Windows 7 hobbled for netbooks

Microsoft is offering a hobbled version of Windows 7 for netbooks that will only run three applications at a time – though buyers will be able to pay for an upgrade.

The 'starter edition' will enable netbook vendors to offer the new Windows operating system, which could appear on new PCs as soon as October at a price that is competitive with a Linux machine, if not quite as cheap.

It might also head off the risk of some other operating system such as Linux or Android gaining critical mass in the emerging new truly portable formats.

Microsoft has just announced a 32 per cent drop in profits and its first ever fall in quarterly revenue. Its Windows business alone fell 16 per cent to $3.4bn.

Ironically, the fall would have been even worse but for sales of netbooks running Windows XP – mainstream support for which ended this month – according to executives quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

The three-apps limit on Windows 7 does not place a limit on the number of windows or tabs open within an application. Nor do anti-virus products running as a service.

But if you try to start a fourth major application you get a message warning that you have reached your limit.