Microsoft's ULCPC Nazism = Good News!

By now, I expect most people have heard how Microsoft expects to severely restrict the hardware capacity of subnotebooks (ULCPCS, Ultra-Low-Cost PCs) that run Windows XP.

limit screen sizes to 10.2 inches

hard drives to 80G bytes

no touch-screens

no more than 1G byte of RAM and

a single-core processor running at no more than 1GHz. The program makes an allowance for some chips, including Via Technologies' C7-M processors, which run between 1.0GHz and 1.6GHz, and Intel's upcoming Atom N270.

Aside from the touchscreen prohibition, the rest is actually good news.

I can see clever subnotebook makers now redesigning their units to get around those prohibitions.

Easier access to RAM and hard drives, so users can open up the units and put in more RAM and a larger drive.

Subnotebook makers telling Intel they want their CPUs to be socketed, not soldered. So we can pull out those too and drop in better ones.

By restricting the hardware, Microsoft has now guaranteed that these units will plummet in price. I anticipate basic units will drop to the $200-$300 range.

Microsoft will probably try to pull something inside XP itself to check system configuration and, once connected to the Internet, rat back to Borg HQ if the specs exceed their restrictions.

And then the revolt against Microsoft will begin in earnest.

Get with the users, Microsoft: we don't want Vista!

Meanwhile, while all this race-to-the-bottom pricing goes on, Apple will ensure its own future with customized chips that offer better performance, unique features, and higher prices.

Microsoft doesn't need to be killed. It's just announced its own suicide.