Yes, Windows 7 Starter Edition is headed for U.S. computers

I'll readily admit I sometimes get it wrong. I've written well over 2,000 of these posts, and once in awhile I goof it up.

And so I took a long, hard look at comments calling me out over my complaints about Windows 7 Starter Edition, some claiming that the OS was not due to be released in the USA.

Said one writer: "Chris, are you constantly posting about Starter Edition and netbooks to annoy me intentionally? At this time there is no proof (netbooks shipping with Starter Edition in the US) to say that Starter Edition will come on netbooks. And the policy for Starter Edition has always been for developing countries -- and that we have proof of." And another: "Starter Edition has not been intended for US release to my knowledge. I'm very sure it was intended for developing countries."

Strong words.

And I hate to break it to you, but you're dead wrong.

I can see the reason for all the confusion. Microsoft has written a lot about Starter Edition but has never said directly where it will be released. Many have made the assumption that it's a global product, though, and you'll find hundreds of blog posts and news stories online with that very impression.

So I double-checked with Microsoft, and the company confirmed that yes, Windows 7 Starter Edition is a global product that will be released everywhere, including here.

Why are people sure that Starter isn't a US product? Because there's another version of Windows 7 -- Windows 7 Home Basic -- that will be sold only in emerging markets. (That's the plan, anyway.) Both versions of Windows are stripped-down (though Starter is more so), and obviously this is creating some confusion in the market already, months before the OS is even released.

All of this pretty well illustrates the point I was making back in February when the Windows 7 lineup was first unveiled. Appearing in six different versions, I knew having all of these versions available was going to confuse consumers whether they were boxed at retail or even sold in their home country at all. Come to think of it, I got a lot of mail and comments with arguments to the contrary back then, too...