Rumors were floating around for some time that Microsoft may have made the decision to remove the three applications limit of Windows 7 Starter editions. This limit restricted the number of applications a user could run at the same time in the edition. They did receive lots of bad PR on the subject even though background processes were exempt from the limit and tests showed that the limit was rarely a concern in day to day usage. We called it the biggest complaint about Windows 7 back then.
Yesterday Microsoft announced that they removed the three application limit from the Windows 7 Starter edition. Windows 7 Starter will still be a limited edition compared to the retail editions such as Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional.
It 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.
