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Windows 7 (motto: “It’s the one that’s not Vista!”), the next version of the omnipresent Microsoft computer operating system, is currently in public beta testing. As with other Windows releases, it will come in several flavors: one for home users, one for businesses, etc. There’s also one intended for low-end machines (like netbooks): Windows Starter. And ZDNet is reporting on a rather startling limitation: it can only run three applications at once.

For starters, that three-app limit isn’t as cut and dried as it sounds. Several people who e-mailed me with questions assumed that the limit means you can only have three windows open at once. Nope. At the moment, in fact, I have 16 separate windows open at once (and multiple tabs within some of those windows as well).

They proceed to check out the true limitations of (Windows Explorer, for example, doesn’t count towards the limitations, but installers do, despite claims to the contrary). They come to the conclusion that “If I tried to use this system as a conventional notebook, running multiple Microsoft Office or OpenOffice aps, playing music in iTunes or Windows Media Player, and using third-party IM programs, I would probably be incredibly frustrated with the limitations of Starter Edition.”

However, they balance it out by asking users what they really need a netbook to do: is it a full replacement for a notebook, or a “lite” version when you can’t bring a full laptop along?