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Windows 7 Starter Edition — 3 Apps Only
CrustyFace writes "Cybernit reports that the Starter Edition version of Windows 7 will only allow the user to run 3 applications at once. Targeted at notebooks, this doesn't seem like such a bad limitation, however it is a bold move from Microsoft, and it will be interesting to see how the operating system sells."
Artificial limitations like this seem to me to be an invitation for problems and end user frustration.
What is an application?
Are tool tray apps possible, or allowed?
What about apps that launch other apps as part of their functionality?
Would Chrome be limited to two tabs? (One for the host window, two and three for the first two tabs.)
I would say this is an invitation for piracy, but if it really is intended for netbooks, most consumers would find it very hard to install a new OS on a computer with no cd drive. It will make users angry, although potentially limit things on machines with small amounts of RAM.
If it's intended for developing countries, I suspect piracy (or Linux) will win out.
Soccer Goal Plans
This is pretty blatantly defective by design. I can see a lot of people (especially less sophisticated users) being caught out by this when they discover that they can't run outlook, internet explorer, media player -and- messenger all at the same time. Or will Windows apps that are 'part of the os' going to be excluded from those three programs? I think MS's gun is pointed firmly at its downward.
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
Really, nowadays you can do practically everything with just your browser. It's the new emacs.
Apple corporation has said it will release a version of OS X that will allow only one application to run at a time
Apple already released such an operating system in 2007. I think it's called "iPhone OS".
VMware with 3 more versions of Windows 7. AH-HA! Beat you at your own game Micro$oft!
This is the most useless thing I ever heard of... It's like selling an incomplete OS...
The point is to sell automatic upgrades to more expensive versions of Windows.
"I'm sorry, to do that, you need Windows Ultimate Edition. Would you like to upgrade now? Yes/No"
This article is basically a two paragraph summary of something I would expect to hear from a hysterical spitting nerd who hadn't showered for three days standing outside of a Gamestop. (Or in a Digg summary)
"Windows Home Basic OMG! Such shite! Install linux!"
I'm actually kind of offended it got posted. Plus also, it's already been discussed ad nauseam.
Send me to troll hell, but you know it's true.
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
User: "Aw man, I can only load three apps? Well, I guess I can use Google Docs in my browser... what else can I do online without installing anything?"
And that's how Microsoft plans to simultaneously make people hate their operating system and also not buy their other shrink-wrapped software.
Indeed. What advantage would Windows 7 starter offer over Ubuntu Netbook Remix?
Also, about installing an OS from a flash drive, remember the advances we have seen in OS install programs in the last 10 years.
I am pretty sure there could be a program to sell cheap 1GB drives with different flavors of Linux preinstalled...
No sig for the moment.
The news is that, at least potentially, we'll be seeing the crippled edition shipping on first-world netbooks. You pretty much had to go on safari to find XP starter edition.
If the price is bargain low I could see myself grabing a licence. I only use windows for gaming anyway. A game + web browser would be enough for me.
I wonder how long this will last when Microsoft finds out that users are only running one app--the browser--and using gmail, Google docs, etc to run all of their stuff. I can't see this sticking if it has the effect of driving users away from the other MS cash cow: Office.
That, in a way, makes MS's decision even stranger. If you own win32, the undisputed 800 pound gorilla of backwards compatibility, why would you do anything that makes local apps less attractive and webapps more attractive?
This is an absolute farce.
MS is now in such a dominant position that it is now artificially limiting features to introduce competition and introduce artificial price points. It's aimed at the hardware vendors, and at the price of other operating systems to drive them out of the market.
It's still anti-competitive. It's still MS.
ws
So does Anonymous Coward have good karma?
What advantage would Windows 7 starter offer over Ubuntu Netbook Remix?
Familiarity. More applications designed for Windows with which users are already familiar run under Windows 7 than under Wine, albeit not at the same time. In a lot of vertical markets, there often just isn't an equivalent Linux app.
I can still compile and run unix apps written 20 years ago on linux today. Can you say that for running a win32 app on Windows 3.0?
No , didn't think so.
It seems that netbooks are the primary excuse for pushing this - "most people won't need to run more than 3 apps on a netbook" - or something to that effect. In many cases, the only significant difference between today's 'netbooks' and my 6-year-old laptop is size and weight. I can tell you that I regularly run more than 3 apps on my old laptop.
Granted, I wouldn't want to be writing code or documents on the tiny screen & keyboard of a netbook. However, I don't think it's reasonable to dictate what I can do with my computer based on it's physical dimensions. I could easily find 4 things for my computer to do that don't require lots of typing/reading.
Just my $0.02. I won't be affected by this anyway, since I just wouldn't buy a machine with that version of Windows (or of course I'd just install Linux).
Lulz!
Get out.
You know MacOS started out that way, right?
The original MacOS didn't have any app-level multitasking, not even "cooperative" multitasking. The first hints of being able to run more than one app at once came with the "Switcher" program by Andy Hertzfeld in 1985, which let you run... two. You could install MultiFinder in MacOS 5, and it was bundled with MacOS 6.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiFinder
Now, back in the "one or few apps" days on the Macintosh, there was a need for little widget-like mini-apps that could be run without exiting the current app. The calculator was one, and an alarm clock was another one. They were called "desk accessories". I would bet that Windows 7 includes something like this, and that the app limit doesn't apply to them. And as a result, I would bet developers start cramming more and more functionality into them, exactly as occurred under MacOS in the 80s.
When they're done "rising" I hope they sell some cars. So far, not so much.
You are welcome on my lawn.
CreateRemoteThread, for the longest time the love child of malware writers everywhere, will finally become essential for benign applications. explorer.exe can be hijacked to run more than just malware, I tell you! :)
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Yeah, but with Microsoft, they are doing this by making a deliberately crappy product. Everyone seems to defend MS by saying, "isn't that what every company wants/does?", but it's not the motives that piss people off so much, it's the actions.
The ends aren't the problem, it's the means.