Microsoft announced a pilot program to provide
Southeast Asian computer equipment manufacturers with a lower-priced version
of Windows XP.
Starting in October, Windows XP Starter Edition will ship on new,
low-cost desktop PCs available through manufacturers and OEM distributors in
Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Language versions, including tutorials and
instructional videos, will be available for each country. Microsoft said it
plans to add two more countries to the pilot program by the end of the year.
The company confirmed in June that it was ready to ship
the Starter Edition. The software, developed in cooperation with
the Thai Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, was designed
with entry-level users in mind.
Windows XP Starter Edition features a redesigned help system, called My
Support, with a built-in Getting Started Guide. To help reduce newbie
confusion, advanced settings are pre-configured and task management has been
limited to three programs and three windows per program running
concurrently. The display resolution is set to 800×600 maximum, and there’s no
support for PC-to-PC home networking, sharing printers across a network or
more advanced features, such as the ability to establish multiple user
accounts on a single PC.
In many Asian countries, computers and operating system software are sold
separately. For example, Techdos, a Malaysian OEM participating in the
pilot, sells a 2.80 GHz computer with an Intel Pentium 4 processor for
$1,050. The optional Windows XP Home Edition goes for $92 more.
This situation makes Microsoft particularly vulnerable to piracy. JupiterResearch
analyst Joe Wilcox said that the de-featured budget edition may not
stem the assault of software pirates.
“The de-featured version will compete against pirated versions,” Wilcox
said. “Will people take the de-featured version when they can get a full
pirated version for the same price or, more likely, less?”
Microsoft said that during the 12-month pilot, it will evaluate the
benefits for first-time PC users, software and hardware industry partners,
participating governments and itself. After the 12-month pilot phase, it
may introduce other local versions in additional developing markets.
Microsoft is battling heavy competition from Linux in international
markets. But Wilcox said that the countries in the pilot are not necessarily
open source battlegrounds. Instead, Wilcox sees the XP pilot program as a sort of
beta test for Redmond’s efforts in emerging countries.
“These countries are
where it learns what it needs to do and works through the process. Microsoft
will then use them as a stepping stone to larger countries.”