Microsoft has long hamstrung its Starter editions of Windows XP and Vista so that they only run three applications at a time (excluding things like background apps and Windows Explorer). However, this limit hurts users of netbooks and other low-power systems…and as those systems move to Windows 7, the three application limit was looking like more of a deal-breaker for the thin-margined netbook market.
Accordingly, Microsoft has announced that it will be removing the three-app-at-a-time restriction from Windows 7 Starter edition—users will be able to run as many applications as their processors and RAM will allow at the same time, so pulling up FireFox, Media Player, Live Messenger, and Notepad all at the same time will be do-able on netbooks and other low-end systems running Windows 7 Starter.
