Windows 7 Starter Edition Limited to Three Applications
According to PC Pro, Microsoft will be releasing a "Starter" edition of their upcoming operating system Windows 7 and it will be specifically aimed at Netbooks such as the Samsung NC10.
It will also be limiting end users to only three concurrently running applications which is odd. I know Netbooks are slower than laptops but, they can definitely run more than that simultaneously.
I can also guess people will also be running more than three applications anyway excluding the essential security applications such as antivirus. Typical selection while working and online for me would be...
- BitTorrent.
- Media Player.
- Browser.
- Archiving Utility.
- PDF Reader.
- Word processor.
- Graphics package.
I suppose for the mobile casual user, the list could probably be cut down to just the browser, word processor and a media player, though.
For those of you interested and haven't already tried Microsoft's new operating system, you can download a free copy that will expire August this year. Note that it's still in its beta testing stages but is quite stable.
I haven't really tried installing it on my netbook yet or spent much time using it on my main machine but, it appears to be more responsive than Vista and less hard disk thrashing even with the indexing and Superfetch services enabled. The new taskbar is also very handy to navigate when you've got lots of windows open and grouped together.
Even Paint has got a face lift with the new Ribbon bar introduced in Office 2007.
Cubed2D
Xcomp Author
Interesting note about the specs... I had kind of wondered why they were all so similar!
I'm pretty sure the current Netbooks will drop in price too as soon as Intel launches the duo core versions. I know the screen res is at 1024x600 at the moment but, it would still be great to be able to watch 720p videos on them at least while on the move. Could always plug them into an HDTV too.
Cubed2D
it does run really well, bar a few bits of samsung software not working 100% out of the box (hopefull samsung will fix this when win 7 is properly released) a few recomendations
- if you plan to install the beta, your going to need a 4gb memory stick. google to find out how to make it bootable.
- try pulling the taskbar o the left of the screen, takes a while to get used to but you get alot more vertical screen res. its a little more bulky. some people have made it autohide, but im not a fan.
-http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2009/01/windows-7-on-the-samsung-nc10-netbook/ this blog entry has a good list of drivers and suchlike.
they seem to have had a shake up of how the different editions are going to be avalible, i currently only run 2 app on my nc10 at any one time, and i suspect the adverage user wont be impacted, if they are any time ugrade is there and works well, i see what there saying with the high end netbook thing. i expect we will see cheap notebooks similar in hardware specs to the current crop shiping with starter, and ones useing newer hardware to ship with home. as it is, the netbook licece for windows xp limits the hardware to a single core, 1.6ghz processor and a gig of ram (from memory, cant be arsed to find a link). thats basicly why every netbook has the same hardware. this should acttualy help diversify the market, and allow for better netbooks in the longrun.