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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."
In response to the announcement of Microsoft's innovative 3-application limit, Apple corporation has said it will release a version of OS X that will allow only one application to run at a time, but in a more friendly and artistically enhanced environment than Windows Reduced Vista(tm.) Apple announced the special version late Sunday evening, at a special event entitled "You're the One." Steve Jobs emerged from his semi-retirement to explain how Apple's invention of this one-to-one relationship between users and applications would "revolutionize computing." Jobs stated that the new OS would also herald a return to the one-button mouse, single monitors, and Apple's new "One-at-a-time" network stream technologies.
Overnight, the Linux community, leveraging its well known security advantages and high speed development based upon open source and developers active in all time zones at once, has released a beta of "Linux Zero", which they claim is the most secure operating system in the world, and the least confusing, by virtue of its enforcement of zero applications running. Linux authority Linus Torvalds said "if an application can't run, it can't bring worms or viruses into the system. In addition, user interaction is now limited to pressing the power button." Waxing optimistic, he went on to say that "We think even Windows users can learn to do this." He told this reporter "In fact, the price is zero, too!"
An unconfirmed rumor also developed this weekend of an OS that is so carefully and explicitly restricted that consumers interaction with it is limited to attempting to install it; as the rumor goes, completing the installation requires permissions that users simply do not have available to them. Such an operating system would provide the ultimate consumer safety net. When asked to comment, both Jobs and Torvalds derided the rumor as being propaganda. Both OS mavens insisted that technology wasn't up to such a challenge yet. The rumor, however, persists.
When contacted by the press for comments on these new developments, Intel explained that multi-core processors were designed specifically for reduced application counts. It is only now that the leading OS manufacturers are revealing their deep strategies for the decade of 2010 that Intel is able to comment on the real rationale for multiple cores. Technical Leader Sanji Ramahasmiran" laid out several reasons why systems with few- or single-application loads would benefit directly from multiple cores. He said "Our new 8-core dies will allow switching the same single task cyclically from one core to another, thus reducing the activity levels to 1/8th that of single-core designs and operating in a greener fashion, contributing less to global warming, and simplifying programmer APIs in any properly designed operating system."
Simply as a personal observation, I always enjoy seeing how competition ensures that corporations compete for the marketplace by leveraging their core competencies and working to out-do one another. The end users always benefit. No matter who your favorite OS manufacturer is, the industry finds a way to work to bring you the latest developments. Isn't technology wonderful?
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
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
Sadly, I cannot follow the link from here at work: but my first question is "what's an app?" Make it too broad and your anti-virus and IM client leave you with only one. Make it to narrow and it's an easy to circumvent limitation
This is not new, this version was announced pre-beta when MS first unveiled the different versions that were coming down the pipe.
should be enough for any Dell.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
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.
This is the most useless thing I ever heard of... It's like selling an incomplete OS...
one of them will be the System Idle process. Naturally. That's the one that hogs 98% almost all the time.
Todos mis movimientos están friamente calculados
Really, nowadays you can do practically everything with just your browser. It's the new emacs.
This isn't newsworthy. Starter Edition, ever since its inception, has had a 3 app limit.
Why are we wasting time on this again?
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
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$oft!
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/09/1348255&from=rss
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
Why are they deliberately fucking up their OS? Don't they have enough competition? If so, bring in the anti-trust people, or fire the department responsible for this kind of brain-damage.
To compete with Linux on netbook market (and other markets where the cost has to be very low), while still providing some added value for their other editions.
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
Would Chrome be limited to two tabs? (One for the host window, two and three for the first two tabs.)
Chrome and Firefox count as 4 applications each, and thus can't run.
"You can have the friking useless edition for 40$. Or, you can be a premium user of the Shiny Platinum Standard Edition VIP for 150$.
Yes, we understand it's a bit expensive, but you're buying the PSS Edition VIP, what did you expect?".
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
There, you've used up your allotment of three apps.
You'll get people here saying 3 apps is enough for any one (is enough for any one should raise alarms) but if Microsoft is banking on this limited OS against Linux, ARM CPUs and any cost and power advantages they offer in the market I see problems for them.
Cause Microsoft fanbois still think this is a myth.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
This article is basically a two paragraph summary of something I would expect to hear from a hysterical spitting nerd who hadn't showered for three days standing outside of a Gamestop. (Or in a Digg summary)
"Windows Home Basic OMG! Such shite! Install linux!"
I'm actually kind of offended it got posted. Plus also, it's already been discussed ad nauseam.
Send me to troll hell, but you know it's true.
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
Now I'm not an M$ fanboy so save your trolling, but TFA is clearly biased and written badly. Thankfully there's a link to a better article hidden in there somewhere, and I suggest people read it before they post or judge.
You can advertise in this sig from as little as £99.99 a month!
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.
>Why are they deliberately fucking up their OS?
A question asked by many ever since Windows ME.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Most of these question are answered in an article that this (poorly written and biased) one links to. I suggest you check it out. It's the zdnet.com one about half way down the page.
You can advertise in this sig from as little as £99.99 a month!
I'm guessing that a new 3rd party shell will be released within a month of Windows 7 that defeats this. Anyone want to take a wager on when or how this will be cracked?
moox. for a new generation.
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.
I am using beta Windows 7 CXP (Crippled Experience) so applications are defined by items in taskbar. I can't tell more because they also limited per app keystro
839*929
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=844
Here are some selected quotes:
"you can open as many windows as you want from a single program. So if you want to open 15 tabs in your browser, six images in your photo-editing program, and a couple of instant messenger windows, you can do it."
"Windows Explorer windows don't count."
"Basic Windows tools don't trigger the limit. You can run a Command Prompt window or open Task Manager"
"Antivirus programs that run as a system service don't count."
"In short, when I used this system as a netbook, it worked just fine. On a netbook, most of the tasks you're likely to tackle are going to take place in a browser window anyway."
"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."
FORWARD! INTO THE PAST!!!
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
posted on /. a while ago. It's also up to OEM's if they offer this or or Windows 7 Home Premium. How many times will this story be posted to Slashdot? The last one was in February. Editors, surely you would have known something like this was posted before, with a better article.
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
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.
Um, where are you getting that? TFA explicitly states that it's targeted at developing nations--places where XP Starter with the same 3-app limit have been sold for years. Microsoft never said that Starter was intended for netbooks, either--that was mostly just speculation by the media.
You know what the best part about this is? I DON'T CARE ONE BIT.
When I first read the title my instinct was to get angry. Then suddenly I felt a wave of calm come over me as I realized that I haven't relied on windows for 5 years now.
I simply just don't care any more.
Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
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?
Linux could only dream of the sales numbers this "POS" will have. P is punky, not piece.
It doesn't matter really if the buyer puts win7 warez edition on after he buys it since MS already got $25 from him. This also, and perhaps primarily, gets the OEMs to not even consider Linux on the OEM's bottom-tier line.
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?
"We'll also continue to offer Windows Starter edition, which will only be offered pre-installed by an OEM. Windows Starter edition will now be available worldwide. This edition is available only in the OEM channel on new PCs limited to specific types of hardware."
From Microsoft's press release.
Windows 7 twitter edition?
All documents limited to 140 characters.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
If I try to run more than 3 apps under Vista, I run out of memory.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Linux is free :)
and many people actually want to use it.
They're using their grammar skills there.
I used site:microsoft.com just to get it right from the horse's mouth...
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/feb09/02-03netbooksqa.mspx
For OEMs that build lower-cost small notebook PCs, Windows 7 Starter will now be available in developed markets.
That is esentially the administrator password recovery tool.
Use "at" to schedule explorer to run. Kill explorer, wait 1 minute and yippy, you have explorer with system credentials(higher than admin).
You can't legislate goodness. Let each to his own destiny, by will of his freely made choices.
This will likely be the most secure and stable version yet. Running only 3 apps will reduce opportunities for BSOD. If trojans, malware, and viruses are considered applications, then they can't run due to the 3 app rule. Sounds like a stroke of genious!
"You can't really dust for vomit" --Nigel Tufnel
You left out malware. Does malware count as an app? If so, three pieces of malware can prevent you from using any apps.
If regedit.exe counts as an app, you won't be able to clean out the malware either. I think I'll stick with Jaunty.
"Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
If you go by processes, a very fundamental design difference between Windows and Linux begins to show. In Windows, processes do not have parents. If one process spawns another, they are always peers.
This is absolutely 100% incorrect. Try loading up Windows task manager sometime. Right-click on a process. See that item called "end process tree"? Use Process Explorer if you want to see a graph.
Why is it that so many Linux fanboys make up limitations of Windows that don't exist? It's not necessary - there are enough real flaws in the Windows user-land to gripe about. The Windows NT kernel, on the other hand, is actually well designed and executed.
You can find the answer to most of your questions from the people who have tested the thing: Living with the limits of Windows 7 Starter Edition
Yeah, we know this... ..as we know nobody uses it. I never spotted a single copy of it.
http://www.gigaslax.com/
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.
Well, you completely missed the joke there, but I'll try to make helpful response. Chrome uses one process per tab. IE8 uses a single process and separates tabs into threads of the process. It seems that Starter Edition is basing this on the number of "applications" based on what shows up under "Applications" tab in Task Manager. So Chrome and IE should each only be counted as a single application toward the limit.
Someone else mentioned using tray apps that hide applications in the system tray instead of in the task bar to circumvent the limitation. I suspect that might work if it also removes it from the "Applications" tab of Task Manager.
Said, "It's just like dice but it's got more sides And it tells me who lives and who dies"
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's a headache in the making.
Take various printer drivers that come with their own application (ok, service with systray icon). Does it count? nVidia graphics manager, does it count? Cell sync software, what about that? WiFi connection manager? Various auto-updater, from Java to RealPlayer to Adobe Acrobat Reader, which tend to run all the time without the average user even noticing. If you have a notebook, what about fingerprint reader software and various other "half way essential" systray crap that makes your hardware work decently (I'm not even counting the proprietary "updaters" or "quick launch applications" various notebook, and other, vendors bundle with their stuff).
What gets counted as "application"? Only programs that create a window, only when they actually do so?
Phew. At least malware will still run fine...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
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...
Like the Universal Netbook Installer? Plug in your thumb drive, select a linux distro, and the program downloads the image, and copies it to your usb stick. Reboot your computer, and install.
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).
I've got a netbook, which gets used heavily as an ultraportable machine. As long as you're sensible, it's fine. It's far from unusual for it to be running: ...and I'm already over the limit while very plausibly doing a single task (albeit not a typical one for a netbook, but one that is surprisingly usable from experience). I'm working on some graphics software at present - perhaps I'm checking something in Paintshop Pro or similar. I use the Windows calculator a lot (lazy I know :-) - that would suddenly become unviable.
* Visual Studio
* OpenOffice showing some documentation or notes
* Web browser
* DB program of some description, usually SQLite Admin.
Why, why, why? Anyway, as has been pointed out, plenty of apps seem to have already found ways round this. Annoy your customers in their day-to-day use and they'll find ways to stop the annoyance - if that means you're creating a group motivated to hack your security, that's just a terrible idea.
Stay out of your users' way and let them work the way they want to. If I'm daft enough to want to try to host a commercial website or want to do serious software development on a netbook, that's my problem.
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
It's about market segmentation.
Let's say a normal Windows license costs $50. XP costs $15 and they want to get rid of it. Hence Windows 7 Starter Edition.
The idea is that most netbook customers won't mind the 3 app limit. Or maybe they will and they will upgrade.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
*Limit applies to non-Microsoft(TM) applications only. Please purchase and run all the MS stuff you desire.
Void where prohibited by European Union.
Artificial limitations like this seem to me to be an invitation for problems and end user frustration.
Given that this is designed for especially low-cost (and hence low-power) small notebook PCs, it may not really be an artificial limitation, but rather a valid means of managing extremely limited resources.
What is an application?
Ed Bott took it for a test drive and answered that question...
Are tool tray apps possible, or allowed?
Yes and yes. They don't count toward the 3 app limit.
What about apps that launch other apps as part of their functionality?
If they open multiple tabs (ex. Firefox, Internet Explorer) or windows (ex. Messenger), that's fine. If they launch completely separate applications, well, those would be completely separate applications.
Would Chrome be limited to two tabs? (One for the host window, two and three for the first two tabs.)
Nope.
Some other interesting details:
All in all, according to the ZDNet writer, "when I used this system as a netbook, it worked just fine".
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=844
Other users have posted this, and it gives some good information as to what is counted and what is not. Something that runs in the tray ("notification area") does not seem to count, but may when the window is launched. An example from the article is an antivirus app that runs in the tray. While in the tray, it works fine, but if you launch the main window for the application that window counts toward the limit. This means you might be able to hide applications in the tray using TrayIt or something, but only 3 can be unhidden at a time.
Said, "It's just like dice but it's got more sides And it tells me who lives and who dies"
I have a media player, an internet browser, an IM client AND my e-mail application open AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
I'M A POWER USER!!!!!!!!
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.
This means you might be able to hide applications in the tray using TrayIt or something, but only 3 can be unhidden at a time.
Or, most likely, this feature will end up just like every other artificial limitation: random groups of highly trained and motivated people will compete to see who can fix it first. And, like always, they will succeed within a day of release.
No, they'll make a special exception for trojans. They don't want to confuse their users with to different a user experience.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.