Windows 7 to usher in the $200 netbook age

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Plus Microsoft says we'll get both Starter and Home Premium

Croft adds, "We cleaned up the system tray as well. And we've made some other concessions for the OEMs to help with branding - all in the spirit of trying to keep a firm focus on the amount of time it takes to get to the desktop."

Microsoft is encouraging OEMs to use the Getting Started area, which appears on the Start menu with a jump list of useful tasks. In the beta, Crofts says two-thirds of users are opening Getting Started features through the jump list, which makes it an attractive area for OEMs to add tools and features to. He also predicts that some manufacturers will use the Device Stage experience to organise software, support and other options:

"I will be very surprised if at least two or three of the top OEMs don't standardise on that. Some OEMs are more invested in R&D, they like to have a strong look and feel and they were requesting it. Some are just saying 'we want to ship PCs, we're not bothered'."

Mary Branscombe
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Mary (Twitter, Google+, website) started her career at Future Publishing, saw the AOL meltdown first hand the first time around when she ran the AOL UK computing channel, and she's been a freelance tech writer for over a decade. She's used every version of Windows and Office released, and every smartphone too, but she's still looking for the perfect tablet. Yes, she really does have USB earrings.