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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 says "
because of the complexity of an operating system, reducing functionality was not a simple process and every modification would have to be thoroughly tested.
So why would it make sense to spend more money in making these reductions? Why not just give the standard package? I'm missing something here.
The law of excluded middle : Either I'm foo or I'm foobar
This is quite the desperate attempt by MS to obtain a larger share of the world OS market. Hopefully those in Bangkok will learn that there's an un-crippled, stable, fast operating system out there already, and it's FREE.
I got a +5, Troll
It implies that the reason Microsoft is coming up with this "light" product is because US$99 is too expensive, so they need to come up with a way of slashing the price there without the rest of the world crying foul...
so exactly what will be the "reduced functionality"?
i'd bet it will have something to do with hardware compatibility.
If this OS comes in Thai language only, then only people familiar with the language can use it. Thai is notoriously complex.
Software publishers in Thailand have begun to realize the huge popularity of pirated software in Thailand: the extreme price differential. You might be able to sell $100 software elsewhere, but when you are selling the $100 software a few feet away from someone selling a pirated copy for $5, what is the rational consumer going to do? Video game manufactures now produce Thai versions of games, complete with a Thai installation manual and even Thai ingame instructions, for only a a few dollars more than the street price of a pirated version. If someone isn't willing to pay 20 times more for the real version, perhaps they're willing to pay only 3 times more. Disclaimer: I was an American who I lived in Thailand for five years. Has anyone else gone shopping at Panthip Plaza?
Reminds me of US pharmaceutical companies charging some countries more than others for some drugs. Like HIV drugs, for example.
You are not the customer.
But that wouldn't be very crippled, would it...
Seriously, as a ardent Linux user and open source zealot, even I admit that Windows XP is a bit more user friendly for beginners. But removing more functionality than already has been removed in XP Home? Gnome and KDE will be more than a match for this setup, I'm sure.
As if Thailand cares anyway, who's going to pay $30 for Windows XP Neutered when you can go down to your local "store" and buy Windows 2003 Advanced Datacenter Server for a dollar?
if crippled means, getting rid of internet explorer, the windows kernel, and everything else, and replacing it with, linux 2.6.2, gnome 2.4....
Bingo... Microsoft is lowering the price for Windows XP to this country because if they didn't, their government would start subsidizing Linux-based PCs. This is Microsoft's last chance to make sure that the standard PC there still runs Windows.
Microsoft are going to spend money and time devaluing their product to sell it to people who can't afford it at their current price. This from a company that makes a profit of over $1 billion a quarter.
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, Never drive a car when you're dead
You're not serious, right? Just because they're forcing a different option doesn't mean that they aren't still forcing the choice.
hinderfreude ('hin-dur-"froi-d&), n. The feeling of joy derived from being in the way.
Yeah, but Microsoft won't be the ones doing the profitting.
There's something very sad when comments I write shooting for funny get moderated insightful. =/
No, when you shoot for funny, and get insightful, thats ironic.
When you shoot for insightful, and get modded as funny, THAT is sad.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
One hallmark of a true monoply is price descrimination and market segmentation. This is where a monopoly charges different prices to different classes of users for reasons that do not reflect actual cost differences and often where the same product is sold in different forms to create artifical price points and artificial or arbitrary market seperations. The key to price discrimination is to exploit the fact that different users have a different willingness and ability to pay for essentially the same goods and services. As such I simply view this as further evidence of monopolistic behavior, as if further evidence is even nessisary.
and no matter how much MS trims and cuts the price, Linux will still always be less than half the price ;) And no activation. And no locked into proprietary systems. And no peer to peer networking limitations (3 on home, 5 on pro). Oh, and almost no worms.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
None of the articles that I've read about this have said what functionality they're taking out of the system. For all we know, all the apps that we complain about (i.e. Explorer, Outlook, and Media Player) will be in the OS and other non-downloadable, core/system functionality will be removed (e.g. VPN, IPv6, and other networking protocols) or something else vexing but replaceable with third-party software.
In other words, it's perfectly possible that it will be both "anti-competitive" AND crippled.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Hmmm, for one, OEM Vendors and established dealers who cannot afford to sell pirated copies?
When they have to preload and bundle OSes with their hardware, a higher overhead would hurt them real bad. Which is why, they'd rather prefer something cheaper, even though it may not be the best alternative.
If you ask, how does it make a difference to MS? Can't they sell the same thing cheaper? Then the answer would be no, simply because they'd be pressurized by other vendors in the same way.
So the solution is to come up with an excuse for a price cut, and thats precisely what they're doing.
It does not matter whether or not its got features added/removed. What is crucial is the price cut, and how they've come up with it. And its a means of attracting more OEM vendors.
How about releasing a Thai language only version. I only know one person who could use a Thai version in the us. MS could produce a version of XP that only supported languages of emerging markets.
When I was young, I had to rub sticks together to compute.
This would set a nasty precident for MSFT, once one country has seen that MSFT may remove their global pricing, every country with a currency weaker than the USD will be clamouring for the same benefits. Guess its part of a larger trend away from US companies that need to earn in USD to survive. If you think about that, there are some nasty implications for the US ahead in international trade because of the relatively strong USD...
Examples:
1. Senior rates and student rates. They are poorer and can't afford things like park admission. This is a way to get them to pay up.
2. Coupons. Lower income people will now shop at your store. Rich people generally have better things to do with their time than clip coupons.
Microsoft is not special, and you don't need to be a monopoly to 'exploit' this strategy.
Corporations: your universal scapegoat for all society's ills.
Microsoft's problem in many parts of the world is that their US & Western European prices are dead-on-arrival. People who make $200/month are not about to cough up $199 for a copy of XP Pro. If they sell at a price that makes sense in Thailand, they get accused of "dumping". Piracy has little to do with the situation. Linux is available with no piracy required. With or without piracy, customers are not going to spend money they don't have.
If I were in charge of global marketing for Microsoft, I would create a country-specific version for certain target markets (like Thailand). It would be cosmetically "dumbed down" and priced to sell. Of course, any of the features that are not included in the base install can probably be downloaded from microsoft.com in about 30 seconds. You can't be accused of dumping if the product in question isn't sold anywhere else.
Perhaps Microsoft is hoping that users after 'trying out' XP Lite will want to upgrade to Home/Pro thus giving them more revenue.
I'm not sure whether you were ranting or being ignorant, so I'll assume someone else is ignorant and needs me to say the following:
This is done all the time. Take, for instance, the Quadro line of cards by nVidia. You are buying an intentionally crippled card everytime you buy a GeforceFX. Same hardware, sans a couple switched transistors and a slightly modified BIOS. In other words, they made the Quadro, and then crippled it to be the GeForce.
It's certainly not a tactic that only Microsoft employs. Indeed, most firms that sell both to the "individual consumer" and businesses do it. Singling out Microsoft as an evil corporation because they're employing intelligent (and in this case, non-monopolistic) business practices is stupid.
Basic economics. Literally, they taught it at the very lowest level economics course at my school.
-Erwos
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
What do normal users need with a compiler? If you want one you can get one here.
/.
"get one here", oh and "get one there", oh look over there, there's a cuckoo singing in the tree. Look, I had a person a Linux CD, and another a Windows XP CD... Don't give me any of this "get one here" garbage, I'm talking about what you get when you install Windows XP.
of course it didn't, that's what Windows Server 2003 is for.
Why should I have to buy Windows Server 2003? We weren't talking about Windows Server 2003, so why did you even mention it? Unless, you're talking about the singing cuckoo bird again.
You can do basic graphics manipulation using Paint
"basic"!? What is your definition of "basic"? Don't be so naive, PhotoShop is a decent product and I would purchase it alongside Gimp if they had a port to Linux. I buy software that's worth buying, the problem is, Microsoft Paint doesn't do much of anything and is a joke. If viewing a file and screwing it up with a pencil mark is your idea of "basic" graphics editing you've got some perspective issues to deal with.
What kind of bizarre obscure hardware where you using? Windows XP properly detects alot more hardware then linux does currently.
Now, in reference to you implying I'm a troll, what we have here is the pot calling the prospective kettle black. I have an AMD motherboard with the nForce 2 chipset on it. Windows XP, out of the box, does not have a clue how to use the onboard NIC interface. but if you care, I can list alot of other hardware aswell.
Windows is so successful is that you CAN'T entirely change the GUI
This is bull, as there are plenty of examples demonstrating what your claiming is irrelevant to an Operating Systems prosperity.
Microsoft prevents you from killing critical system processes! What a shock! Oh no
Irony, see I saw it. To bad your sense of humor is but one way as you apparently haven't seen my own facetiousness.
Bottom line pal, if I'm root or administrator or whatever the computer better damn well do what I tell it to do and I don't care for a half-wit confirmation box. Do it, do it now. If I make a mistake, that's my ass. A lot of people write better with a pen, becuase they know that mistakes are less fogiven than with a pencil.
Windows XP is a desktop OS for every day users, not for supergeeks.
Here, I concur. So, why did you even argue? Windows XP out of the box has nowhere near the capabilities on many technologies as the typical RedHat CD or Mandrake CD.
It's of little use to argue here anyway... I have to remember this is