No Windows XP for hybrid storage netbooks?

As we all know, Microsoft has been extending the life of Windows XP over and over again so that the underpowered netbook will have a cheap OS to run on. But of course Microsoft has imposed limitations.

To qualify for XP, the netbook must have:

• 10 inch or smaller screen
• 1GB or less of RAM
• 160GB or smaller hard drive

So if you’ve got a netbook more powerful than the specs posted above, your netbook should have Vista pre-installed.

Now it seems that even hybrid storage netbooks are now banned from having Windows XP. According to Netbook Choice:

However, it appears that we won’t be getting too many more netbooks that employ similar systems if Microsoft gets its way. According to bit-tech, Microsoft is banning netbook manufacturers from producing hybrid storage netbooks, when using Windows XP Home.

If true, this seems to be an extension of Microsoft trying to separate low-end netbooks from more premium models by renaming the ‘netbook’ term.

Meh. I’ll wait for Windows 7.