To be fair and positive, Windows 7 Starter is what is says it is: a minimal, low-capability version of the Windows operating system. That said, in working with it on my various systems at home and at work, I’ve found myself wishing for things that it can’t provide. These include the following:

• Remote Desktop access: Windows 7 starter doesn’t support RDP so you can’t remote into a machine running this OS from another machine on the same (or a different) network. Alas, because that’s my preferred method to manage other machines on my network and requires MBWA (management by walking around) instead, I don’t like this as much as I could.
• Memory restrictions: I’m not sure if it’s the MSI mini-ITX motherboard I’m using or some combination of that hardware and the Windows 7 Starter OS, but even though I have 4 GB of RAM installed in my wife’s SFF PC, the OS reports that indeed 4 GB is installed, but that only 2 GB is usable. Everything I can find on Windows 7 Starter says it supports 4 GB RAM, but not on this setup. Of course, all the system requirements say that hardware configurations for Windows 7 pre-installed max out at 1 GB RAM (and I happily run 2 GB on both my Dell Mini 9 and Asus 1000HE). Go figure!
• No DVD playback built in: Sure, you can buy a decent DVD player on the cheap (or find something Open Source for free that works with Windows 7) but it always surprises me each and every time I try to play back a DVD on Windows 7 Starter and get the word that I can’t get there from here.

For me, of course, lack of remote management/access is the real killer and explains why I’ll be upgrading Dina’s system to Windows Home Premium as soon as I find some time (probably over the Christmas holidays). If you can live with those limitations, though, you’ll  find it pretty workable indeed.

PS: My son likes to play games on any free computer he can find these days (he’ll be six in February, so his appetite is still pretty tame). We also just ran into a problem with a cheapo game we got for him at half-price books on Friday: it would have required Windows XP Mode to work on her machine. And of course, Windows XP mode only runs on Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise. I can’t really count that against Windows 7 Starter, since it never promised anything close to meaningful VM support in the first place.

The new machine isn’t exactly a screamer (it scores a 2.4 on the Windows Experience) but it runs rings around the Eee 1000HE, thanks to a true dual-core CPU, not to mention a faster memory bus. It’s also the first system on which I’ve installed Windows 7 Starter Edition, and I’m starting to see why this is indeed a truly minimalist offering. That said, its lack of support for Windows Aero and other high-end graphics effects often associated with Vista and Windows 7 makes it much better suited for the system’s modest Intel 945 GM graphics, even on my wife’s Dell E228WFP monitor at its native 1,680×1,050 resolution.

I’ve run into some of Starter Edition’s limitations already, though, and expect to run into more:

1. No support for Remote Desktop Connections. I like to manage “other machines” on my network from my own desktop by setting up a remote desktop session on those units. Not with Starter Edition: though Remote Assistance can get through, it supports no RDP connections, incoming or outgoing.
2. No personalization features for desktop backgrounds, windows colors, sound schemes, and so forth.
3. No ability to switch among multiple logins: for User B to log on, User A must log off (or be forcibly logged off).
4. No support for multiple monitors.
5. No DVD playback.

I’m not sure any of this is a deal-breaker for my wife, except perhaps number 5 (she sometimes likes to watch DVDs while riding the stationary bike that’s next to her PC, but I think I can fix this by installing a third-party DVD playback program instead). It will be interesting to see how this goes, and to learn if she can live with this version, or whether I’ll end up installing Windows 7 Home Premium instead. As with many things Windows, only time will tell! If you’re thinking about installing it on corporate netbooks, however, you may want to think again: Windows 7 Starter Edition’s lack of support for domains (and Active Directory) will indeed be a deal-breaker on many if not most corporate networks.

Nevertheless, I’m pleased to report that on May 29, Windows 7 product manager Brandon LeBlanc posted to the Windows Team Blog an item entitled “Let’s talk about Windows 7 Starter.” Among other tidbits of interesting info, includes the news that Windows 7 Starter will no longer impose any arbitrary limitations on the number of apps it can run at the same time. Of course, given the kinds of machines that are typical for the netbook platforms at which it aims, I suspect that CPU limitations will still play a role in the number of apps anybody will want to keep open at any given moment.

What’s just as interesting about this posting is the list of things that Windows 7 Starter does NOT include, which I quote verbatim from LeBlanc’s posting:

• Aero Glass, meaning you can only use the “Windows Basic” or other opaque themes. It also means you do not get Taskbar Previews or Aero Peek
• Personalization features for changing desktop backgrounds, window colors, or sound schemes.
• The ability to switch between users without having to log off.
• Multi-monitor support.
• DVD playback.
• Windows Media Center for watching recorded TV or other media.
• Remote Media Streaming for streaming your music, videos, and recorded TV from your home computer.
• Domain support for business customers.
• XP Mode for those that want the ability to run older Windows XP programs on Windows 7.

To me, most of these limitations make a lot of sense. The only one I’d complain about is the multi-monitor support one: given that most netbooks offer resolution of 1024×600 or so (especially those with 10.1″ screens or smaller) it strikes me as cruel and unusual to keep me from hooking up an external monitor when one is available. The hardware includes a VGA (or equivalent) video out port, so why should the OS restrict its use?

Let’s make some more hullaballoo! Maybe we can get MS to back off on this, too. I’ve already posted this observation to the comments on the blog. Perhaps you could, too?