Asus CEO: Eee PCs will never run Vista

Asus' CEO Jerry Shen has admitted that the popular Eee PCs will never carry Windows Vista - with the netbooks set to skip a generation and use Windows 7.

In a superb interview with Laptop Mag, Shen optimistically predicts that Windows 7 touchscreen netbooks could arrive by the middle of next year, although that seems to fly in the face of the current Microsoft release schedule.

"... we don't plan on putting Vista on any of the Eee PCs. I think in the future in the second half of next year we will put Windows 7 on Eee PCs.

"For now it will be Linux and XP and then Windows 7 and not do Vista."

Not its target

In truth, Vista was never designed to run on low power PCs, which is why Microsoft took steps to keep predecessor XP available after its official 'kill date'.

But, with netbooks growing in processor power and RAM all the time, a Vista version was looking more realistic for the Eee range - until Shen's comments.

Windows 7 has been designed to be more scaleable, taking into account the need for more compact versions of an OS for the growing netbook and low-power PC market - but it is based heavily on Vista's architecture.