Will Windows 7 be offered on USB drives?

[raj11650]

According to a recent report from CNET, Microsoft may be thinking about letting consumers purchase the Windows 7 operating system on a USB thumb drive in order to make it easier to upgrade PCs without CD/DVD drives.

While this may not seem like such a big deal to those who use desktop or standard laptop computers, it could make a difference in the netbook world since these small, portable machines rarely have a built-in CD or DVD drive.

Even if Microsoft doesn't go this route, existing netbook owners could still upgrade to the new operating system in other ways, such as hooking up the machine to an external drive, but the thumb drive option would certainly make the whole process easier for most.


Of course, even if this option does become available, it's likely you'll be paying more for the thumb drive version than other installation methods. If you're a netbook owner, would this option make you more likely to upgrade?

Read More

 

[John Henry]

It's a hurban legend for now. And even if they would, it's gonna be sold with netbooks.

 

[holo88]

It's a hurban legend for now. And even if they would, it's gonna be sold with netbooks.

just how solid can a net-book be?! :sarc:....

anyway, as with ALL types of recordable media, theres the chance of failure. you could easily mess up a thumb drive (magnets, etc) as any cd/dvd (scratches, exposure, etc). one would think a thumb drive would be safer for the long run, but nothings perfect. it's really a decision that the consumer would have to weigh for themselves.
companies know this, but can easily conform the blind masses (not us, we're awesome) to use one or the other. who knows, maybe soon we'll be buying movies, music, and such on USB sticks. time will tell i guess.

 

[jw12345]

you could easily mess up a thumb drive (magnets, etc).

I don't think magnets will affect a thumb drive at all. The only reason they affect floppies and HDDs are because the bits are stored by magnetic 'switches'. Flash drives work entirely different.

 

[grouchpunk08]

just how solid can a net-book be?! :sarc:....

anyway, as with ALL types of recordable media, theres the chance of failure. you could easily mess up a thumb drive (magnets, etc) as any cd/dvd (scratches, exposure, etc). one would think a thumb drive would be safer for the long run, but nothings perfect. it's really a decision that the consumer would have to weigh for themselves.
companies know this, but can easily conform the blind masses (not us, we're awesome) to use one or the other. who knows, maybe soon we'll be buying movies, music, and such on USB sticks. time will tell i guess.

I think it will be a while before companies begin using flashdrives as a way to distribute media, unless it is done by request basis. Companies wouldn't be able to afford to mass produce flashdrive media as cheaply as they can DVD media. A DVD literally costs pennies to write media to, while it is significantly more to flash data to a thumbdrive. If companies do it in the near future, it will most likely be on a request basis, and it would cost more than getting the same media on a DVD. At least until data flashing becomes more efficient and cost friendly

 

[screwballl]

The one main problem with this article is that the term "netbook" spans a very wide range of hardware, and can even vary by manufacturer. You can have a dual core CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive with a 13" screen and one may call it a netbook, yet another with a single core Atom processor, 2GB RAM, 80GB SSD drive with 11" screen and they call it a notebook or laptop, not classify it as a netbook.
So what about these older laptops such as one I sold a few months back, it had a single core CeleronM 2.0GHz CPU, 768MB RAM, 80GB drive, and a 14" screen... it has lower specs than many new "netbooks" yet is still classified a laptop...
Right now it is all a marketing scam....

As for the USB or flash drives, even if MS decides not to, it would be easy enough to make a ISO or image of the W7 DVD (or use vLite) and then use another program to write this image to the flash drive for installing on a laptop without a working disc drive. I did that for some customers not too long after Vista was released.... their laptop or PC did not have a disc drive (or it did not work) so this is the process I used.

 

[nate42nd]

The one main problem with this article is that the term "netbook" spans a very wide range of hardware, and can even vary by manufacturer. You can have a dual core CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive with a 13" screen and one may call it a netbook, yet another with a single core Atom processor, 2GB RAM, 80GB SSD drive with 11" screen and they call it a notebook or laptop, not classify it as a netbook.
So what about these older laptops such as one I sold a few months back, it had a single core CeleronM 2.0GHz CPU, 768MB RAM, 80GB drive, and a 14" screen... it has lower specs than many new "netbooks" yet is still classified a laptop...
Right now it is all a marketing scam....

I read MS is making manufacturers cap the RAM and CPU capabilities in the "netbooks" as part of the licence agreement so people will still buy laptops and desktops. Good business move I guess. If everyone could have a small device as powerful as a desktop....they would sell fewer copies of Windows. As for USB drives...I hope it happens. I would pay $5-10 for the drive.

 

[raj11650]

The one main problem with this article is that the term "netbook" spans a very wide range of hardware, and can even vary by manufacturer. You can have a dual core CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive with a 13" screen and one may call it a netbook, yet another with a single core Atom processor, 2GB RAM, 80GB SSD drive with 11" screen and they call it a notebook or laptop, not classify it as a netbook.
So what about these older laptops such as one I sold a few months back, it had a single core CeleronM 2.0GHz CPU, 768MB RAM, 80GB drive, and a 14" screen... it has lower specs than many new "netbooks" yet is still classified a laptop...
Right now it is all a marketing scam....

As for the USB or flash drives, even if MS decides not to, it would be easy enough to make a ISO or image of the W7 DVD (or use vLite) and then use another program to write this image to the flash drive for installing on a laptop without a working disc drive. I did that for some customers not too long after Vista was released.... their laptop or PC did not have a disc drive (or it did not work) so this is the process I used.

M$ has already given specification for the term "Netbook"

you can read more from below link:

Netbook Max Specifications

 

[TechOutsider]

Took me hours to figure out how to install XP to a netbook using a flash drive. Maybe I'm just slow?

Anyways, that is going to take a big flash drive. Maybe 4 GB?

 

[DrWho]

I find this thread very interesting indeed, because........

In the 29 years that I've been working on personal computers, I have just recently walked into a retail store and BOUGHT my first, off-the-shelf PC.

After looking at the various offerings available at the local stores, and comparing features vs. price, I settled on the Acer Aspire ONE, Netbook.
The Cobalt Blue one. It matches my car.

It appears that Acer has done some upgrading to the little PC since it was first released, because a friends Acer netbook only has 1 gig of ram, and my unit just purchased at Office Depot has 1.5 gigs. That's the maximum ram that the little PC will take. I think the HD is 160 gig SATA. (Don't quote me) And, the cpu is the Atom.

I have to work on a lot of different PC's and Laptops in my business and this little Netbook is as much of a computer as any I've worked on.

It came with Windows XP Home (not my first choice) and I set it up exactly like I would any XP computer.
NOT having a CD drive was no big deal. I've been loading software on PC's from Flash Drives for several years and I find it actually much faster than using a CD and of course there's NOT the compatibility problem that I've seen with home made CD's.

Making a flash drive bootable and then copying an OS to it doesn't bother me at all. It's practically a "NON-EVENT".

Supplying an OS already set up on a Flash Drive just seems like the next obvious marketing strategy. Why not? Big companies like MS could buy a suitable sized FD for almost nothing in the quantities they would need.

Back to my Acer Aspire ONE, Netbook, it does everything that my main PC (desktop tower) does, but in a smaller package.
I even watch streaming videos of sports events, movies, etc. with no problem at all. In 29 years, this is the first PC that I've ever allowed into my bedroom.
During the initial setup, I set the desktop icon text size to 11 points, just one point larger than I'd normally set up for a standard size laptop. And the Horizontal text box size, to 70 instead of the normal 65.

I've also partitioned the little 160 gig HD to provide me with sufficient storage for non-essential files and Ghost backups of C:.

With a verifiable Ghost Image, "In the can" so to speak, I may try to upgrade the OS to Win-7. (just for grins and giggles)
I'm quite sure the little PC will run it OK.
The only problem I can foresee would be with drivers.
I can foresee NO problem loading Win-7 from a Flash Drive.
That should be a real Cake Walk.

Cheers Mates,
The Doctor

 

[jw12345]

Took me hours to figure out how to install XP to a netbook using a flash drive. Maybe I'm just slow?

Anyways, that is going to take a big flash drive. Maybe 4 GB?

XP installation via USB is a PITA. Vista and 7 are dead easy. It's a controller driver issue. But 4gb isn't that big anymore. It would only cost a few bucks.

 

[raj11650]

XP installation via USB is a PITA. Vista and 7 are dead easy. It's a controller driver issue. But 4gb isn't that big anymore. It would only cost a few bucks.

installing win xp using pendrive

its long but simple process!!!

Install win xp via USB

 

[grouchpunk08]

It may just be me, but I don't really see installing stuff from flashdrives any more exciting than installing from a cd-dvd. Even if its in ISO form, I just mount the ISO in powerIso and install from there.

 

[jw12345]

It may just be me, but I don't really see installing stuff from flashdrives any more exciting than installing from a cd-dvd. Even if its in ISO form, I just mount the ISO in powerIso and install from there.

It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant for those who don't have DVD drives.

 

[grouchpunk08]

It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant for those who don't have DVD drives.

Ripping an ISO is much less work than making a bootable flashdrive and then setting it up for being able to install an operating system. Which is why I think for netbook users, MS will tell them to download the 7 ISO and mount it. Thats why I think they are letting people buy it and then download it from their servers.

 

[TechOutsider]

After looking at the various offerings available at the local stores, and comparing features vs. price, I settled on the Acer Aspire ONE, Netbook.
The Cobalt Blue one. It matches my car.
...
Back to my Acer Aspire ONE, Netbook, it does everything that my main PC (desktop tower) does, but in a smaller package.
I even watch streaming videos of sports events, movies, etc. with no problem at all. In 29 years, this is the first PC that I've ever allowed into my bedroom.

Cheers Mates,
The Doctor

We are going down the same road with netbooks as we did with computers. People insist on more power from netbooks; from a Celeron M (90nm, 630 MHz) in the original netbook to Atoms (45nm, 1.66GHz, HT) in current netbooks. I have no issues with my Celeron M (@ 630 MHz from eeectl); it runs everything fine. 20 or so tabs open in Firefox with memory usage over 600 MB - no crashes, freezes, slow-downs, etc. Netbooks are limited by the screen size. Why so much processing power paired with such a screen? Don't get me wrong, the 8.9 inch LED backlight screen is beautiful, however I think ultimately the extra CPU cycles will be wasted. My desktop actually experiences more crashes, freeze-ups, and hard reboots.

BTW, my EEE 900 (burgundy) matches my car!

XP installation via USB is a PITA. Vista and 7 are dead easy. It's a controller driver issue. But 4gb isn't that big anymore. It would only cost a few bucks.

A quick check reveals 4 gb drives cost ~$10. MS can easily buy them for less (wholesale).

 

[jw12345]

Ripping an ISO is much less work than making a bootable flashdrive and then setting it up for being able to install an operating system. Which is why I think for netbook users, MS will tell them to download the 7 ISO and mount it. Thats why I think they are letting people buy it and then download it from their servers.

I don't see how that argues against flash drives.

Option 1: Consumer sees Win7 read-only flash drive in store. Plugs it in.

Option 2: Consumer, who better hope he or she has a high speed internet connection, has to actively seek out the download url, waits hours to download windows then has to figure out how to mount an iso using third party tools, and then launch the setup file from the mounted image.

Yeah, I'm sure Grandma has a copy of Daemon Tools around.

 

[grouchpunk08]

I don't see how that argues against flash drives.

Option 1: Consumer sees Win7 read-only flash drive in store. Plugs it in.

Option 2: Consumer, who better hope he or she has a high speed internet connection, has to actively seek out the download url, waits hours to download windows then has to figure out how to mount an iso using third party tools, and then launch the setup file from the mounted image.

Yeah, I'm sure Grandma has a copy of Daemon Tools around.

No, the argument against flash drives is it would cost way too much to mass produce win7 flashdrive media. Flashing data to flashdrives is way more expensive than burning a DVD. Even if MS could get the actual flashdrives at cheap wholesale prices, its still way more expensive to flash the media rather than spending about 3 pennies burning a DVD. There are ample sites around the internet that talk about how flashing data to flashdrives is way more expensive.

EDIT- and by the way, I wasn't making an argument against it. I was giving my point of view on the subject. and try to hold back on comments like ("yeah grandma has daemon tools"), some people could find it kinda rude

 

[jw12345]

I get it, flash is more expensive. Charge $3 extra for the flash version. Otherwise MS loses money by locking out customers.

 

[grouchpunk08]

I get it, flash is more expensive.

But for those without media drives and aren't techies, upgrading is difficult. I'm sure Microsoft will gladly sell the flash version for $5 extra, or even at no extra charge, because otherwise MS would be losing the entire price of their software.

Also, small packaging could give higher pallet and display density, which offsets the couple bucks.

Yeah. If they do happen to offer on flashdrives, I think it would only be bundled with netbooks, or have to be requested by someone who wanted it. I'm not so sure theyd go as far as producing it on the same scale as their DVD media and stuff like that