Windows 7 Starter Edition Limited to Three Open Apps. Seriously
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 10:50PM 
Sometimes Microsoft will do something so mind-boggling stupid, you just can't help but wonder what is going. (Apple does this at times too, to be fair, but this one is a doozy.) Kudos to Ed Bott over at ZDNet for unearthing this gem: Windows 7 Starter Edition will only allow for three apps to be open simultaneously. Starter Edition is intended for developing countries in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. I guess the thought is that these "primitive" tech users can't possibly be expected to handle having three programs open at once. I mean checking mail, researching online, writing a paper, AND doing something else? Let's just let them get used to three apps first.
As Bott points out, there doesn't seem to be any limit within a program. For example, you can have 12 browser windows open if you like. This would tend to indicate that this wasn't done to protect under-powered systems from crashing. It was done to protect over-priced versions of the software from not selling. This is hockeypuck mouse-level stupidity.
As advocated elsewhere, I agree, and say these markets should instead consider free alternatives like linux. This offering from Microsoft does nothing but to help them ensure their current marketshare numbers.