In 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.
Dear god, what is Microsoft doing these days. Spam, crap software, crap, crap and more crap. Every day I use this windows based machine I wish there was a stable Hackintosh release so I could run Mac (Linux isn't an option, I hate it).
All this makes me wonder what kind of people are running Microsoft…
April 23, 2009 @ 22:56
hmm, most stable hackintosh distro atm : iPC take a look at it :)
April 24, 2009 @ 03:37
Hm…I will have a look at it somewhere next week, one week without school anyway :)
April 24, 2009 @ 04:36
I do not think I've seen iPC. What makes it more stable than the other hackintosh distros?
April 24, 2009 @ 11:34
Linux and Mac are your options. Linux comes in many editions. Find the one that works for you. I have them all(xp,vista,7,etc…) but prefer to use Mac snow leopard and ubuntu 9.10. It does everything I need and that is alot. Some Msoft games won't run on linux but there are workarounds. I have lost trust in Msoft.
February 21, 2010 @ 13:42
As you see (and MS itself), the Starter Edition is for Netbooks, so chances are limited that more than 3 apps are used at the same time. I agree with you that 3 is a very limited number, 5 would probably have been more appropriate.
But let me ask you this, because I'm not very familiar with the concept, what if you use the netbook to log onto a cloud computer, will everything then run off of 1 app?
April 24, 2009 @ 01:23
I imagine that if you log on to some type of cloud, where apps are running in the cloud rather than on the local machine then that may be one way to circumvent the limit. But, that will probably come at a huge performance cost too.
April 24, 2009 @ 11:36
Article on arid.net (http://digg.com/d1pTAK) that talked about windows 7 starter edition and had suggestions on a better way to implement the starter edition for netbooks.
April 26, 2009 @ 07:59
oops. I meant it’s a great article.
April 27, 2009 @ 19:01
Almost as annoying as only being able to run one app at a time on iphone ;)
May 5, 2009 @ 01:40
Actually that's not true, Windows XP Starter (Yes there is one) and Windows Vista Starter (rarely seen but yeah, there's one) both had that limitation – running only 3 programs at once excluding virus protection. They specifically said they were removing that limitation, so you can run as many programs as you want. I tested it, so I know what I'm talking about.
Maybe you should check your facts before writing a bullshit article
March 12, 2010 @ 09:19
Maybe you should check your facts before writing a bullshit comment and see when this article was originally written. ;-)
March 12, 2010 @ 09:33
Bullshit. I have Windows 7 Starter, and I am running 6, yes, 6 apps as I type this. Opera [web browser], LimeWire, iTunes, AIM, Microsoft Word, and OoVoO [video chat]. I don't know what kind of Windows 7 Starter you're running, but it's definitely not mine, and I have a netbook! I actually like starter. I mean, some of the limitations are annoying, like the desktop background thing, but there are things you can download to get around that. Before this I had a regular sized notebook with Windows Vista, and I thing this is a HUGE step up.
May 30, 2010 @ 17:49