Microsoft fingers thumb drives for Windows 7 netbooks

Microsoft is considering offering Windows 7 on a thumb drive to allow netbook owners to more easily upgrade their machines, a source has told silicon.com sister site CNET News.

The move, which is still under consideration, is one of several things Microsoft has looked at to try to make it easier to upgrade machines that don't come with a CD or DVD drive.

Microsoft executives have said they recognise that upgrading netbooks poses a challenge and are exploring ways the company can make it easier. In an interview on Thursday, SVP Bill Veghte said Microsoft had nothing to announce on that front.

The challenge of getting Windows 7 on to older netbooks threatens to cast a shadow over the technical work Microsoft did to get Windows 7 running on netbooks. Its predecessor, Windows Vista, proved ill-suited to netbooks forcing Microsoft to continue selling Windows XP as its answer to the low-cost notebook phenomenon.

Although a USB flash drive could offer the simplest way to move a netbook to Windows 7, there are other options. Microsoft also sells a downloadable version of Windows today, so, in theory it could do the same with Windows 7, allowing buyers to put the OS on their own thumb drive.

Complicating matters further is the fact that most netbooks are running Windows XP. Those moving from Windows XP can buy an upgrade version of the software, but must back up their data, do a clean installation of the operating system and then reload their applications.

The same goes for all XP owners, as well as users looking to move from a higher-end version of Vista to a lower-end version of Windows 7 and all users in Europe trying to upgrade to Windows 7 using the browser-less "E" version - the only one Microsoft plans to offer here.

Original article: Thumbing Windows 7 onto Netbooks from CNET News.com