XP about to be the low-end model for Netbooks?

According to a press release by Windows, they will allow companies like Acer, Asus, HP, Dell, and MSI the ability to install Windows XP on ultra-low-cost PCs (ULPC for short) well into 2010. However, they have apparently given specifications to what a ULPC is and they were not very generous with the specs.

According to Computer World, XP will be allowed on the following:

PC makers must limit screen size to 14.1 in. and hard-drive capacity to 160GB. Ultralow-cost PCs with touch screens will also be eligible. The processors are still limited to a single-core chip running at no more than 1 GHz, with memory limited to 1GB of RAM.

The vast majority of ULPCs are the new netbook category of computers that have popped up and are all the craze lately. I even have one and I'm writing this blog entry on it now. MS also extended the deal to nettops, a super-small version of desktop PCs that have similar pricing and capabilities.

However, the funny thing about the specs is that my own computer, the Acer Aspire One A150 breaks one of those barriers already. Mind you, my netbook is not exactly new, being offered in the XP version since August of this year. Stock, this netbook comes with an Intel Atom N270 CPU (1.6GHz standard), which is absolutely the standard for most netbooks now.

So will Microsoft lighten up on their limitations? I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know this: MS isn't dumb and the craze for the netbooks and the increasing power of the tiny CPUs inside them threaten to push their offering of the ULCPC version of XP to the bottom of the features pile if they pigeon-hole themselves.

Linux, the other operating system commonly offered on netbooks is absolutely free of charge to both the user and the PC makers and don't have any restrictions. Commenting on this, an article in Ars Technica mentions:

Computer World reports that Microsoft is charging PC makers $32 to install Windows XP Home on a netbook and $47 to install the OS on systems with larger screens.This may push ODMs towards using Linux on their larger netbooks as one way to cut costs while offering the features customers want.

Intel already is shipping its dual-core Atom 330 CPU, and is aiming them at nettops and (my guess) is that the focus will then turn to netbooks. Which, as i said, would break the barriers for XP to be pre-installed by the OEM.

Microsoft, get on the ball!