Windows 7 Starter Edition will be the first “Starter” version of Windows to be available int he US. The reason? Netbooks. Microsoft is feeling pressure from the people making and selling low cost mini-laptops to offer a low cost version of Windows 7, even though the operating system was designed so that even the most advanced versions will run on computers with slow hardware like the Intel Atom processor.
But Microsoft is crippling Windows 7 in a number of ways in order to give consumers a reason to purchase upgrades or just pick up more expensive netbooks. One of the most widely criticized restrictions was the fact that Windows 7 Starter limited users to running no more than 3 applications simultaneously. But responding to that criticism, Microsoft has chosen to drop that restriction… while keeping a number of other limitations in place.