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Netbooks Will Ship With Windows 7, According To Ballmer

Netbooks Will Ship With Windows 7, According To Ballmer

Yesterday Microsoft chief executive announced that his company is planning to make a slimmed-down version of its new Windows 7 browser that will be able to run on netbooks.

It’s a move that makes perfect sense. XP already dominates that segment of the market, but Vista is too large and slow to run on a netbook.

But there’s another reason for the move. Ballmer said he was expecting Google to ship its Android system on some netbooks and wants to make sure that Microsoft keeps the OS dominance it’s enjoyed on PCs for over 20 years. Taiwanese company Asustek is looking at making a netbook running Android, according to the Financial Times.

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