In mid-2004, reports surfaced that Microsoft would soon ship an entry-level version of Windows XP, dubbed Windows XP Starter Edition, to customers in emerging markets such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia and India. Those markets, Microsoft said, needed locale-specific PCs that were easy to use, support, and sell. Read the review here.
Windows XP Starter Edition Review
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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who is this Paul Thurrott guy? an apologist for Microsofts Stupid ideas? XP starter edition is the biggest bunch of crap Microsoft has put out since Microsoft Bob. 800×600 max resolution not crippled? Whatever.
Paul Thurrott is a tool. Microsoft can do no wrong in his eyes, he is worse than some of the linux zealots that post here! I can’t imagine anyone using XP starter and coming away with a good impression of windows. The limit of three simulataneous programs is really bad. I have noticed more and more that people generally have a lot of programs open concurrently. Especially with IM’ng so popular these days.
I’m having hard time finding words to describe how f*cked up that product is. Even worse, it actually costs money.
This is a bit like ‘My First Sony’ or something, product loyalty……
I wonder if they localise the translation of the BSOD?
1. Anti virus software
2. Anti spy-ware software
3. An actual program you want to run…
Yeah, this sounds like a great OS. NOT!
ROTFL! Malaysia and Thailand produces all that hi-tech stuff for US, Japan and Europe today. Russia? You know, they have nukes and a lot of Windows hackers.
NHL.com has got employees from India (great IT technicians) and not only, also IBM and many others.
from an ’emerging’ Poland,
/silver
He not only thinks the Dell DJ is better than the ipod(personal choice) but that the ipod is poorly desiged due to it’s only 8 hours of battery life.
This guy is totally off the wall.
just last night I was running on OS X(OS doesn’t matter I have done similar things with windows)
Fire– IM
X-Chat Aqua — IRC
Firefox
Safari
iTunes
Photoshop
spread across on the powerbook display running 1024×768 and a 19″ dell monitor running at 1280×1024(sacrilege I know, but the bigger display is great for photoshop, and I didn’t want to boot my Windows machine).
Now any OS that doesn’t allow you to due something similar is cripppled. XP starter edition is going to be bought, and then ripped out and upgraded with a pirated copy of of XP. Is this so MSFT can blame Linux?
There are so many quotes from MS people in this “review”. It’s no review, just PR from Microsoft.
Anyhow, it’s amasing to see how microsoft removed functions (which I can understand to create a Starter), but limiting it to 800×600, it’s just simply stupid. No monitor manufacturer does that resolution anymore. Either in CRT or TFT. Microsoft is making fun of those markets with a product they can not *physically* use.
Another reason those emerging market will go with Linux.
Microsoft’s biggest competitor in “emerging” markets is pirated versions of Windows. Full featured at zero price always beats crippled at 30 bucks, which is of course way too much money for anyone in some of these countries.
I wonder, since the marginal cost of software is close to zero, how in the world does it make sense to take the time and effort to write the code to cripple Windows? Why not just seel XP Home for $30 in these countries?
These are the only two things I found silly. Why only 800 x 600? Silly.
The three apps thing, well, that’s debatable. Some thoughts…
1) Too many open apps could be confusing. I work with people that have been using computers for ten years or more that still can’t figure out what they have running by looking at the taskbar.
2) On the limited hardware this will be running on, you wouldn’t really want to run more than three apps. It would slow it down too much and cause confusion because these customers don’t expect their computers to slow down, etc….and limiiting it to three open apps limits the use of system resources keeping things as snappy as possible.
It’s the resolution thing that I find funniest. I really can’t see how that could possibly be a good thing, other than simply taking the choice away to make it easier to support.
I think there should be a tweak tool that emerging power users could download to open up some of the locked down functions.
“I think there should be a tweak tool that emerging power users could download to open up some of the locked down functions.”
You mean Linux?
“…Why not just sell XP Home for $30 in these countries?”
Because people would buy up lots of copies for $30 and sell them on eBay for $50 to markets where XP Home is $100+.
I was living in russia 2 years ago and u can buy there 3$ windows xp whatever on the market. Anyway i think this idea with statrer edition is not that bad if they would remove all wizards, media player, internet explorer, axtivex, windows scripting host. And! They could remove pinball from c:program fileswindows nt! They could also remove lots of services like netbios and also guest account. They could strip drm and tons of useless drivers. On the other side windows uses the same binaries for all its nt os verisons.
It was funny to find out that the only difference between my winxp pro and win server were a pair of registry keys (google : ntswitch). U can download this program freely from one of russian web servers , so i think its legal in russia.
In Russia, you can get Windows XP pro + Office XP Pro for 4$.
Why would you buy this crap, name one reason?
It is not even interesting for corporates.
It can be only interesting to computer resellers. They will install in and get 70$ -> 30$ profit, but users will instantly reinstall Windows XP Pro after they bought and unpacked computer.
Come on people. Its easy to have 3 apps open at any one given time. Here are a few, just for giggles:
1) Anti-Virus
2) Firewall
3) Browser
4) Email client
5) IM client
6) Word processor
I cannot count the number of times that a boss Emails/IM’s me about some question, while I have a browser and a spreadsheet going. Needless to say, I still have a VPN client running, anti-virus and whatever proprietary app’s that my company uses.
Yea, tell my boss that I have to shut down IM so that I can open an email, then sign back on to get back to work converstions about whatever. I can see a whole lot of app’s closing and opening during a business day. This will be a major back step in productivity.
Has anyone else experience the “email syndrome”. The syndrome equates to responding to an email w/in seconds of reciving it, otherwise people are climbing the corporate ladder finding out why you have not responded. This starter edition will not work in any environment. Well, maybe a home environment…. but it will be too constrained.
“the desktop icons are large and friendly-looking”
*reaches for a bucket
“…Why not just sell XP Home for $30 in these countries?”
Because people would buy up lots of copies for $30 and sell them on eBay for $50 to markets where XP Home is $100+.”
If the cheap XP were an edition of XP Home only localised to that country (ie, only in Thai or Malay) then the market outside those countries for a Thai or Malay language edition of XP would be pretty small.
While I won’t predict how good or bad this thing will sell, I think some of you are missing the point. This OS is only sold with a really, really low end entry level machines and is for total newbs who probably won’t run multiple apps at one time. A typical poster here is a power user not a newb. 800×600 seems a little odd to me, but I guess we’ll see.
Being no apologist for Microsoft or Thurrot the comments so far seem as if the writers didn’t even read the article. Nowhere does the article claim to be a review. He states that he asked Microsoft if he could review it but they said no.
This is a subset of XP for emerging markets. An introduction to computing, if you will.
Not everyone in the developed world is a power user, let alone the rest of the world…
Why not criticize something of substance? Something like, this is only Microsoft trying to get these emerging markets hooked on Windows before they know any better.
Microsoft is doing something here because no one else is, its not a choice between Mandrake on a Pentium 4 and MS Starter Edition on a 300MH Celeron, it is a choice between SE on a Celeron and no computer.
I would much rather see these people run patched versions of SE then see them run unpatched XP Pro.
Even in emerging markets using low end computers I think the lack of networking will be a problem. I’ve done voluntary work for a small charity, who are mainly using donated 200Mhz Pentium level computers. Yet they have them all networked so that they can share a printer and easily transfer files. I imagine that many small businesses would want to implement something similar.
Obviously networking wouldn’t be necessary for most home users. But they’re probably going to get a pirated version of Windows even with this cheaper option available. I know I’d pirate Windows if this was the only legal version I could afford.
Brazil is one of the countries that will receive this Microsoft “greek gift”:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20040811-4089.html
Fortunately my country is actively pushing far from Microsoft:
http://brazzilmag.com/content/view/1109/1/
Bill Gates is rich selling first a one task OS (MS-DOS), a few tasks (win9x), a little more tasks (NT) and now a three task OS…
Free (as speech) software i the only viable solution to development countries who want develop your own technologies and spend money on another necessities with higher priority. Let the “wonderful” world of Microsoft, Apple, Corel, Adobe, etc for rich countries.
>1. Anti virus software
>2. Anti spy-ware software
>3. An actual program you want to run…
>
>Yeah, this sounds like a great OS. NOT!
I think they mean “applications”, not “processes”. There are already ~20 process for Windows itself. Go to task manager -> applications and you see what I mean.
“I wonder, since the marginal cost of software is close to zero, how in the world does it make sense to take the time and effort to write the code to cripple Windows? Why not just seel XP Home for $30 in these countries?”
But Windows XP home is already a crippled version of Windows XP Professional.
In my country everybody uses a pirated copy of Windows XP Professional Corporate, even those who have an original OEM Windows XP home, because it is more powerfull and doesn’t require work to activation…
1 week for someone or a team of hacker to find how to outpass the limitations (800×600)of this version. Knowing M$ in the past it wont be difficult at all. I can also imagine that someone will find resource dll and change the localisation…I hope to see this happen… 🙂
MS just handed people ammunition to bash them with. With people in 3rd world countries having a choice between $3 for a pirated copy of XP or this POS crippleware, I wonder which they’ll choose, if not Linux?
3 apps? so when i start a new application i get the oh so familiar message saying “please close all applications before proceeding!”?
@Omega
> Microsoft is making fun of those markets
their attitude is in fact racist.
paul thurott is alwas good for a laugh, this was better then most.
first of all, i disagree with many of the comments here. this isnt for a work environment. this isnt for people with even a moderate level of computer experience. this is meant for newbs running 300$ pcs that have never touched a keyboard before.
as for those saying that why buy when you can steal, thats the real purpose of this version of windows. its gotten to the point in asia where microsoft is in a losing battle with its own products, because piracy is rampant and theres nothing that ms can do to stop it.
that being said, calling this anything but crippled is a joke. crippled is excusable, i mean this is going to cost 30$, i have no problem with a “lite” version. but saying that removing and limiting functionality is a “feature” is pretty dumb. theres quite a few lines that made me laugh. the whole “IT professionals dont consider xp home a crippled product” makes me wonder what IT professionals he was talking about. Ive yet to meet an admin with something nice to say about xp home. talking about how through “extensive market research” they found that “some people perfer being shown what to do rather then read about it”. um… is it just me, or isnt that rather self evident?
anyways, i alwas leave pauls site in much better humor then when i got there. i just hope noone takes him as anything but a zealot (of course, under the assumption he isnt on the payroll) if you do, read the following keeping in mind all the features that were removed, and all the features that were deliberately limited from the standard xp codebase
“Speaking with Wickstrand, and to a lesser extent actually using the system, provided me with a much clearer perspective about Windows XP Starter Edition, which is not the crippled dog that critics have described it as. Indeed, Wickstrand’s story about the XP Starter Edition team and its dedication to actually meeting the needs of real users in disadvantaged parts of the world is quite inspiring. Far from its reported destitution, XP Starter Edition is, in fact, a triumph of cooperative product design, one that simultaneously meets the needs of users, governments, PC makers, and Microsoft itself. In my book, that’s a win-win.”
the man is a moron.
This only sets these people back more.M$ is such a prick.org.I hope these people really push open source.The poster who said his entire country uses pirated corporate xp pro …. ditto and gradually weaning off the “crack” ..LOLOLOL
“their attitude is in fact racist.”
Can’t see how, they pretty much cover all the races considering the countries were they sell this crap.
</I shall say this only once>
Eh? My monitor can happily display down to 320×200…if you have one that won’t even do 800×600, I suggest to you that it’s broken. Send it back.
“their attitude is in fact racist.”
Maybe not racist, but definitely condescending. Like saying “you mudshack dwelling maggots don’t earn enough in a year with your subsistence agriculture to deserve 800×600 and more than 3 processes!”
It is a very condescending and arrogant attitude.
Keeps the poors poor, lets’ pay them peanuts for mans power and now they are too poor and stupid to use a regular OS. Some time non-sense makes sense but not today. What about a typewriter with windows logo instead?
Okay, let me ask the following based upon the article:
” … XP Starter Edition is, in fact, a triumph of cooperative product design, one that simultaneously meets the needs of users, governments, PC makers, and Microsoft [TM] itself.”
Huh? A triumph of cooperative product design? One that meets the needs of which users? What governments? Which PC makers? [Redmond] itself? Talk about speaking in marketing lingo … good grief.
“In my book …. ?
“As for the future of XP Starter Edition, I guess we’ll have to wait and see how the pilot program performs. But from this point in time, with the pilot program just two-fifths of the way through a multi-month rollout, Windows XP Starter Edition looks like it has a bright future.” Sources please. I don’t take things at face value. I like facts and figures.
“It’s just too bad that the ivory tower critics can’t see beyond their own insular worlds to understand that truth.”
The same can be said of [Redmond] and [Redmond] users.
As john mentions, this article doesn’t claim to be a review. As for the 3 app limitation, I’d like to know what counts as an “app”. Does Internet Explorer, which is, as we all know, an absolute vital intergral part of the OS, count as a separate application? Does Microsoft Office count as a single application, or are Word and Excel being treated as separate applications.
Do Netscape/Mozilla and Opera, with integrated e-mail and chat clients (and webpage editors in the case of Netscape & Mozilla) count as 1 app?
Seeing as XP comes with a built-in firewall, will that count as an app? If not, then will running a 3rd party firewall count as an app?
This limitation seems more concerned with stifling competition under the guise of helping “development”.
While using a mouse and keyboard may be second nature to you and I, to people living in remote areas of the world, computers are mysterious and unknown.
In a similar racist and patronising tone, these hunter gatherers of the deepest jungle need IT skills?
Or does “remote” count as anywhere beyond a 1 mile radius of a McDonalds or Burger King?
Returning to the point of this version of XP, the philanthropic view is that Microsoft genuinely wants to help developing nations. The cynical view is that, at some point, these people will want more than a 800×600 resolution & a 3 app limit and will be encouraged to buy the more functional and expensive version.
What would be nice is if Microsoft lavished the same amount of attention they claim to have given these 1st-time users on regular users – the ones who say they would like a computer that didn’t crash, that didn’t require constant security updates etc.
“This OS is only sold with a really, really low end entry level machines and is for total newbs who probably won’t run multiple apps at one time. A typical poster here is a power user not a newb. 800×600 seems a little odd to me, but I guess we’ll see.”
A computer is no good if it can’t be used for porn, and 800×600 and three apps is totally inadequate for porn. People will never admit to this in focus groups or surveys, but it will be lurking in the back of their mind. It’s also universal, no nationality or race or nation of people is immune from the appeal of internet porn.
> Like saying “you mudshack dwelling maggots don’t earn enough in a year with your
> subsistence agriculture to deserve 800×600 and more than 3 processes!”
it’s history repeating:
“I,
bill III,
think
that 3 apps
should be enough for anyone – as long as they’re just poor enough. and hey, win xp starter edition ships with no more than 3 apps anyway (notepad, solitaire, bsod). and you guys can neither afford third party apps nor download free software as you certainly don’t have internet access in the jungle”.
This version of Windows may not be as bad as all the anti MS folks make it out to be. It seems the main issues are the 3 programs that can be opened and the 800×600 resolution.
First, with the limit to 3 programs running, think about the users. We are talking about people who may not have ever used a computer in their life. Even my parents, who have been using computers for several years cant comprehend the thought of more than one or even two programs at the same time. I bet many users will not see this being such as issue as you guys make it out to be. Secondly, look at the hardware that XP Starter will run on. Its possible that MS is trying to keep users out of trouble by allowing them to open all kinds of programs that would eventually overwhelm the system.
Next is the 800×600 resolution thing. Again, I think this comes back to the hardware. If the computers that this ships with arent designed to handle more than 800×600, why support a resolution that is any higher?
For those that didnt read the article, here are the specs that this version of Windows is designed to run on: 233-to-300 MHz Intel Celeron or AMD Duron/Sempron processor, 64-128 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive, a CD-ROM or DVD drive, and an 800 x 600 SVGA resolution display
Anyways, I think alot of people either skipped the article, or saw the word Microsoft and Windows, and automatically assume the worst. Had there been a version of Linux with similar limitations on these machines, there would probably be far less negative comments about this article… Besides, if the users of these computers are happy using these computers, then Microsoft did their job despite what the anti Microsoft crowd may think.
This review reminds me of the election. People like hurott actually say these lies and obvious spin with a straight face.
He’s a well know MS Shill. Every once in awhile he will say something negative in a non-threatening way, just to appear “credible” but outside of that, he knows how his bread is buttered
> We are talking about people who may not have ever used a computer in their life.
like, for example, kids. kids have no problems at all learning how to use computers, regardless of country (even if racist MS thinks otherwise). it won’t take them long and they’ll be fed up with this kind of limiting crap.
why should an OS that actually works be too much to take for a kid in asia/africa, if our kids have no problems with it? do you, just like MS, suggest they are dumber?
the article and some posters have an ill-informed, prejudiced, imperial/racist view of the rest of the world.
1. poverty does not equal mental inability
2. linux/BSD is almost cost-free and very capable and flexible
3. people all over the world are combining (1) and (2) to great personal, community and hunanitarian gain.
i would be living in a scarey world if there was no opportunities for economically oppressed or disadvantaged peoples did not have an excellent set of alternatives to microsoft’s peddling of products which in actuality tighten their grip on keeping the poor poor.
They’ll be selling these in Russia?
This crap isn’t worth the package it’s shipped in. Russians have used pirated Windows in the past, they’ll keep using pirated Windows in the future. Even if they started selling full-blown WinXP Pro for $10 a copy, they still wouldn’t sell anything.
“like, for example, kids. kids have no problems at all learning how to use computers, regardless of country (even if racist MS thinks otherwise). it won’t take them long and they’ll be fed up with this kind of limiting crap. ”
Or for example, adults, many of which I know have problems just trying to use computers.
“why should an OS that actually works be too much to take for a kid in asia/africa, if our kids have no problems with it? do you, just like MS, suggest they are dumber?”
I’m not suggesting that they are dumber. I in no way meant to come across that way. And what makes you think MS thinks they are dumber as well?
> Or for example, adults, many of which I know have problems just trying to use computers.
ok, my mother is not exactly a technically skilled person (no more than any average person in asia/africa).
she has never touched a computer until she was 60. then she got interested in using email. sure, it wasn’t easy in the beginning, and she’ll never be a kernel hacker, but she can handle her computer just fine. there was no need for a particular cretin edition. i just customized the desktop to her needs (disabled virtual desktops etc) and that was it.
in fact, i think she never uses more than 3 apps at a time, but implying “a priori” that she wouldn’t need that would be foolish and arrogant. it doesn’t hurt being able to run more than 3 apps, even if you may not have such needs.
but it hurts, being deliberately limited to 3 apps because those smart asses assume that that’s enough for you, anyway.
also, other people (like me) might user my mother’s computer from time to time and might want to use the more advanced features.
> I’m not suggesting that they are dumber.
then why would they need a special, dumbed down edition, developed especially for them?
Paul Thurrott is to Microsoft as Rush Limbaugh is to The Republican Party
No offense to the Republicans, but the fact is that Paul Thurrott is as idiotic as Rush Limbaugh when it comes to common sense.
If Bill Gates farted, Paul Thurrott would say that it would be the biggest selling track on MSN Music Store.
Anyone takes this idiot seriously?
(I’d like to apologize all the idiots for designating Paul Thurrott as one of them. Definitely He is way below the idiot level.)
Is it Microsoft humanism? …
No. No Is Microsoft humanisman. Microsoft isn’t an ONG, it’s bussines…
Are third world people not capable? …
Are they telling than in India the people are more spudid, knowing that there is the home of many software development. Help third world is a poor excuse to try to cover it strategy and real purposes to common users.
The truth, reason an origin of SE is that Microsoft fear the threat that OSS represent. Microsoft did SE as a mechanism to compete in emerging markets.
Al around it are Public Relationships, Marketing and all about.
The lost in any case is for OEM selers. They will pay or will be forced to pay Microsoft a license for a software that later will be replaced with pirated copies, but Microsoft still will get a bit of the cake.
Additionally with bad hardware selling that pirated copies will perform bad, even nice linuxes probably will run bad, specially looking at future requeriments.
The key is sell low end Hardware and get some money of that.
This at the end is better than get nothing from it (counting the spected sales volume). And as a gain, with low end hardware the competence (OSS) will then focus on adapt all OSS new features to that crippy hardware.
Think it as an army of differents XBox hardware. It will require adaptations to run fresh software, resumed it is OSS time and efort waste.
There are much strategic gains for Microsoft.
It’s all about business, but free OSS software don’t require crippy hardware. Don’t let get caught.
Now, I’ve had a good read of the article, and to be honest, it does seem perverse to me.
Let’s just clarify this… MS decided that people in developing countries had a hard time getting the cash together for a PC, and needed some help, by trying to reduce the price of Windows to go on it. THIS IS A GOOD IDEA.
The problem is the method used to get there. Logically, one would cut the price of Windows to that group, and maybe remove the Western language packs, or something. It’s a 5 minute development job that wouldn’t cost much or damage global sales.
But that is much too easy. Cue massive consultation exercise, heavy code re-writing to restrict use and millions upon millions of dollars spent developing a cut-down version. Which can be sold for a lower price (still well above the cost of media and documentation). This isn’t money given to people, it’s just money used to develop a market. Sooner or later, most of these people are going to have to upgrade, and then the conventional high price mark-up kicks in.
The right thing to do, would be to stop wasting development time and lumbering people with bad software so that sooner or later they’ll have to buy the full version and pay the price of two pieces of software instead of one, and just give them a big subsidy, from the money that is saved, off the full version, which made development costs back years ago, and is now just profit.
I’m not trying to bash or anything here, but I need to point out a fact to everyone… There’s 1 Billion households in the world, give or take. The material cost of 1 billion CDs is around $100m. That’s assuming that every house had a computer and needed an operating system that would fit on one CD.
Want to provide a Linux distro, a fully capable desktop to every family in the world? $100m would certainly do it. Based on current levels of computer ownership and people who wouldn’t need it, you’d prolly need maybe $20m at most to give it to every poorer person who needed it for a computer and couldn’t afford Windows/couldn’t upgrade from 3.1/9x, etc.
How much does anyone want to bet that MS spent more than that on this entire sorry exercise?
If people really wanted to help, they could; it wouldn’t take much, by present industry financial standards.
Crippling this version of XP with the three program limit and 800×600 resolution is an insult.
It effectively says to the users ‘You are so poor we actually have to create a specially crap version of our OS to make it cheap enough. Oh, and as your needs are so trivial, you won’t want to run more than a few programs’.
Designing and shipping this OS probably cost more than simply giving away a million copies of XP Home would lose Microsoft in XP Home sales.
Apparently, some folks see evil even when Bill G. just donates cash to the needy, for AIDS research for example.
For them, of course, making OS tailored for specific not-so-rich pool of people must be double evil, then. After all, their OS X on latest Mac powerbook with 19″ LCD screen works just fine, thank you very much.
That was said with sarcasm, if you didn’t get it.
Now, about Windows. First, Windows XP Home is not crippled for regular and power home user. I run small home network with Win XP Home on it- they do all I need, why the heck would I want Win XP Pro?
With Win XP I can share files, print to shared printer, connect to the Internel and read emails, set up multiple limited users on same box, and so on. I run one Win XP Pro on that network, it is my laptop when I take it from the office, but all its “Pro” features are unnecessary on my home network.
Windows XP SE, and three applications. First of all, to see if Antivirus or Windows Updates count as applications, open Windows Task Manager and check what it lists under “Applications.” If you are power user, or think you are one, you know how to open Task Manager.:)
Now, tell me, do you see Antivirus there? Windows Updates? Well?
Finally, did anyone read specs? 64-128 MB RAM, run more than 2-3 big applications and Windows will start to swap. To the slow hard drive, not less. It is not the first computer experience you want new users to have.
Also, have you really seen these inexperienced new users? Really, those who do not know how to use mouse, who have to be teached how to use a computer?
That user runs one instance of Web browser, one instance of Email client, and, may be, Word processing document. Often, when such person wants to switch from browser to email, he/she just closes browser (which was fullscreen) and opens email- fullscreen. This is on XP Home running with 512 MB RAM on Pentium-4.
Switching between apps is too advanced concept for such users.
But, the most important: Microsoft at least tries. They may succeed or they may fail, but they try. What modern Linux distro with user friendly GUI can comfortably run on 128 MB RAM and Celeron-300, with OpenOffice Writer, FireFox and Thunderbird opened at once? These are just three apps, how about starting, in addition, media player and DVD burner on the same 128 MB box, to show Microsoft?
Guys, did anyone of you tried latest Fedora with GNOME on anything less than P-III?
What modern Linux distro vendor invested money into research of what novice users want? URLs, please.
Microsoft, at least, is trying. No wonder people in developing countries replace Linux forced on them with pirated copy of MS Windows XP.
They want Windows- they will get affordable legal copy of Windows with enough functionality for them.
Sure OEMs wouldn’t pay $30 for it, after all HP sells XP Home for $45 with new PC. I would say, for Starter Edition $10-$15 from OEM per box sounds just right.
You can offer them something better, Linux based? So do it, invest your money and time, instead of whining, instead of blaming Microsoft for trying, instead of expecting someone else come and do it for you. Prove that you can, nobody stops you.
Can you?
Looking at some of the incredible responses here is just staggering! As is typical, anything Microsoft does (smart or dumb) is sure to get the anti-Microsoft fan boys going berserk. Cries of racism for this? Good Lord is that a stretch. You can certainly bash MS for a lot things but sometimes people just go way overboard.
Actually it means that XP isn’t SO bloat and slow
As it can be usable at 233 MHz machine with 64 MB RAM.
Wondering if full XP can be set to this level of “user performance”:)
…Russian Guy pops up to defend MS yet again. This is becoming quite predictable – every time MS is criticized, Russian Guy comes to their rescue.
I’m really starting to believe he’s just another astroturfer on MS’s payroll.
“Crippling this version of XP with the three program limit and 800×600 resolution is an insult.
It effectively says to the users ‘You are so poor we actually have to create a specially crap version of our OS to make it cheap enough. Oh, and as your needs are so trivial, you won’t want to run more than a few programs’. ”
No it doesn’t. It says to users “If you want a cheap version of Windows we’ll give it to you but it won’t have all the capabilities of full priced offerings.” Perfectly reasonable.
I really can’t wait for OSNews to introduce its rumored anti-troll system. We’ll finally be free of those cowards like USA Pride who hide behind anonymization services to spew their xenophobic bile on totally unrelated web sites.
Please, OSNews, rid us of this lunatic before he forgets to take his medication again…
No it doesn’t. It says to users “If you want a cheap version of Windows we’ll give it to you but it won’t have all the capabilities of full priced offerings.” Perfectly reasonable.
That’s not at all the message it’s sending. The message it’s really sending is: keep buying pirated copies of Windows for 3$ apiece, you’ll get all functionalities at a fraction of the price.
Linux, on the other hand, has the same functionalities whether you’re in the U.S. or in Bangladesh. If MS thinks it will stem the rise of Open Source in Asia with XP SE, then I think it’s making a strategic mistake.
See all above.
XP Pro is sluggish enough even with possibly the highest level of tweaking possible on the Athlon XP 1700+ I’m writing this on [256 RAM]. I’m really sure that pirated versions of XP (Home or Pro) are suitable for P-IIs, early Durons and K-6s etc.
Vector springs to mind for a GNU/Linux that’d work well on that kind of hardware, although even though it’s not restricted to having open only three applications etc. Does it explain aptly through visual and aural media to the user just how to do things they have NEVER, read: NEVER done before. Has it been hand-tailored to particular cultural groups and beta-tested with several hundred persons? Much like Russian Guy said, if another company or the Linux community put the time and effort into a project such as this, fair enough. Hell, with the launch of the Mini Mac I don’t see why Apple’s not in a position to try something along these lines if these machines mentioned will cost ~ $300.
Almost every quote so far has been made by jaded consumers, with bias opinions that everyone in the world lives in some universal society with exactly the same ‘whoever has the most toys wins’ attitude as themselves. You might not have noticed either that all of you here complaining about this product, funnily enough(imagine that), are NOT in any way, shape, or form the intended market for this product.
It is not racist for Microsoft to be offering this product in selected countries, it is an attempt to build a market and thus make more capital. I don’t know about you, but I’d find it really racist Microsoft chose my country to try to develop an emerging market (sarcasm don’t you know). Microsoft are doing this to make money, that’s what businesses do, it’s not a hugely expensive white-colonial racist joke at the expense of other countries like so many idiots have suggested thus far.
Why do they bother pirating Windows in these Asian countries? If Linux is so cool and free why don’t people just use that? Maybe it’s not so cool.
“Linux, on the other hand, has the same functionalities whether you’re in the U.S. or in Bangladesh”
And if you want, you can purchase a copy of Windows that has full functionality. XP starter is not meant as a replacement for XP Home or Pro. Its just a low cost alternative for those that wont be making full use of the operating system. I’m not so sure about the same functionalities for Linux… I try 3 distros on my computer, and 3 different levels of functionality… The real fun is guessing which device will decide not to work!
Just wondering how much money did he get from MS for writing all this!
It sounds more like a Press Release from MS than a review !
Also, one of the screenshots I saw had the word ´Mukt´ for the Śtart button!
Now that is surely a misnomer because Mukt in Hindi stands for Freedom /Free !
Isn t that more a Linux phrase than a Windows phrase
Because when Win 98 came out, Linux wasnt nice at all. I mean not a good GUI. And all ppl got hooked to the Windoze terminology! [and BSOD of course! and ALT CTRL DEL!]
Changing them now takes a bit of time!
I for eg. had Windows 98 and Windows XP @ home and with a lot of apprehension I tried out Knoppix and then went on with all the main distros and now I am glad I switched. But it took me three months of time to switch. Also in the beginning itself I had problems with the graphics card and stuffy and had to edit the config files!
But it is ok rite now except the Canon i255 printer
Its just a low cost alternative for those that wont be making full use of the operating system.
It’s crippleware, and it’s going up against pirated copy that have an even lower cost. This has failure written all over it.
I’m not so sure about the same functionalities for Linux… I try 3 distros on my computer, and 3 different levels of functionality… The real fun is guessing which device will decide not to work!
You should try a recent distro sometimes, you’d realize that hardware compatibility is not much of an issue anymore. In any case, you’re missing the point: Linux distros freely available here are also freely available over there. The capabilities are the same, both at the same cost (free to download and redistribute).
Gee, so many people doing “volunteer” PR for MS…I guess MS pumps up its astroturfing budget whenever there’s a new product release…
What a pile of Thurrot horseshit. He actually refers to this as a review. Oh Microsfot is so worried aobut the poor people in other countries. Yeah, worried that they are going to Linux in dorves. They have already lost the ENTIRE CHINESE MARKET to Linux.
I thought I was looking at an Indonesian version of the XP SE but then I noticed the Petronas Tower wallpaper. The translation seems like it’s done by an 8 year old. And 3 appz restriction? Come on, we are not THAT dumb!
To be honest, Linux is not that easy to use by a newbie standard here. The Malaysian government have done a ‘national entry-level computer’ program to promote ICT (one house, one computer initiative) using a modified (idiot-proof) version of Linux. Never heard of the company (PC Suria) again, it failed.
BeOS is an excellent example of how easy OS should’ve been (to bad it’s dead). That’s why Windows is still popular here even though most of them are pirated versions (except people who buy Acer, HP, Compaq etc.). Macs are insanely expensive here, hope the Mac mini will change all that.
This article suggests that XP Starter is meant for older machines, but from press releases here (in Russia) I’ve learnt that it won’t be sold in retail stores and meant for OEM builders, so I’d like to know, where those OEM’s will get those celerons 233 with 64 megs of RAM these days?
Also, limiting screen resolution to 800×600 is a total nonsense.
And, finally, about Linux competition – well, you can buy pirated XP Pro or single disk Linux distro for 3$ here, full blown distro would cost about 10$ here. And most people buy and use pirated Xp. Some OEM’s sell computers with Linux or FreeDOS preinstalled here, but I’m sure, that 99.9% of users are wiping it out from hdd the same day they bought it and install pirated Windows.
I guess that it’s obvious that for the same price people would choose Windows over Linux, no matter what OSS “Fanboys” (sorry, just a joke) say.
I guess that if Microsoft offered localized version of let’s say Windows 2000 for 30-35$ they’d be way more successiful.
This could seriously backfire. Just imagine the disappointment when the owner, who after a long time of saving, manages to buy a 19 or even a 17 inch screen and plugs it in the first time just to find out that he had to save another year to make any use of it if he want to stay in the Microsoft world. Then he tries Linux and not only is the OS free it comes with a word processor a spreadsheat, a presentation program, a better web browser, and guess what he can run all of them at once.
> Or for example, adults, many of which I know have problems just trying to use computers.
then why has MS never come up with a starter edition for european/american adults? they didn’t think it was necessary. but for some reason, they think it’s necessary for “those subhumans”.
microsofts’s “one size fits all” paradigm is what drove me away from windows. now i just can’t believe they’re pushing that approach even further. it’s just insane!
With this version Microsoft actually can make some money there. Manufacturers will be happy to sell these legal “Windows XP”. And at Microsoft there’s probably hope that not everyone will seek pirated versions afterwards, thus getting a taste of being a “client”.
Russian guy has a lot of valid points.
Name a linux distribution that actually targets absolute beginners. (read: those who have no idea what a computer is)
the application limitation is good thing. it prevents the user from slowing down the computer (those users do not even know why their computer slows down).
OSS is always hailed as the holy grail for poor countries. In the industry it might be. but for bringing information technology to computer illiterate people? Not yet. That’s a place where OSS could shine, but doesn’t. You can’t just slap any OS on a computer and say “here you go” – that does not help. You need more than that:
– simple installation on old computers.
– a UI that’s not just a nice skin for kde/gnome.
– help files as videos/narrated text.
– applications tailored to absolute beginners.
– respecting the limitations of the hardware in your solution (limiting applications, “the application you might run is too much for your computer”,etc.)
– multiuser ability (sometimes whole villages just buy one computer)
The only project (I know of) that actually tries to bring information technology to the third world is the simputer in india.
if you know of other projects, please mail me about them.
I personally don’t think this Starter Edition is a bad idea, but, it needs to be released worldwide. I know of many, many people, both here in New Zealand and the U.S., that are highly educated and intelligent that have a hell of a time trying to use WinXP or any modern OS for that matter.
My wife for example, is a degreed professional with an I.Q. of 140, that is *always* getting lost on her PC. If I let her use mine here at home, I become acting IT tech support. Not something I really enjoy doing.
I feel MS set the number of running programs allowance a little low. I would have chosen 5 at most. And perhaps the screen res could be bumped up a notch. But other then that, I have no problems with this product.
Most people on the site, myself included, are power users. So, yeah, this Starter Edition thing ‘looks’ crippled and useless to us. But, for the average home user and/or first time PC user, this product is fine.
Sure, we all MS didn’t just do this out of their goodness of their heart. Profit was part of the motive, but not the entire motive I don’t think. They are a business after all.
640kb ought to be enough for anybody.
What’s a network?
We will never make a 32-bit operating system, but I’ll always love IBM
The best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and fished out listings of their operating system.
Logical Conclusion:
Windows XP SE SHOULD Have been an 800×600 resolution and 3 app limited 16-bit OS running on no more than 640kb ram, without network or internet, for that matter, and ,finally, Originaly writen by some one else.
Wow! this time M$ outdone themselves… and the last `quote`
Software suppliers are trying to make their software packages more user-friendly… Their best approach, so far, has been to take all the old brochures, and stamp the words user-friendly on the cover.
>Russian guy has a lot of valid points.
russian guy is a wintroll
>Name a linux distribution that actually targets absolute beginners. (read: those who have no idea what a computer is)
why in the hell would there be a linux distrobution for absolute newbies? im still rather confused about things like lindows or xandros, linux needs to focus at what its good at, which is pleasing the geeks. of course, linux has absolutely nothing to do with this article, one of the reasons i called russianguy a troll.
>the application limitation is good thing. it prevents the user from slowing down the computer (those users do not even know why their computer slows down).
on that kind of hardware ANYTHING would be slow. now a warning that pops up and says “Hey, you are running too many apps, you may want to close a few to speed things up” THAT would be a feature. having a box pop up saying “You are only allowed to run three apps” is most definately NOT a feature, and it blows me away that anyone could buy that tripe. as ive said before, a crippled “lite” version is perfectly fine, just call a horse a horse.
>OSS is always hailed as the holy grail for poor countries. In the industry it might be. but for bringing information technology to computer illiterate people? Not yet. That’s a place where OSS could shine, but doesn’t. You can’t just slap any OS on a computer and say “here you go” – that does not help. You need more than that:
who has ever suggested that linux be used to teach people how to use computers? (and im talking credible people, not GeNToo_D00d4354 on some forum) linux is a fantastic teaching tool for unix, not for the uber high level general computing thats standard today. and once again, this article has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with linux.
>- simple installation on old computers.
– a UI that’s not just a nice skin for kde/gnome.
– help files as videos/narrated text.
– applications tailored to absolute beginners.
– respecting the limitations of the hardware in your solution (limiting applications, “the application you might run is too much for your computer”,etc.)
– multiuser ability (sometimes whole villages just buy one computer)
hmmm. i would say a well designed ui that is both consistant and intuitive would be the most important for teaching newbs. but hey, only mac has that and i dont think anyone is suggesting sticking iMacs in thai homes. i disagree with apps tailored to beginners, UIs that arnt a gnome or kde skin doesnt make any sense (i have no clue what you are attempting to say), help files need to be actually helpful (video and sound should be secondary), and thai families have absolutely no need for a multiuser system.
whats funny is if ms took slack and threw some polish in, it would fit what you are describing alot closer then winxp lite. but i digress…
>The only project (I know of) that actually tries to bring information technology to the third world is the simputer in india.
if you know of other projects, please mail me about them.
thanks to our neoliberal leaders and the joys of globalization, the only companies educating third world countries are ones that dont look ahead.
once again, a feature targetted to low end pcs would be a warning, “Hey bud, you are trying to do too much with a crappy machine”. that would be a feature, and a pretty good one at that. not allowing them to run more then three apps at once is most definately NOT a feature. ditto with just about everything else. make windows classic the default theme, as neutral colors tend to be best anyways (this is common knowledge, i could never figure out what they were thinking with the teletubbies theme in the first place). REMOVING the themeing ability from the os, now that is crippling.
it is a great idea, and it will be really interesting to see how it does. however, anyone who really believes that it is different from any other “lite” product designed to give users a taste of what they will get when they buy the full version, is buying into ms marketing propaganda. now just one last time, i really think this is a great idea, and it shows that at least some people in the company are thinking outside the box of microsoft policy. this can be seen in the express editions of the vs.net apps too. but i dont see them saying that removing features and components of vb.net express edition is a feature.