Windows 7 Starter Edition - Too many programs openIn early February we wrote about Microsoft’s plan to offer Windows 7 in 6 flavors. The least expensive version offered, Windows 7 Starter Edition, is directed towards the netbook market because netbooks are [supposedly] not used for much other than web browsing. That in and of itself is no big deal – what is absolutely as crazy as a bed bug is Microsoft’s peculiar decision-making process: the company has implemented a limit of running three simultaneous applications in Windows 7 Starter Edition!

What exactly does that mean for the average user? If you are content with running only a web browser, and more or less living solely in the browser, then chances are you will be able to survive within the confined limitations of Windows 7 Starter Edition. Should you want to venture outside of your favorite browser then be prepared for potential problems.

Here is an example scenario where the three application limitation will cause problems for the average user:

You want to open up your favorite web browser, listen to music, download a torrent and have Skype running in the event one of your colleagues is going to call. While doing this you click “open” on a PowerPoint attachment you received via your web-based email account.

In Windows 7 Starter Edition this is absolutely not possible. Attempting to execute all those applications will put you over the embedded three application limit. Firefox + iTunes + uTorrent + Skype + PowerPoint = five applications. That is a non-starter for Windows 7 Starter Edition!

Ed Bott of ZDNet seems to be pretty jazzed by Windows 7 Starter Edition even though it essentially amounts to crippleware. Even through all the excitement, he recognizes the impending problems ahead for consumers.

If I tried to use this system as a conventional notebook, running multiple Microsoft Office or OpenOffice aps, playing music in iTunes or Windows Media Player, and using third-party IM programs, I would probably be incredibly frustrated with the limitations of Starter Edition.

Windows 7 Starter Edition certainly has its place, especially since it is not only being marketed towards netbooks. Windows 7 Starter Edition is chiefly geared towards emerging markets where consumers might not have enough money to purchase the next rung on the Windows 7 ladder – Windows 7 Home Basic.

But still, one has to wonder why Microsoft is taking the same route as the entertainment industry by making their products far less useful. Consumers purchasing netbooks might find themselves getting aggravated with Windows 7 Starter Edition and look to alternative operating systems like Ubuntu Linux to relieve their dissatisfaction.

In addition to the irritation, netbook consumers have to pay close attention to the installed operating system and consider that in their purchasing decision. Is it wise to spend little money on a netbook when it only comes with Windows 7 Starter Edition or is it smarter to buy a low-end notebook with Windows 7 Home Basic installed?

Part of me wonders if Microsoft is using this technique as a means of forcing customers to pay the “Microsoft Tax” once for their netbook and then full price for Windows 7 Home Basic once users get fed up with Windows 7 Starter Edition, effectively getting paid twice. I do not like to wear a tinfoil hat but historically this is how Microsoft has conducted business.

Lastly, Microsoft has been scared to death of Google because of their attempts to move people off the desktop and on to the web. They genuinely appear to be afraid of Google Docs and other movement that may make Windows obsolete. Oddly though, it feels like Windows 7 Starter Edition is designed to help assist in the migration to web-based applications since users are limited in the number of simultaneously running applications. Such a move is definitely not in Microsoft’s best interest.

Microsoft as both a company and innovator seems lost these days. They severely need to take a closer look at this so-called plan and really consider the implications. I imagine there are going to be a ton of unintended consequences that Microsoft could never have dreamed up on their own. Hopefully none of those proves detrimental to the health and welfare of the world’s largest software manufacturer.