Windows 7 Starter Edition Three App Limit Axed?
But what about the wallpapers?
We really like the things that Microsoft has done to make Windows 7 efficient enough to allow it to run acceptably on most netbooks – something that we couldn’t say for Windows Vista.
As a lightweight solution for netbooks, Microsoft has been selling Windows XP licenses to go along with the hardware. That won’t be happening as often after the release of Windows 7, as everyone will be pushing the newer OS.
In an effort to keep costs low and to manufacture different product tiers, Microsoft has said that it will make Windows 7 Starter Edition the cheap solution for low-cost PCs, including netbooks. Windows 7 Starter Edition will be held back with a three-app limit, which as the name suggests, allows at most only three applications to be open at once. (Click here to read more on the limitation.)
According to a blog report from long-time Windows tech journalist Paul Thurrott, Microsoft will remove the three-application limitation from Windows 7 Starter Edition.
Exclusive: Microsoft to remove 3 app limit from Windows 7 Starter
No word yet on whether the other lame limitation--the bizarre inability to change the desktop wallpaper--will be fixed as well. To be honest, this is a bigger issue than the 3 app limit, which sounds horrible but doesn't actually come up all that often if at all.
We haven’t heard this information from any other sources; but if true, Microsoft has some thinking to do on how to differentiate (i.e., cripple) a cheap version of Windows to still attract users to pay up for an upgrade.

Typo?
Either way, this won't affect me. I don't buy netbooks, and I'll most likely get Home Premium of Windows 7 anyway
people will use the features they need...there are a lot features i don't want but would have to pay for in order to get what i truly want. bs if you ask me.
Also limit the number of useable cores. A nice new quad-core won't do anygood if the OS only uses two of them.
I mean, the whole goal is to stop people from using start edition with a bigger, more powerful machine, right? Why not limit the OS to small and crappy, virtually?
It would have been the perfect virus protection. Simply always run 3 programs you know.
Limitations are to be expected when it simply doesn't have the muscle.
Click where? That's not a link.
The boost in RAM is really desired. The loss in HD space isn't that important. Most 1,8" HD/SSD's are below 200GB anyways. Most processors in cheap mini notebooks are below 2 cores / 1core + HT anyways.
But most mininotebooks get equipped with 2GB of RAM.
If you know that the minimum recommended to run Windows 7 without any additional software installed is 786MB of RAM, I don't think the extra 128MB of ram can suffice for Internet explorer 8, MS Office, Anti-virus/firewall/popup blocker, Adobe pdf reader, compression agent, etc...
A lot of these programs are run on mini notebooks.
You also need to know mini notebooks often use shared ram. Win 7 needs a min of 32Megs of shared ram. To work optimally 128MB is needed for aero.
In other words, Win7 out of the box will work fine with 1GB of ram, but don't expect many programs to run fine with that low amount of RAM!
I would opt again for 2GB of RAM, which is more important than the processor speed or disk space!
Besides, with nowadays hardware there are no energy efficient processors like the Atom running on 2GHz. 1,8Ghz is about the limit.
This is what M$ should do to get away from making win7 upgrade versions.
It's called capturing all the different market segments with a product still from you. It's a very common business practice for a company to release a high end, mainstream, then low-end part. In hardware we call it binning. In software they call it "scaling down" or limiting features, if you will. The tri-core AMD processors are quad cores, but one core is disabled. Even though this has practical reasons, such as preventing one defective core from wasting an otherwise flawless CPU, it also captured AMD market share in the mid-low segment. MS wants a cheap product to compete with the Linux netbooks, and possibly those who buy a 'nix netbook and throw a pirated copy of Win 7 on it. Now OEMs and home builders can get a cheap version of Windows to go with their cheap computers. No longer do they have to buy Home Basic or Premium and get a lot of features they don't need. They can buy the cheapo starter edition with more limitations, and save themselves some money, as well as have a quicker OS install and less headaches, maintenance, and software troubleshooting on a platform that has very little profit margin ... case in point: the netbook.
And to Elbert .... Win 7 starter doesn't NEED XP mode. Why the HELL do you need XP for surfing the web or looking at pictures? Windows 7, Vista, Linus, whatever OS does just fine. If MS can release a cheap OS to replace XP on netbooks, than at the very least our end user cost will stay the same, and Win 7 and XP run similar performance-wise on similar hardware. MS's operating costs will only increase if they have to increase support on Windows 7 and still support new XP computer products. To keep clinging to XP is STUPID STUPID STUPID. Do you want prices to go UP??? If Dell releases a new netbook with Windows 7, and sells netbooks and notebooks with Vista, netbooks also with Linux, and continues to sell netbooks (which account for a very large and growing number of PC sales today) with XP, look at all the different platforms they have to support now.
Get over it, XP zealots. I loved XP as much as the next man, but we've got to move on. XP needs to be phased out, because the new OS's aren't going away. We need to transition the product to the newer, more recent software or support is going to be a financial and logistical nightmare, and our costs will never go down if we keep it up.
Learn to read and you want be so stupid stupid stupid. I said
I did not say started needed XPM so you just assumed. Home versions do need XPM as they need to run all the old app, games, and ect. I'm not going to pay out for a OS just to turn around and pay out more for windows 7 compatible programs I need.