Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 30 May 2009 16:59
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
Microsoft has finally confirmed its crazy 3-app limit idea is being
removed from Win 7 Starter Edition, now letting netbook owners run as
many apps as they want, but Microsoft’s mentality in still offering the
Starter Edition at all is still the real problem!
The 3-app limit Microsoft was going to impose on users of Windows 7 Starter Edition has finally – and officially – been dumped, according to Brandon LeBlanc from Microsoft’s Windows Blog, in a post entitled “
Let’s talk about Windows 7 Starter”.
While the app limit is now gone, plenty of other limits remain. There’s no DVD playback codecs, or Windows Media Center. There’s no ability to change the background, colours or sounds, you can’t turn Aero Glass, or use the Aero Peek or Taskbar Previews features, and a range of other things besides – but at least you can run more than three apps!
The growing popularity of Linux and the growing criticism of the app limit has clearly helped convince Microsoft to drop one of its artificial limitations, the rest of Starter Edition is still in limited ‘cripple’ mode.
The reason Microsoft puts hardware limitations on netbooks that can be sold with the Starter version is to protect sales of more expensive notebooks with more expensive versions of Windows 7, thus protecting Microsoft’s multi-tens of billions revenue stream, to which Windows still contributes around a third.
So, while netbooks are supposed to be able to run any version of Windows 7, according to Microsoft, Starter Edition only exists because Microsoft is forcing itself to offer it. I wonder how many at Microsoft wish it just wasn’t necessary but are being forced to go with the flow?
Consumers don’t want it, and computer manufacturers are being offered it in response to a demand for a cheaper version of Windows 7, said to be a lot more expensive than Windows XP Home on today’s netbooks.
Instead of just making Windows 7 Home Premium the standard baseline that all customers enjoy at a minimum, it chooses instead to cripple its software and extract more money from users later.
Why, Microsoft, why? Please read on to page 2…
