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Cut-Rate Windows 'XP Starter Edition' in Thailand

Posted by michael on from the includes-free-starter-virus dept.

zlel writes "Microsoft has decided on an official name - 'Windows XP Starter Edition' - for the stripped-down, cut-rate version of Windows that it first began offering in Thailand last summer."

4 of 478 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So crime does pay then? by whm · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't be silly. The buying power of $38 in Thailand is much different from $38 in the US.

    I'm in Bangkok at the moment actually, for the week. Perhaps some example prices:

    1) dinner, with a beer: 80 Baht ($2)
    2) 3 star hotel: 1000 Baht ($25)
    3) Taxi to the airport: 400 Baht ($10)
    4) Commuter train: 10 Baht (25 cents)
    5) Recent LEGITIMATE video games: 400+ Baht ($10)
    6) Recent LEGITIMATE DVDs: 200+ Baht ($5)
    7) etc.

    And that's all in Bangkok, not the countryside.

    Anyways - if the actually expect people to buy a legitimate copy, they need to at least make an attempt pricing it properly. It's much more convincing to buy the $5 pirate copy of Windows (which you can get in the mall, in the street, you pick) when the legit version is hundreds of dollars! If the price comes down to a sane level, people will consider buying it.

  2. Re:Faux Pas! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    > The whole reason behind the rebooting problem is the registry, and if MS gets rid of it I'll gladly stop making fun of it. Until then you and the rest of the MS-defender crowd will just have to keep stretching your credibility trying to defend it.

    Almost; the reason is in-use files; Windows can't update them in place the way Linux can, a Windows installer needs exclusive access to files it wants to overwrite. So, an installer makes a series of xxx.dll.1 or xxx.exe.1 or whatever.1 files for each in-use file, then writes a batch file that runs the next time the OS boots. Those .1 files are renamed to their intended targets, and then the OS finishes its startup.

    Cheesy, but it works.

  3. Re:Analogy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    raw, "pure" RTF doesn't have any of those. what you're thinking of is ".rtf files that other RTF readers won't understand, because MS has decided to "proprietise" the format while leaving the extension the same, just like they did for .doc in the transition past Word95".

    Which retard modded this insightful?

  4. Re:I want a copy! by Daengbo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, you know I haven't RTFA, but since I have written extensively about it in my journal and was living there when it was introduced in response to a million pre-installed Linux machines, I'll comment anyway.

    The menus are all in Thai, and cannot be modified, meaning that many installed programs wouldn't appear on the menus or possibly even run. It was only available on the"Eua Athorn" computers, a low cost Celeron socket 370 government program. In fact, though the legal copies could be installed when the computers were picked up, few people did it, and instead had their friend put a pirated copy from Panthip Plaza or similar place on for them.
    It was a failure of an idea, and will continue to be. It was designed to start THais on legal software, and move them up to the full versions later. Few bought the idea, beccause it involved changing their old habit for a greater expense, and the brief shadow of government enforcement quickly faded away.

    I had great hopes for the million Linux machine program, but alas.

    --
    Put identity in the browser.