I’ve seen some pretty well-written responses to Microsoft’s new operating system (Windows 7) and the starter edition’s limit of 3 applications open at a time. When I first heard this my reaction was “leave it to MS to try and screw everyone over again”. I’ve done a bit more reading on the subject since the announcement. I’m not sure I disagree with it anymore.
Let me start out by saying that I stopped using any Microsoft OS’s in my personal life last August when I finally reinstalled my HP notebook with Ubuntu Hardy Heron. The control over the OS wasn’t there for me, so I switched. The cost savings is nice too, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been using Windows since 3.1 for Workgroups and MSDOS before that. So my exposure to Microsoft products was pretty big.
I read Ed Bott’s post at ZDnet regarding the 3 application limit. Have a look for yourself, he goes into a great bit of detail regarding what exactly is counted against the 3-application rule with an end note stating that you should look to see if you are using a netbook or a notebook. If you view both of the definitions between the two you might see where I’m going with this. Just for argument’s sake, here’s another post that is not as in depth, but the opinion of the writer (Vivek Gite) is apparent.
Let’s face it, company’s are looking for any way they can to sell more product, right? I really hope you agree. Even the so-called “evil empire” needs to make a buck to stay in business. Netbooks are moving towards using primarily Linux installations as the default operating system. This is a market that Microsoft wants to get into.
My theory for the 3 application limit is most likely a quiet accepting of Microsoft that their OS is a bad memory manager. They aren’t limiting what programs you can run on the OS, just the number running concurrently. This OS version is designed to run on smaller, cheaper, SLOWER PC’s.
For those of you that choose to use Microsoft products, you should look at what you are getting for your money. As Ed mentioned, you can do pretty much anything you want somewhere online. Unless you have specific requirements in software, you can probably do it online, and for free. If you’d rather pay more for your computer and less for the software and OS running on it, get Linux. It really isn’t that hard to learn, and there are a LOT of resources online to learn it. For those of you that yell at Microsoft, I’m calling you out, do you still use Window’s and complain about it, if you do, shut up and switch, then at least you’re doing something about it. Always speak to companies with your wallet, not your mouth.
–dez
Resources:
See Also:
