As was reported here on Neowin, there was speculation that Microsoft were planning to remove the application limit on Windows 7 Starter Edition.According to The Windows Blog, Microsoft have confirmed that the "3 applications at a time" limit that hobbled earlier versions of the Starter Edition has been removed for Windows 7. Now the only effective limit on the number of programs you can run concurrently is set by the amount of your memory.
Windows 7 Starter Edition will have other limits, however, in order to differentiate it from other versions of the OS.
"Windows 7 Starter does not include:
* Aero Glass, meaning you can only use the "Windows Basic" or other opaque themes. It also means you do not get Taskbar Previews or Aero Peek.
* 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."
These limits are, for the most part, not technical ones, but rather they are designed to encourage people to upgrade their netbooks to other versions of Windows 7, which, according to The Windows Blog, are all optimised to work on any hardware--from netbooks up to powerful gaming systems.
Someone needs to brush up on their marketing.
Windows XP didn't come with DVD playback either. You had to install a DVD decoder in order for Windows Media Player to be able to play a DVD. So it's a non-issue.
So... it's not a problem anyway right?
But yeah, 3rd party DVD progs will work just fine. BTW: What netbook HAS a DVD player in it? lol.
starter edition will be mostly for netbooks, netbooks don't have optical drives, so why would you need dvd playback
We'll probably see a few upper end netbooks with Windows 7 Home Premium as well.
So this is excused by XP being released in completely different times having no DVD playback?
But why is it not included?
It's uncommon, yes, but ASUS has an Eee PC for this, and who knows how many on the horizon?
I still think artificial limitations like these are silly in 2009. Sure if it was an emerging technology, but come on... DVD's?
But why is it not included?
No need for it? If an OEM wants to include a DVD drive and playback they can either use a 3rd-party decoder or just not use Starter Edition.
lol
people complained about not being able to switch the wallpaper and stuff...
think of a cheap cellphone which has the carriers branding on screen all the time, maybe thats analogous to this version of windows
EXCELLENT analogy.
I'm just glad they listened to us and got rid of the 3 application limit.
Sigh, I don't like it when companies make ****ty products but if they get their act together, don't hold their previous actions against them.
There'll be performance junkies who just love this.
if you can find a copy installed on anything resembling a gaming system... starter is supposed to be OEM only
The long-and-short of it is "they need a $15 version of windows for HP and Asus and Acer to put on $200 netbooks, but they can't make it appealing enough for OEMs to install on anything bigger."
What they should do is just change the way they price it to large OEMs -- rather than a fixed cost per license, charge a flat x% of the retail price of the machine.
Then they don't have to cripple the version on the $200 netbooks, but they'll still make more money on the copy going on the $2,000 'extreme gamer' machine.
What they should do is just change the way they price it to large OEMs -- rather than a fixed cost per license, charge a flat x% of the retail price of the machine.
Congrats. That might be the smartest criticism I've seen yet.
Even so, you've got a point.
I can see the no DVD playback, however though the no change desktop that does not make sense.
I can see limiting the themes and the NO Frills.
I can even see them making the watermark (version number) always visible to remind you that it is starter maybe even make that bright red.
I could even see them not allowing the change of the login screen with a background that says Starter Edition and a recommendation to upgrade to a better version.
I could even see them placing links in your start menu to anytime upgrade that the user can't remove (but give them an exit point to close it if accidentally clicked)
Really- I think one guys comment on how Win9x (95,98,ME) has more than what this edition could.
Not being able to change the desktop image makes no sense at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_edi...omparison_chart
Then maybe a layman? Wazz he gonna do with it? "Basic things, like web browsing and personal productivity"! There you go! Now you don't need to Aero Peek, you'll never come across the problem to watching a DVD 'cause your netbook doesn't have a slot where it can go in, and you don't know how to change a wallpaper. All issues solved.
Unless... Unless you're one of Ryan's Guinea pigs on whose systems he's put on the Win7 Ultimate RC and introduced you to all the jazz. That'd be sad.
Don't most people with netbooks watch movies on them? the people I know that have them use them a good deal for this function while traveling actually. I guess you can use 3rd party software, but this seems like a rather odd limitation? I guess it's tied into Media Center in some way maybe?
Don't most people with netbooks watch movies on them? the people I know that have them use them a good deal for this function while traveling actually. I guess you can use 3rd party software, but this seems like a rather odd limitation? I guess it's tied into Media Center in some way maybe?
Microsoft has to pay rotalties and such to put that feature into a version of windows. So by making starter edition not have it it can reduce the price
This whole this is a joke.
I doubt it, as it clearly runs faster/better than XP on my 5 year old laptop with 1Gb ram.
Check it out:
http://blog.mattatobin.com/2009/06/09/wind...sic-theme.binoc
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