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Microsoft Develops XP 'Light' for Thailand
GoatJuggler writes with this Bangkok Post report that "Microsoft announced plans to develop a discounted, slightly crippled version of Windows XP for Thailand."
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The article also says that there will be an easy upgrade path to XPH and XPP. Also, this project is endorsed by the gov't of Taiwan to try and bring computing to the masses. I can see MS happy to take a deep loss on this one. Even piracy wouldn't be too bad here, as it would start the MS monoculture momentum.
#define DRM chmod 000
What this article is leaving out because it wasn't writen for a USA audience is that 1500 baht is roughly equal to US$35-40 depending on where exchange rates are.
Thailand's People PC project is a government effort to try to get the price of a PC to be affordable for the average person there. Microsoft's contribution to the project is its willingness to sell both Windows XP Home and Microsoft Office for 1500 baht... US$35-40. Uh oh, that's a drastically lower price then MS is charging the rest of the world, and MS doesn't like to have that kind of inconsistency.
So, that's why they're working on this "light" edition that will have a few things less than XP Home, and therefore be a different product that MS can price seperately.
Of course, the OSS folks can hop in here and point out that going with Linux would cost them 0 baht which converts to US$0... and that's what Microsoft's worried about. Better to get a little money than to risk getting none at all and letting Linux become the standard operating system in Thailand.
I can't speak for Thailand specifically, but I know it's the same as Bangladesh, when I was over there you could get the Longhorn betas pre-burned and with covers and the whole deal. And they cost next to nothing to boost. You could get them at malls, street vendors, Internet cafes. About the only draw back was that the CDs were so cheap they stop working in a few month or so, but that's plenty of time to use it.
Why would the average Thai pay for crippleware when they can already get XP for next to nothing?
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
If you look at the differences between Xp Home edition and Xp professional, they are mainly in hardware and multiuser support. So, possibly, they may have removed the SMP support and set some kind of RAM/Hdd size limit. I guess they might have removed/decreased the multi user support too.
I'm just guessing, but it seems kind of possible anyway =)
Linux are pre-installed on those machines, that's why microsoft are now discounting.
I'm not the orig poster, but here's your links..
l
http://www.no-smoking.org/july03/07-25-03-2.htm
note, however
"The law also prohibits sales of so-called "children's packs," which have less than 19 cigarettes and popular among youths because they are cheaper."
also
http://fr.news.globalink.org/248182.shtml
for more about the so called "Children's packs"
Bugs Bunny was right.
1. Start the Registry Editor
e ntVersion \Explorer\CabinetState\
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr
3. Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > String Value
4. Name the new value Use Search Asst
5. Double-click this new value, and enter no as it's Value data
6. Close the registry editor
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
the MS shrink-wrap licenses restrict the number of connections you are supposed to be allowed to have to the PC running the OS
they want you to buy XP Server edition to run real servers
-- laws are the opinions of politicians --
Im talking about the limitations of how many computers you can use in a peer to peer in Windows. How it doesn't allow you connect more. You get to buy Windows Server instead. You can't connect 10 computers running XP home in a peer to peer using Windows networking, they won't see each other. Even XP Pro has peer to peer limitations that prevent it from doing so, but a higher threshold. Windows 9x you could raise the limit in the Netbeui portion of the protocol's properties from the default setting of 10 "maximum connections". XP doesn't have that option.
They could make this crippled version connect to an NT server only, with no peer to peer support. This is one way to cripple Windows so it won't get used in businss, but is ok for home use.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Why? so that those who can't afford full-size packs since the latest price rises (read: kids and teens) can buy the 19 cigarette pack and get hooked.
Try to pay at least some attention next time you're in the convienience store and you'll see pretty much every commodity works this way - those fishsticks, the glass of jam, the block of cheese.
They all reduce size. 1000g -> 900 -> 800 -> 750 -> 700 -> 600 -> 500 & new "big-pack" of 1000. Why? Because people pay a lot more attention to changes in price - changes in weight or volume go fairly unnoticed.
Of course in this case it's pretty obvious, since they're few and easily counted. But it's the same thing. People in general have a price they find "acceptable" for a pack of cigarettes, regardless of the price of the individual price per cigarette.
It's one of the small irrationalities of the mind, and the manufacturers are catering to it. To go from there to this being some directed attack on kids and teens is quite simply hogwash. There's more than enough legitimate complaints to make against them, without grasping for straws.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
You mean like this?
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
Except that you are wrong. If you own they software, and are reinstalling it, you just need to ring up Microsoft for a new activation code.
Ever heard of FUD? Welcome to the Linux FUD machine. You are officially part of the Open Source Propaganda Network.
*cheering, waving of flags*
If policy allows, do yourself a favour and replace 95 on that server with e-smith linux. It was recently spun back to the community by Mitel and I've yet to see a more intuitive, simple Samba server.
For those wishing for a reduced install, LitePC lets you 'uninstall' a great many things - IE, OE, Messenger, Windows Update, MSN Explorer, Media Player, etc.
Disclaimer - I am NOT a LitePC employee, just a user, who was impressed.
For those wishing for a reduced install, LitePC lets you 'uninstall' a great many things - IE, OE, Messenger, Windows Update, MSN Explorer, Media Player, etc. Disclaimer - I am NOT a LitePC employee, just a user, who was impressed.
What's On Your Network ??? http://www.open-audit.org/
What do normal users need with a compiler? If you want one you can get one here.
2) It had no INTENDED remote access services such as FTPD or SSHD.
of course it didn't, that's what Windows Server 2003 is for.
3) I was unable to manipulate graphics.
*gasp* welcome to the world of closed source! Companies actually make MONEY here. You can do basic graphics manipulation using Paint, or you can download The Gimp of course, otherwise you should spring for a copy of Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop
4) I was unable to use my Network Card.
5) I was unable to optimally use my graphics card.
6) I was unable to optimally use any piece of hardware that didn't have Microsoft written on it.
What kind of bizarre obscure hardware where you using? Windows XP properly detects alot more hardware then linux does currently.
It takes for ever to do anything in Notepad as compared to Vi.
Then by all means, download vi and use it. Some people like working with this little thing called a Graphical User Interface.
8) I had practically no system logging to speak of.
Windows XP is a desktop OS, you can find all the logging you should ever care for at Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Event viewer.
9) I was unable to use multiple desktops.
10) I was unable to entirely change the appearance of the GUI.
most display drivers come with desktop management software, or you can use Windows XP's quicklogin features to have multiple login sessions. Part of the reason Windows is so successful is that you CAN'T entirely change the GUI. Windows, at it's core, always looks like Windows, even with a skin applied.
11) I was unable to simply download much of the software needed to render Windows somewhat useful. Even though Gimp and OpenOffice run on Windows and GVIM, refer to number 4.
See my answer to number 4.
12) I kept getting "Access Denied" or something along the lines of insufficient permissions even though I believe I gave myself full rights over the system. On Windows 2000 this can be seen even if you are logged in as Administrator.
Wow, Microsoft prevents you from killing critical system processes! What a shock! Oh no! what ever shall we do?!? Seriously though, the only time i've ever gotten access denied is when a file is in use, or you try to kill a critical system process (except XP, which lets you)
13) I had to reboot fifteen times, and four hours later while windowsupdate.microsoft.com told me I needed nearly a GB of updates. Many of which could only be installed one at a time. 14) Then another two hours and multiple reboots becuase of installing device drivers (refer to number 6) and then updating those from the old drivers that were on old disgarded discs in the closet.
with the default install of XP, there are 50 mb worth of updates + sp1, which is another 30 or so, a far cry from the 1 gb you speak of.
15) I had next to nothing in regards to software and production....
Compared to what you get with the average Linux ISO image.... Windows, out of the box, is a pathetic quadriplegic whose wheel chair is missing a wheel.
Then, Microsoft goes and strips so much "functionality" from Windows XP to publicly admit it's "crippled"? What more can you take from it?
They never stripped functionality, it was never there to begin with. Windows XP is a desktop OS for every day users, not for supergeeks.
Disclaimer: I am not pro microsoft nor am i in any way being paid by microsoft for this comment. (On the contrary, i'm working on an open source Microsoft Windows NT Compatible Operating System called ReactOS The parent was a blatant troll and i was simply shedding some light on the truths.
No more than 10 computers can connect to any one windows worksatation at any time. Has nothing to do with number of PC's in a network.
Inbound Connections Limit in Windows XP
You know, if you Linux fanboys would get your noses out of the air long enough to actually learn something about XP, instead of spewing the same old wive's tales and self-congratulatory bullshit, you might learn that it doesn't suck anywhere near as bad as you'd like to think.
Unfortunately, you left out the explanation of the economics. I've been curious about this for some time. Let me give it a shot, and tell me if I'm wrong.
Basically, there are two ways to make profit. If you price your product cheap (small profit margin), you don't make as much per unit but you'll probably get more sales. If you price it expensive (large profit margin) you make more per unit but don't likely sell as many. The "crippled version" approach takes advantage of both by using two markets: inexpensive vs better quality/features.
The unintuitive part is how can they sell the same product, with extra work put in to cripple it, at a lower price. Why not just leave it uncrippled and sell for the low price? The answer is that the crippled version is partially subsidized by the expensive version. You'd lose all of the bigger profit from the expensive version (since there wouldn't be one), so you'd have to sell a lot more at the cheaper price to make up for it. Having high quality at a low price will probably give you more sales, but perhaps not enough to make up the difference, especially because they are two different markets with different customers.
Looking at it another way, it makes sense to have products for both markets (cheap vs quality). If you didn't use the "cripple" approach, you'd actually have to design and build two different products. Using the "cripple" approach, you only have to design and build one system. The extra cost to cripple it is far lower than the cost of designing and building a second product. This reasoning makes more sense when the design and labour costs are high relative to the cost of components (raw materials). Software is certainly a case where raw materials are cheap, most of the expense is in the development.
Is this generally correct? Or am I missing something?
What kind of bizarre obscure hardware where you using? Windows XP properly detects alot more hardware then linux does currently.
Linux works on AMD Operons (and did 1 year ago) Microsoft? Linux runs on Alpha processors. Microsoft? Linux runs on MIPS processors. Microsoft? Linux runs on POWERPC processors.
Microsoft? Linux runs on POWERPC64 processors.
Microsoft? Linux runs on SPARC processors.
Microsoft? Linux runs on SPARC64 processors.
Microsoft? Linux runs on z900 processors.
Microsoft? Linux runs on 680x0 processors.
Microsoft? Linux runs on arm processors.
Microsoft? Linux runs on H8/300 processors.
Microsoft? Linux runs on cris processors.
Microsoft? Linux runs on v850 processors.
Microsoft?
Was that the hardware that you were talking about?
The "extra cost" actually becomes a slight savings, if the product is designed correctly. Consider: in the instance of two separate products, designed separately, with higher and lower functionality respectively, you require two different assembly lines, with two different approaches to creating two different products.
With the crippled version and the non-cripple version, you still require two assembly lines, but they are duplicates for most of the line, and perhaps require only removal of one or two positions to create the cripple versions of your hardware. You save time and money by creating one assembly line and effectively duplicating it for the lesser (or perhaps the greater) version.
You can even do it with one assembly line and some sort of selector programming where every fifth product is the higher level product (assuming it has one-fifth of the sales).
So you save some money on the manufacturing side. You also save money on the R&D side by creating two cards with only minor differences vs. creating two completely different cards.
It's pretty much the same as producing a car with a tape deck vs. cd player. The research is much the same, but the tape deck fits in the same slot as the CD player, and any room you would have used for the automatic changer is just extra space.
To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
Intel, AMD - for example, Pentium 133-200 are the exact same chip. The chips which can be overclocked without failure are sold as 200's.
This is somewhat different. In this case, P133 is not intentionally crippled; it is slightly defective.
A better example would be 486 DX/SX case where Intel intentionally disabled math co-processor of DX and sold as SX (at a lower price). They also relabelled DX chips as 487 (co-processor) being an "upgrade" for 486SX users. Hence practically they sold some people the exact same chip twice.
Virus infects both Windows and Linux!