps, Microsoft hopes that you will realize the error of your ways when your netbook won't do all these crazy "processor intensive" things like plug into a monitor and use the Anytime Upgrade feature to pay an extra $80 to install Windows 7 Home Premium Edition on your netbook (better pick up some RAM too).

Or, you could buy that same netbook with Windows XP and do all these things for even less than you'll pay for the Windows 7 Starter Edition version.

As the title to this post suggests, I think Windows 7 Starter Edition is a non-starter for netbooks.  Am I alone here? I've been searching Google and I don't see anyone complaining about this. Why not?

Dave Winer's Post was "The Last Straw"

Dave Winer wrote about his experience taking only his Asus EEE PC 901 on a cross-country business trip. I had been teetering on the brink of buy for weeks. Rodfather recently bought the Asus 1000H, which initially upped my lust meter. But, what really got me considering a new netbook was running across the Acer Aspire One in Microcenter for $349. Wow! I thought. I was so tempted to buy one for the massive 120GB HD and Atom processor and 1024x600 res screen. I probably could have and saved about $150 compared to the 901. But, I didn't. Why?

For one, the 3-cell battery in the Acer means that you won't be untethered from the grid for long. I've fallen for that limitation too many times. It means buying an extra battery or always carrying the power brick (which they call a brick for a reason). A second reason was the hard drive. It's a pacifier. This isn't the machine that stores all my music and photos. If it were, I could put them on an external HD. Take away music and photos, and HD requirements aren't really that critical. Owning the original eee pc made me aware that we only *think* we need a big hard drive. So, I said no. Not this time. Aside from the hard drive, the Asus is a better spec'd machine in a few areas. Finding it for around $500 was enough to get me off the ball.

This isn't my only machine. In fact, it's about time for me to have some sort of electronic garage sale. Still, I appreciate the small form factor, and this machine is powerful enough to run my business applications away from the office and it's a great cloud computer too.

Take-away from this experience? Challenge your inner voice that says you need a big hard drive. Check out a netbook in a retailer near you. Cheap, ubiquitous computing is here. Forget about whether you prefer Windows or OSX or Linux. Find a device that does what you need it to do in the smallest possible form factor you can tolerate because you will use it more and take it more places.