Changes To Starter Edition

It’s been rumored all week but Microsoft has now finally made it official - there will be no three-application limit in the Windows 7 Starter edition. And rightly so, because this was one of the only aspects of Microsoft’s new operating system that appeared not to be getting a universal seal of approval.

Windows XP, still beloved by so many people, was the first Microsoft OS to get a Starter edition. This trend was then continued with Windows Vista, and will be again for Windows 7. However, something is changing in the Matrix this time around, with Microsoft confirming today that the limitation which means only 3 concurrent applications can run on a PC at a time has been dropped for the Windows 7 Starter edition.

Microsoft has made this significant change as a result of “feedback received from partners and customers.” Many of these are likely to be owners of small notebook PCs, now newly defined by Microsoft, who want the chance to run a version of Windows 7 which isn’t useless.

The three-app limitation may have been dropped, but the Windows 7 Starter edition is still going to be a cut-down version of the new OS. Which makes sense because otherwise everybody would go with the cheaper Starter edition over Home Premium and Professional.

What Windows 7 Starter doesn’t include, as detailed Brandon LeBlanc on the Windows Team Blog:

* Aero Glass, meaning you can only use the “Windows Basic” or other opaque themes.
* Personalization features for changing desktop backgrounds, window colors, or sound schemes.
* The ability to switch between users without having to log off.
* Multi-monitor support.
* DVD playback.
* Windows Media Center for watching recorded TV or other media.
* Remote Media Streaming for streaming your music, videos, and recorded TV from your home computer.
* Domain support for business customers.
* XP Mode for those that want the ability to run older Windows XP programs on Windows 7.

It’s important to remember however that all versions of Windows 7 will run on small notebooks, or netbooks as us normal folk call them. So if the above list contains one or more features you desperately want or need you’ll still have the opportunity to upgrade from Starter to one of the higher versions.

The Windows 7 Starter edition is expected to be priced much lower than any of the other versions, so the loss of the above features may be a good compromise for those on a budget. But the three-app limit would have dented Windows 7 sales on netbooks, especially when Windows XP and Linux offer legitimate alternatives.