Windows 7 Starter Edition — 3 Apps Only 695
CrustyFace writes "Cybernit reports that the Starter Edition version of Windows 7 will only allow the user to run 3 applications at once. Targeted at notebooks, this doesn't seem like such a bad limitation, however it is a bold move from Microsoft, and it will be interesting to see how the operating system sells."
Really? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:3 apps is more than enough. (Score:3, Interesting)
I was thinking along the same line
1) Web Browser
2) JAVA
3) Adobe FLASH (Sorry Silverlight)
Things have been moving in this direction for a while. Even the next version of MS Office is supposed to be a web app.
How long until the 3 app limit is cracked? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm guessing that a new 3rd party shell will be released within a month of Windows 7 that defeats this. Anyone want to take a wager on when or how this will be cracked?
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:4, Interesting)
They also had a "single window" mode in the OS X public beta way back when. It was quickly removed after user comments.
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Severe foot trauma (Score:3, Interesting)
However, this might be a good thing for gamers. If nothing else in the OS is crippled, this should work for gaming, which is the only thing I need Windows for anyway.
Re:Bad user experience, piracy or Linux will win o (Score:1, Interesting)
Application 1: Sandbox VMWare. Ah... so, run everything again.
The best part is... (Score:5, Interesting)
You know what the best part about this is? I DON'T CARE ONE BIT.
When I first read the title my instinct was to get angry. Then suddenly I felt a wave of calm come over me as I realized that I haven't relied on windows for 5 years now.
I simply just don't care any more.
Re:In other news (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Here's betting MS apps won't count (Score:5, Interesting)
That is esentially the administrator password recovery tool.
Use "at" to schedule explorer to run. Kill explorer, wait 1 minute and yippy, you have explorer with system credentials(higher than admin).
Is Malware an app? (Score:3, Interesting)
You left out malware. Does malware count as an app? If so, three pieces of malware can prevent you from using any apps.
If regedit.exe counts as an app, you won't be able to clean out the malware either. I think I'll stick with Jaunty.
Re:How long until the 3 app limit is cracked? (Score:1, Interesting)
Long ago.
You can work around it by launching apps like this from the command prompt:
C:\> write & "x:\path\to\app1" & "x:\path\to\app2" ... & "x:\path\to\appN"
Note: 'write' should be first in the list.
Apps launched from within another application (installers, for e.g.) do not count towards this limit.
Apps launched from the system notification area (system tray) do not count towards this limit.
These exclusions to the 3 apps limit are for compatibility reasons.
Re:What constitues an app? (Score:3, Interesting)
Antivirus is excluded [pcpro.co.uk] from the app count.
How does the operating system determine what is antivirus software? Does antivirus software have to have a Windows Logo Program signature in order not to count as an application? That would appear to exclude Free antivirus software such as ClamWin.
Agreed, especially on HOSTS file & other issue (Score:1, Interesting)
"Why are they deliberately fucking up their OS?" - by Jurily (900488) on Tuesday April 21, @10:58AM (#27660585)
Per my subject-line? Agreed, 110%, & wondering WHY on that note, myself.. especially in regards to these 2 issues in Windows VISTA, Server 2008, & yes, Windows 7:
----
1.) The issue with HOSTS files involves EFFICIENCY more than security though!
See - in removing (after the 12/2009 Patch Tuesday update) the ability to use 0 as a valid blocking IP address in a HOSTS file (vs. the larger & slower 0.0.0.0, & worse still the default 127.0.0.1 loopback adapter address)? MS made a blunder on disk, & made things less efficient in HOSTS files, since the filemass is now larger & WILL be slower to read thru, as well as not being able to 'pack' as many entries into a tinier filespace to read them up from.
(THUS, MS is contributing to inefficiency & yes, "bloat", in doing this latter one...)
AND, FOR ANOTHER?
2.) THE REMOVAL OF THE PORT FILTERING GUI FRONT-END CONTROLS in VISTA &/or Windows 7, for one thing - Port filtering functions perfectly operating simultaneously alongside software firewalls, & IP Security Policies
(All 3 security "filters" for IP here, run FINE together, even w/ a NAT true stateful packet inspecting "firewalling" router, for example)
They do so in a layered security manner, just like door handle locks (firewall), deadbolt locks (port filters), & chain locks (IP Security policies) do...
(I.E.-> Take 1 of those 3 layers down (which is what many malware seek to do, right away)? The others are STILL IN THE WAY, since they all operate via diff. drivers on DIFF. LEVELS of the IP stack...!)
Thus, SPECIFICALLY on this latter point of contention?
Well, I'll now note how:
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1.) TCP/IP packet processing paths differences between in how Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003 did it (via IPSEC.SYS (IP Security Policies), IPNAT.SYS (Windows Firewall), IPFLTDRV.SYS (Port Filtering), & TCPIP.SYS (base IP driver) worked, in a "zone defense/phalanx" like defense)...
2.) AND, how VISTA/Server 2008/Windows 7 do it now currently, using a SINGLE layer (WFP)...
----
First off, Here is HOW it worked in Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003 - using 3 discrete & different drivers AND LEVELS/LAYERS of the packet processing path they worked in:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb878072.aspx [microsoft.com]
The Cable Guy - June 2005: TCP/IP Packet Processing Paths
====
The following components process IP packets:
IP forwarding Determines the next-hop interface and address for packets being sent or forwarded.
TCP/IP filtering Allows you to specify by IP protocol, TCP port, or UDP port, the types of traffic that are acceptable for incoming local host traffic (packets destined for the host). You can configure TCP/IP filtering on the Options tab from the advanced properties of the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) component in the Network Connections folder.
Filter-hook driver A Windows component that uses the filter-hook API to filter incoming and outgoing IP packets. On a computer running Windows Server 2003, the filter-hook driver is Ipfltdrv.sys, a component of Routing and Remote Access. When enabled, Routing and Remote Access allows you to configure separate inbound and outbound IP packet filters for each interface using the Routing and Remote Access snap-in. Ipfltdrv.sys examines both local host and transit IP traffic (packets not destined for the host).
Firewall-hook driver A Windows component that uses the firewall-hook API to examine incoming and outgoing packets. On a computer running Windows XP, the firewall-hook driver is Ipnat.sys, which is shared by both Internet Connection Sharing
Re:I suppose (Score:2, Interesting)
What if I just lower its priority way down?
Re:Bad user experience, piracy or Linux will win o (Score:2, Interesting)
It's about market segmentation.
Let's say a normal Windows license costs $50 [arstechnica.com]. XP costs $15 [wsj.com] and they want to get rid of it. Hence Windows 7 Starter Edition.
The idea is that most netbook customers won't mind the 3 app limit. Or maybe they will and they will upgrade.
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:1, Interesting)
same phone, same results, no fud
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:1, Interesting)
you just have to find the right task manager solution for you I Personally prefer quick menu you cam set it so that the X actually closes programs rather than minimizing them I personally prefer the one tap to minimize function and have it set to hold to close app
just look around you can find a task manager to make your phone more effective at multi tasking or in some cases NOT multi tasking.
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:3, Interesting)
Windows Mobile seems to be one of those really weird things. I consider myself a techie, and I've had endless problems everytime I try and use one. My stepfather has fairly minimal technical knowledge but he's able to use it flawlessly, keep everything synchronised with ActiveSync (which has never once run successfully for me!) and even has no trouble installing new programs like MemoryMap.
I've had to get him to fix mine before and he managed it in two minutes. For absolutely everything else technical, he's the one asking me for help.
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:3, Interesting)
was that a typo, "I get over 2 days with the extended battery with normal use." because it looks like you said you purchased an extra large battery and with just normal use only get 2 days on a charge. Do they really sell phones which only have a 1 day usage capability on the standard battery? ouch.
This reminds me of the old Compaq iPaq running Windows CE. I saw vendors showing their apps on the thing but to be useful, they needed to snap on this huge battery and expansion pack on the back. The thing looked like the original cellphone brick it was so big and heavy.
LoB
Re:Biased Article (Score:3, Interesting)
This other article... just kind of smacked of Stockholm Syndrome.
I mean, yes, point made, it's not completely unusable. It's still a really weird restriction, and still looks very much like it could lead to more Web-based app usage, rather than desktop app usage -- which isn't really in Microsoft's best interests.
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:4, Interesting)
Like most Apple devices, the iPhone is designed as an "appliance". It does what it does, no more and only in the way Apple designed it to do it. It's like a fridge or a TV. When you want some new feature, you chuck it and buy a new one.
Geeks may love it but it wasn't designed for them.
Re:Bad user experience, piracy or Linux will win o (Score:3, Interesting)
This means you might be able to hide applications in the tray using TrayIt or something, but only 3 can be unhidden at a time.
Or, most likely, this feature will end up just like every other artificial limitation: random groups of highly trained and motivated people will compete to see who can fix it first. And, like always, they will succeed within a day of release.
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps more importantly to most users:
Let's say you have 2 viruses and 1 piece of spyware running on your computer, does it prevent you from launching the applications you actually want to use... Like the malware removal tool?
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:3, Interesting)
I was issued an i760 at work. I gave it up and went back to a Motorola w385 flip phone since I had poor coverage at my house, and the battery died in less than a day. My flip phone goes about 5-6 days between charges.
Re:In other news (Score:1, Interesting)
Yes, it involves writing a kernel space driver that remaps part of the system services table such that for example, memory allocation is not allowed. Which means you get to do fun passing of program names between user and kernel space, in order to calculate a hash of the program and verify it's okay before telling the driver to let the real memory call go through. I've programmed this before, and it's not fun, better to just run a true embedded environment.
Re:You must mean the iPhone (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree wholeheartedly. I've switched to linux a million times now and I keep falling back to the ever stable, ever reliable windows xp. I never dreamed that I would make this statement 10 years ago, but I have had about 0 problems with XP. Ever since service pack 2, XP has been rock solid. Its been a long, long time since I've seen a blue screen. I can't even remember. Maybe over a year ago. I was all excited about Ubuntu 9.04, so I downloaded the release candidate and tried a wubi install inside my windows partition. Usually this option works great, but not this time. It seems my generic Athlon 64 motherboard won't boot 9.04. Amazing. (It seems USB related) I finally dicked around and got it to boot (exit busy box after everything times out) and now it doesn't see my virtual partition on the windows drive. Lovely. It wants to install to the first primary partition on the first drive in the chain by default. If I didn't know what I was doing I could have easily installed over my windows partition (or attempted to at least). I'll take it as a sign. No Photoshop CS3? No lightroom? No reason or live? I can run mozilla and the gimp in windows too. In fact, there is better quality free software on windows than linux and a great deal more of it too. I don't want to turn this into a troll (I know I'm on the edge here), but when my ATI card can't even get accelerated 3d at a basic level its kind of hard to see the appeal. (was looking foward to the new drivers too) A lot of this crap would have been perfectly acceptable in 1994, but its going on 2010 and when I plug something in, I really expect it to work without pissing around with it for 3 days and finding the magic keywords on google that will hunt down that one post on that one obscure bulletin board that will magically fix my problem. Sorry. To get back ontopic....
Its amazing that M$ would even consider selling such a neutered OS still. Look at what the OEMs are paying for a license (they won't tell you, people would be outraged) and look at what you pay when you walk into Best Buy and pick up a copy of ultimate. What the hell ever happened to the simple Home/Corporate ideology of XP? Like for instance vista ultimate is $319 versus Home premium at $239 with surprisingly Vista Business being the cheapest out of the 3 at $200. The cheapest dell right now is like $350 with vista home premium. So what is dell paying for the OEM license? $50? $70? I don't see how it could be more than $70. Why the hell do you have to pay $170 more at retail???? Talk about gouging. The best part of the OEM license is that it is totally not transferable. Want to install Vista on another machine, you need buy another license. This crap has to end. Consumers should at least have transferable rights to software.
Re:In other news (Score:2, Interesting)
> > is so carefully and explicitly restricted that consumers
> > interaction with it is limited to attempting to install it
>
> Until a few months ago, I thought this was how Gentoo was designed.
I haven't installed Gentoo for a few years now, but I seem to recall its being pretty easy on the whole, certainly a good deal easier than any of the BSDs at the time. (This was back before Ubuntu existed, when Gentoo was still the hot new distro all the cool kids were trying. Some of the BSDs have since made the install process somewhat easier than it used to be, but at the time, in order to install them, you pretty much needed several months of experience using BSD so that you could understand its way of doing things in order to be able to understand the install documentation and complete the installation procedure. If you didn't understand the ins and outs of manually creating disklabels, you were sunk.)