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Microsoft To Sell Win XP Starter Edition In Russia
Garabito writes "Cnet reports that Microsoft plans to distribute in Russia the low-cost, stripped-down version of Windows XP, called 'Starter Edition.' This release of Windows is aimed at markets in developing nations, and is known for not allowing more than three applications to run at the same time and not being networking capable. This product will not be available on retail, but will be distributed by OEM vendors in new PCs, at an approximate price of US$36. On a side note, the article also states that the MS tax paid by vendors to Microsoft for Windows XP licenses is $70 or more."
..ahh, why bother.
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
Microsoft loses money on the deal, everyone is happy.
Microsoft is going to sell Win XP starter edition.
What did you expect here?
...that's about what the full version is worth.
"Like fire and fusion, government is a dangerous servant and a terrible master."~RAH
Customer rips off Microsoft!
I'd like to see anyone willing to pirate thing thing :)
Why impose sh*t on people just because they don't have enough cash to pay for a retail Windows XP?
Please... someone give them a proper OS for free.
Only runs three applications. Sells at a bargain basement price. Can't network worth crap. So basically: Russia is getting the unsold copies of Windows 95. Kudos to MS for figuring out a way to recycle their backstock rather than dump it in a landfill.
-The Libra
"Please be patient--The future will begin momentarily."
The word is paid, not payed.
Being from the former Soviet Union myself, I can attest to the fact that piracy is very rampant, and that this "starter" edition will do little to combat it. People who just want the real thing will have to take five minutes of their time to visit their nearest street vendor and buy the full version for less than $2.
What is the point of selling this? If you spend money on this thing, and then want the whole package, won't you have to pay for another WinXP disc at full price? thus paying MORE than if you only bought the standard version?
Blog -
Ok #1:
Software piracy of full versions runs rampant.
#2:
only aviable to OEMS
#3:
only 3 programs can run at once.
#4:
resolution restricted to 800x600
Why the hell is MS doing this? Obviously this OS is a complete peice of shit, why would anybody even think about desiring this crippled thing?
You have free linux that can do 10000x as much, and is cheaper. And you have wholesale pirating of software so that you can get a full version of WinXP for probably only a little bit more then the cost of the media itself.
The only conclusion I can get is that Win XP SE is designed to keep OEM's buying MS products so that then the market matures and people can afford to pay MS's prices that the infrastructure, thru legal pressure, will be their for MS to shove the software down the throats of the "host" countries.
It doesn't make sense any other way, places like HP and Gateway only already pay 48 bucks for a full home edition, why else would the extra 12 bucks savings for a crippled version of XP make any difference, or even be intellegent market-wise.
Maybe it's just a PR crapfest?
With the current surge of spyware, viruses (don't get into the virii / viruses battle) and other malware, this may be the best feature yet :)
Forgive me if I don't know much about the situation there, but what does $36 USD represent in proportion to the average income in Russia? Is it even a realistic price (how many people will possibly be able to buy it)?
Microsoft is going to collect a $36 tax on each machine from OEM's for this crap? There's no question almost all buyers are going to need to simply wipe and overwrite it.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
If someone doesn't have the money for a nice computer with a legit copy of WinXP Pro and all the other goodies, they probably don't have the money to run their own home LAN or the RAM/CPU power to run lots of demanding apps at once. I don't see how this is a bad idea. Sure, it's MS being manipulative, but look at it this way - less features means less security holes!
Well, hopefully it does...
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
that somebody at Microsoft is getting an award for this idea. It is just the culture of Microsoft that something this stupid is going on.
Marketing Exec One: Let's try selling our stripped-down, crippled version of Windows to stop piracy and stop this "Linux-thingy" in Russia. Nobody there will know the difference
Marketing Exec Two: Brilliant!
One week later in Redmond at a special award ceremony:
Bill Gates: We hereby award this plaque for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Marketing Excellence (apologies to the Simpsons). Marketing Exec One has devised a brilliant plan to stop piracy and the Linux cancer in Russia. Brilliant!
And so life goes on in Redmond.
No trees were harmed in the composition of this; however, numerous electrons were inconvenienced.
Of course it isn't legal... But that doesn't stop anyone from doing it.
If so then, aside from location my hard drives there, I really don't think that M$ has a chance. I mean, Win XP is dire enough, SE even more, and, as the above poster rightly said, who's going to want to use XP SE when they can get the full version from suprnova in a matter of....hours?
That is, of course, presuming that they even WANT to use windows.....*insert picture of a penguin here*
My UID is prime. Is yours?
Gosh, I can't wait for AllOfXP.com to start up so I can get me some cheap copies of XP, the way I want, without DRM and at a good price... ;-) </Ducks>
Do MS really think Russians are going to stop pirating the fully featured version because they get a copy of this crippleware witht their PC?
When you can get a pirate copy of XP pro for next to nothing, your smply going to bring your new PC home, format it and install your full version.
I don't see this cutting piracy at all. In fact, it will probably encourage piracy.
"I realise this is not a very popular opinion but it's the truth, and there for needs to be said" -Bill Hicks
If you don't want to pay for a copy of Windows with your new PC, either buy one without an OS or with Linux pre-installed (there are plenty of people willing to sell you such things), or buy a bare-bones system and/or components and build your own.
Just do me a favour and stop referring to it as a tax, it just makes you look stupid. Income tax is a tax - you earn money, you pay it; you earn money but don't pay it, you're breaking the law. Windows licence fees a tax? Who's going to arrest yo for not paying for something you've not ordered or received?
It's official. Most of you are morons.
I know this might sound rather crazy but the beauty of linux is that it would be trivial to create a linux "Starter Edition" equally crippled ? Well, maybe slightly less crippled (so its better). Someone good enough to roll their own distro should do this just to piss Microsoft off...
....
Nick
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
And this doesn't even take distribution of wealth into account. According to the above mentioned source 25% of Russia's population are below the poverty line. In reality, it's much more (they are notorious for not keeping track of economical data or even just plain making stuff up).
So you have a small upper class, a small middle class, a huge blue collar working class (with many people out of work) and a lot of people unaccounted for.
If you're living on $741 a month, do you really spend $36 on a license you essentially don't need (since there's no enforcement in Russia). Also, consider that those $36 are 20% of your monthly income (not of your monthly disposable income).
I don't really get who the folks at Microsoft think their target audience is. The upper class can afford XP Pro/Home licenses. They've either already purchased those (probably OEM licenses) or simply don't care. Anyone outside that demographic just won't be able to afford a Starter license, even if they wanted to.
and all this time I thought the cold war was over.
This is never going to work in Russia. In Moscow, a full version of Windows XP is going to cost you about five dollars. You even get a copy of the license sticker. Also note that "vendor" in Russia often means a guy in a shop on the corner who slaps some components together and sells them, never bothering about OEM licenses for the XP he installs on the boxes.
As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
Introducing a crippled Microsoft eems like an insane advertisement for linux to me.
Hopefully, it has as much market research behind it as Microsoft Bob.
With a 92 KB keygen (From China, no less) I can get keys that are so legit they fool Microsoft's extra special little "Anti-Piracy" website and that new "No Piracy" verification you need to go through before downloading that codec pack.
What's stopping these people who are already pirating and keygenning from continuing to do it for free.. as opposed to putting down $40 (That could be better spent on Vodka) for a crippleware version of the same Sub-Par OS?
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
This release of Windows is aimed at markets in developing nations, and is known for not allowing more than three aplications to run at the same time and not being networking capable.
So, with XP's kernel, Microsoft's spyware and a user's app, the user might not have enough resources to launch a virus !
(BTW, with no network, one wonders where he'd get one from)
Trolling using another account since 2005.
No.
If someone doesn't have the money for a nice computer with a legit copy of WinXP Pro and all the other goodies
Hell, I can't afford a copy of WinXP Pro. I have the XP Home that came OEM with my new machine. But I could afford to set up a network if I wanted. Cost of one: $400 CDN, cost of the other: $60 for a router and $40 for cables.
Freedom: "I won't!"
to promote desktop Linux? Granted MS products are pirated in those territories, there may be thinner hope for weaker Linux vendors, then what do non-business OSS users do in Russia? If they can't do well even in Russia where certain amount of money has more value, you can no more wish desktop penetration by Linux in developed countries.
You can't run more than three applications at once?
So that's
1 - Anti virus
2 - Firewall
3 - Anti spyware
Nice....
Sunday you're Thinking Different, Monday you're a huge tool, paying too much and waiting to think like everyone else.
And I can't see any PR value in making your ass a laughing stock. But what do I know about innovative business models.
interesting, as far as I know internet explorer is very integrated into the OS, so I think opening internet explorer would't count as a task or it does? if so, isn't this also another dirty technique from Ms to attack Mozilla, Opera... (and think also about the messenger... etc etc). Well... just thought it while reading the article, that's my opinion! Cya!
Rimember: Jappi Pipol In Da Jaus
After years of development, MS finally introduces the first truely secure edition of the Windows XP operating systems. Implementing a feature many security experts believe essential to make XP secure, MS enters the next level of secure computing and brings groundbreaking new security technology to its customers.
An MS spokesperson was quoted as "Our users were not using the network anyways." and "Speculation that this is a step backwards by 15 years are completely groundless.".
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
really anything you want cracked patched working
on 1996
I saw an an old windows 3.1.1 logo written "Windows for Rap Group"
-- Hasbullah bin Pit (sebol)
> This release of Windows ... is not ...networking
> capable.
Hey...how come Russia gets the secure version of XP?
---eludom
we have loads of bootlegging - I live in the Gambia and I personally don't know anyone who's ever bought Software - everyone borrows and burns. This would totally not work over here. I think Microsoft should just cram this whole idea. Cram it, Microsoft!
Why would anybody in their right mind (and with good concience) release an OS which runs a really limited number of apps (virtually is crippled) for less cash. The cash still adds up. They are setting computing back a decade for their Starter Edition users. That's just dumb. How many of those people, after a few months of frustration or even less time, are going to either upgrade to a non-crippled Win XP, or even pirate one that allows them to connect to other computers. I won't be surprised if this goes the way of MS Bob (to use an over-used analogy). The main problem with this is some users don't know what they need until it's too late. Microsoft is pulling the wool over people's eye with this stupid Starter Edition software.
Do they offer a Starter Ed. of MS Office, or do they still expect you to shell out full price for the Office suite to run on your crippled OS? Maybe someone else can answer that. I'm too angry right now to look it up
I'd still like to see how big the install footprint of this OS would be. 1.5 GB would be riciculous for one that can't open more than three programs at once.
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
This guy know what I am talking about. What do you think Opinion: In its attempt to battle Linux, the Redmond crew is delivering a cheaper Windows product that many enterprises would be happy to use right here in the States. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1634748,00.as p
...is Russia when their unit of currency is a rock. Not a refined rock, mind you, but instead leftover bits from disasters.
[gwidion@localhost gwidion]$ ps aux|wc -l
105
Hmm...I guess I would not fit.
-><- no
say if the user knows he wants to run AIM, MSN, ICQ, and Firefox, can't we write a little script to trick WinXP to run them during boot-time and consider them a "service" as opposed to a "foreground program"...
or even better...during installation, install every program under "services" then running the program means starting the service....hence...0 foreground pgrograms running
would that defeat this strip-down POS ?
I know you meant to be funny, but take a slightly deeper look at this, for a moment.
Some of XP Starter Edition consists of stripping out features.
But some of XP Starter Edition requires *adding new features and functionality* to the standard XP.
Just look at the silly 3-way multitasking, for a moment. You have to let the user run 3 tasks. You have to let the system run as many tasks as it wants. You have to also let the system run as many tasks as it wants, *on behalf of the user*, as the user. That last one is the kicker, separating user tasks that the user wanted from user tasks run by the system, so that you can *limit* how many the user runs of his/her own volition. Three is such a small number that it's darned easy to get something wrong, and have it drop to 0 because system is running tasks as the user.
By adding this 'cripple feature' they've taken on quite a tough job.
Of course maybe I've got it wrong. Windows has always been so eager to 'run as administrator' that maybe they don't run system-like tasks on behalf of the user, as the user. Maybe they just run them as system tasks. Maybe they limit 'user tasks' to 3, with no limit on 'system tasks'. In that case, how soon will the 'run as system task' hack take to emerge?
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
So few people are prepared to pay for software OEM's will seriously consider selling PC's WITHOUT OS to cut cost. In this way, MS can collect a (reduced) MS-tax, and what the heck if 99% of the customers overwrite their HD immediately...
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
I guess the firewall would only be used by the ultra-paranoid. No networking, remember.
Lots of people use Win98 or NT4. Fair to say most people keep their OS about four years?
A lot of linux advocates try to make a BFD about the expense involved with using windows. Usually using such funny math as: XP at $300 + MS-Office at $350, etc. But, you can run OpenOffice on XP just as easially as Linux.
I don't know about Russia, but here in the USA, $20 is nothing. I spend that on lunch. I bet a lot of linux advocates spend more than $20 a year on linux.
There may be good reasons to use instead of windows, but price isn't one of them.
That is the second time I have seen someone say that running an anti-virus and a firewall will take up two of your apps. It says right in the summary the the thing doesn't network. Why on earth would you need a firewall???
I'll go on record to say that for Mom and Pop shops, XP costs $120 CDN, that about $93 US. We can buy a three pack for $354. I wouldn't be surprised if Dell and Compaq/HP pay MUCH less than the $70 stated in the article.
It is a major part with trying to compete with the big boys.
------- Mark
It's not a tax because it's not illegal to avoid it.
It's a tax in that it's a fee that microsoft wants every computer buyer to pay regardless of whether or not they use their software.
Government taxes can be avoided too, but the government uses strong armed tactics to stop you from doing so.
In the same way, microsoft "tax" can be avoided but they use strong arm tactics to try and make you pay.
A tax does not have to be tied to a government body. Look it up in a dictionary sometime. I think you'll find some definitions similar to (from www.dictionary.com);
3. A disagreeable or burdensome duty or charge; as, a heavy tax on time or health.
So maybe you should look up words before you tell people's use of them makes them look stupid.
This is targeted for OEM market only. Most computers a selling with a pirated XP preinstalled. Microsoft found a simple way to stop it. This will not hammer prices on hardware and most vendors will use it.
... they obviously don't know the state of software in Russia. Russia is where uh, my friends go to get their software. CD's with enterprise application suites, worth tens of thousands dollars, just lay there on the flea market, available for $1-2. All the latest games and personal apps too, of course - that goes without saying. I think Windows XP was available there long before it's official release in USA. So yeah, good luck Microsoft.
I nearly agree with you, and I was just about to mod you up, but there is one minor disagreement. I run Win2k. I'll never switch to XP for one simple reason: Product Activation.
I'm a hardware junkie so I typically change my motherboard at least twice a year. I'm swapping videocards, soundcards, hard drives, etc, like.. like... a wife swapper at an orgy full of supermodels. (Heck, it's the best I can do this early in the morning!)
There is just NO way I'm going to let Microsoft dictate when and how I use my computer. Accordingly, when it comes time to dump Win2k, I'll likely choose Linux. You're right that it won't be for cost, it'll be solely for freedom.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Was it Microsoft itself, who named us 'developing nation'? We had better sending a few nukes in response.
A lot of linux advocates try to make a BFD about the expense involved with using windows. Usually using such funny math as: XP at $300 + MS-Office at $350, etc. But, you can run OpenOffice on XP just as easially as Linux.
Still, the math is quite simple. $0 / 4 years = $0. $350/4 years = $87.5/year. Make that a lifetime (40 years), and the cost is $3500 vs. $0.
I've never seen anyone trying to add Office into such a mathpiece, but it would be relevant to add antivirus software. Using Windows without is dangerous.
Anyway, MS claims that Windows is cheaper to run than linux, because it is cheaper to get system administrators for it and such. I personally doubt it, mainly from personal experience, but then again, I'm that "rare" guy with *nix skills.
Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base are belong to you
Install Colinux
and use it as one of the tasks, having Linux and Windows benefits for a very low price, legally.
Won't work for a very simple reason. In Russia, many people don't even realise that CDs they buy at the local market are not legit, simply because they haven't seen a legal software box. This especially applies to non-computer-savvy people. Then again, even if they understand the difference, the price alone would be enough for everyone to tell Microsoft to fsck off. I mean, in the town I lived, all computers at schools and the university had pirated software installed. Windows, Office, Visual Studio, AutoCAD... you name it. Not a single legal copy. Even funnier, the local tax department office had pirated Windows 98 installed on all their desktops. Considering a copy of XP Pro would cost you $2.50, why would anyone bother buying a crippled version for twelve times that price? Especially if your salary is $200/month...
This is a good opportunity for $desktoplinuxdistribution to make inroads.
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
Microsoft won't be that stupid. How many people outside of US/Europe do you think would use windows if they had to pay as much as M$ wishes? And what would that do to M$ as the de facto standard?
So on second thought, please, please let M$ strictly enforce license key validation!
"the article also states that the MS tax payed by vendors to Microsoft for Windows XP licenses is $70 or more."
That figure is just plain wrong. On Pricewatch, an XP Home COA sells for $43, and I know for a fact that Dell or HP isn't paying as much for a COA as myself buying a single license on Pricewatch.
I live in Russia, and currently A LOT of machines here are being preloaded with not Windows, but Linux or some domestic clone of DOS. The rationale for PC vendors is that when anyone can get a pirated copy of Windows for something like $3, preloading it adds little value, but makes PCs significantly more expensive.
Seriously, what is the point of this version?
No networking means, no web browsing. Seems kinda counterproductive to eliminate this as the web is one of those things that makes computers the most attractive abilities of a computer. I know I wouldn't be doing much with mine if it wasn't for networking.
What constitutes an app?
Sorta, only you give a guy a bottle of vodka for $2.
The purpose of this is to de-rail government projects to make a localised frinedly Linux distribution. There's no need to create such a thing because Windows is officialy affordable. In practice, people who are official enough to care about licensing will need real XP, and everyone else will chose pirated copies of real XP. (Microsoft can't admit it, but they'd much prefer people run pirated XP than Linux)
In soviet russia stale jokes recycle you!
These plans have nothing to do with end users. People will still go and buy a $3 CD with the full version on the street, and uninstall the crap that came with the PC.
The real target here is the beige box guys. there may be enough incentive for them to pay the MS tax now, rather than take the risk of preinstalling pirated copies on the PCs they sell.
I thought they told the courts it was impossible to strip down their operating system.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
This is truly laughable. Who in their right mind would buy such a worthless piece of software? Three applications and no networking capabilities? Wtf do they think people do with their computers? Play minesweeper all day long? Cripes!
loading volume control...
:))
loading sound card tray utility...
loading msn....
ERROR MESSAGE : Close some applications then try again...
how will they enforce the 3 application rule... when I boot up before I run anything, there's like 20 procs already running...
if they dont check services, then maybe just start all your apps as services (assuming you have lots of ram
-judging another only defines yourself
...or what? Besides someone getting a kickback in vendor HQ (I bet this is the number one reason MS became dominant over the years), of what possible reason is this being done? Who the heck would even want a crippled "training bra" version of any OS? Is it just so they have SOMETHING on the screen running on the demo unit at the store, and they know that the full priced version is so expensive that very few people in these other countries will actually purchase it? Is it because it's becomg increasingly obvious that their US price structure is so far out to lunch nowadays that they have to do something to stem the tide of revolt against them? (I think so)
MS has a few options in the new century, but shipping mega-cripple ware by design is not one of them. They fail it bigtime on this one.
Any vendors installing and shipping this are tards, IMO. This is having inertia determine your market into the ludicrous range. It's laughable.
Here's a thought for MS if they want to maintain, instead of purposelly lowering quality in selected markets, drop your prices everywhere to reflect a top price that is acceptable in the least wealthy country. If they sold XPpro for a *very* reasonable fee, most people would rather just get the official disks, so as to avoid possible trojans whatever that might be on a warez copy. MS is absolutely so freaking greedy they can't even contemplate that. I mean, it's a freeking plastic disk. They can pump them out by the millions for cheap. They have resorted to corporate insanity in the fear they might actually have to compete based on merit. I mean, have they no shame, aren't they even the tiniest bit embarassed over this?
I know they are a multibillion buck comcpany, yada yada, capitalism, yada yada, that's not the point. the point is they got there by questionable tactics and ALSO being there for the explosion of the personal computer, timing is more important than anything else. Well, it's commodity-ware now, home appliance action, toaster, TV, computer. Yard sales have computers, flea markets, discount stores. This ISN'T the 1980s. Personal computers, OS and apps sellers are going to have to recognize that, it's no longer "exotic" or only very rich people or companies who own and use computers, yesterdays pricing modality is going to have to reflect this, and soon. This training bra edition is a big fat JOKE.
What are the system requirements for this cut down version of XP? To say Windows for Workgroups 3.11 would offer more functionality is only part of it - it would also run on older hardware meaning that poorer countries could make use of older machines that the average user in a developed country threw out years ago.
"This release of Windows is aimed at markets in developing nations, and is known for not allowing more than three aplications to run at the same time and not being networking capable." Ahh, so it'll be just like the normal windows.
activestudios web design
I never used a licensed Windows and won't use it. Because I can buy it here, in russia for 3 dollars.
...it's meant for PC vendors. Currently, you'd buy just the hardware from the PC vendor, since no one can afford the OS, and buy the OS (Linux or pirated Windows XP) from a street vendor. If an inexpensive version of Windows exists, the PC vendor could buy it, put it on the PC, and you're stuck paying for it when you buy the PC. It's the Windows tax, updated for the rest of the world. That's the only explanation for this venture I can think of that makes sense.
"Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
If you count many of the widgets etc that run in the system tray, etc, most users do indeed run more than 3 programs.
Video card util/trayicon
Sound card util/trayicon
Antivirus/trayicon
How is the OS differentiating between these and larger apps as a "program." You could easily go over the limit just with the default crap that usually starts on boot.
Sorry for the long ramble; it just struck me as funny. Kind of like Carrier announcing it was going to start selling small fridges at the South Pole or something.
The Democratic Party: We've been pussies since 1968!
"US$30 is 5-10% of a programer's salary here..."
Where's here (if you don't mind answering) and 5-10% of a programmer's daily, weekly, or monthly salary?
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
The Russians aren't stupid! Some OEMs may put this crippled XP on new boxes, but as soon as they get home, a fully enabled pirated version is going to go on in its place. Crippleware will not sell, and surely MS must know this. So one can only wonder if this is a gesture by MS to get at least a few bucks from OEMs and a few people who just don't know any better. Not only that, you can bet that this budget XP will be cracked within a week of hitting the streets.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Of a stripped Windows version, like the sans media-player version Microsoft might well have to release, depending on the outcome of EU commission rulings that are coming up soon.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
is known for not allowing more than three aplications to run at the same time and not being networking capable Seems like normal XP to me.
The real litigious bastards...
Are we sure the WinXP SE standard for "starter edition"? Maybe this is Microsoft's long promised WindowsXP Secure Edition!
:P
Does it display jpegs?
$400??? You need to look around more. PriceGrabber gives a lowest price of CAD$123. Which is only slightly more than the cost of the network hardware.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
Does that include a single line to the internet via ethernet or dialup modem?
..
Or are they just talking about 'domains', which XP home edition doesnt do now anyway..
Nope didnt read the article to see if it clarified it.. so no need to bitch about it.. i wont respond..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
But you do bring up the point that M$'s marketing, when unaided by antitrust strong-arm tactics to your own vendors, has spawned the most pathetically lame selling strategies and products.
With Linux, the price point is $0.00. It can't get cheaper than that. And there's no wiggle room. You can't vie for a reduced share of a market that has no financial value.
Give up Bill. You can't fight free. (That would make him into one of Olly North's freedom fighters. That would make him dead.)
You can make your money by hanging onto a diminishing market-share but there are no new opportunities for you.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
they just don't report it.
Russian guy: Hey guys, i got myself a copy of XP starter edition!
Russian pirate: Well done, comrade! Let's check it out. If it's good, we'll start making copies of it!
(30 mins later)
Russian guy: This sucks!
Russian pirate: It's allright, comrade. We'll just keep making copies of SP2.
Russian guy: Stoopid americans, har har har har!
Try http://www.powernotebooks.com/
Windows XP Pro is $85-$100, varying with the store I look up online. FUD.
> Oh my god... XP is Bad in the Proffesional Edition, an in the Home edition no words.. but, THIS EDITION?!?!?!!?!!!? Jesus.... NOT NETWORK SUPPORT???!??!!?! What the Fuck! microsoft is go to down.... Linux Power... The Freedom it Self...
Hmm, do you think Babelfish could translate that? Maybe it has an "IDIOT" to "ENGLISH" setting?
The only reason for this effort in Russia, and the similar one in Thailand, is that Microsoft is trying to stop OEMs from selling Linux. Microsoft knows full well that no one in Thailand or Russia (or China or Indonesia or Vietnam or anywhere else not in the western mode of big bucks) is going to pay for Microsoft's software. This is pretty obvious because a full 97% of the world's population a) can't afford Windows anyway and b)have other things to worry about in life.
No, this is simply a measure to pacify the respective governments that have been using Linux as a bargaining tool (Thailand did this) by threatening to start state sponsored pro-OSS programmes, as well as being a measure to keep OEM's from selling computers without any OS whatsoever or Linux.
While the OEMs probably don't give a flying fuck what OS is on the system so long the customers buy their stuff, and governments will be satisfied until their clueless newbie IT departments finally realise what a bunch of shit this is, I think this might actually backfire hugely in Microsoft's face.
Think of it: Third world countries will tend to get highly offended when they realise that they have been given a useless POS when what they wanted was a cheaper version of the real thing. Microsoft will say, "Yes, but this way you get to stay Legal(TM)" and we won't try to get the US government to threaten you for using our stolen innovations. To this the third world government says, "Well, we really like Ubuntu Linux anyway, sucker".
1-Word
2-IE
3-Solitair
Now there's no room for the virus or spyware to run.
They probably will require all OEMs to pay $36 for every PC they sold without OS (if they wont - they will not get OEM status and will lose all big contracts - large companies and government require licensed soft from suppliers). It will be just like DOS back in time - $50 from any PC sold, just because it can run DOS...
It's bad enough that Putin is taking Russia back into totalitarianism, must we also convince them that the United States is their enemy?!
[o]_O
it's already available over there :-)
This OS would almost make sence in an industrial setting where you want the computer to boot up and run one app and run it very well. Not some home market where they are trying to do any assortment of things that the average PHB would never even dream of.
What does "not being networking capable" really mean? Is it just no microsoft networking so no servers like XP home, or no TCP/IP (or any other protocol) and no networking interfaces?
Many of the bug fixes are due to vulnerabilities allowing some kind of remote manipulation of your system, so maybe those aren't necessary. But for improvements or elimination of functionality bugs? I guess MS is saying those kind of updates won't be necessary since you can't access Windows Update with this OS.
RaviWhen the axe came to the forest, the trees said, "Look out - the handle was once one of us."
On a side note, the article also states that the MS tax payed by vendors to Microsoft for Windows XP licenses is $70 or more.
Does the stripped down version come with a spell-checker? Or is that something that you should have "payed" for?
Except if you replace pirated Windows with free Slackware or Debian, you have to pay an extra $200 for a modded Xbox to play pirated Xbox games on because Linux has few games.
If I can't run the programs I already have on an OS, that OS is crippled to me.
Funny you should put it that way... because all the programs I own for RedHat seem to run just fine on SuSE, Mandrake, Gentoo, Slackware, etc,... Heck, they mostly all even seem to run just fine on FreeBSD without much changes too!
I would not, however, expect any Macintosh programs I might own to run on Windows XP, OpenVMS, etc.
Interesting. I wonder what it considers a single application to be. Would an installer for a software suite that launches several processes simultaneously fall flat on its ass in this environment? Does one's scanner and/or printer monitor that sits in their notification area (systray) count? What constitutes an application?
Who would BUY such a thing when you can get much more for free?
Because a single player game counts as one app. Compare the Windows game section at Best Buy to the Linux game section ... no wait ...
Yeah, it's called Mandrake.
Boo!!!! Hiss!!!!
That's bad.
We need a (Score:-1 Sarcastic) mod level.
While I'm no real fanboy of Mandrake, it's still a pretty darned decent distro. You could've instead said "Lindows" (or whatever it's called these days).
What about the price of a second computer to put on your network? If you can't afford 130 CAD for Windows XP Pro OEM, you probably can't afford 870 CAD for the rest of the computer or 600 CAD/yr for Internet access.
In Soviet Russia, AOL coasts to YOU...
Seriously, tho...
If:
1. AOL would once and for all develop a Linux-friendly client, make it one with multimedia, and offer content
2. AOL would distribute CDs/DVDs with numerous distros of Linux on them
3. Give Russians and others FREE access or low-cost access
then...
AOL could give microshaft's (lower-casing/deprecation of microsoft's name intentional/perpetual with me...) scaly frenulum a serious shaving.
Then, those AOL disks TRULY could be useful, instead of becoming coasters.
AOL, are you LISTening/READing?
Now is the time, AOL. Strike while the iron is HOT. It's time to ROAST ms' weenie. Skewer that thing. Sear it. Then serate it. Time to get your money's worth out of Netscape, leverage Mozilla, Firefox, and others' assistance. Strike it!
David Syes
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Nobody will pay for this "starter edition" as long as it is not functionally equivalent to the full edition. If Win XP Professional costs $3 and starter edition $30... figure out.
So don't worry
Andrew
Microsoft has just announced that since the first sale of "Windows Starter Edition" there are now 10,000 illegal copies of it in Russia.
This has required a major rethink at Microsoft who have so far rejected "Windows, Starter Starter Edition", "Windows: Bob Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and the most unpopular "Windows: No, Really, THIS is NOT to be Copied, Edition".
Russians have been using the illegal copies mostly as coasters as they have no real value beyond that.
IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
Is AOL (or ROL, lol...) distributing those disks in Russia or the FSR states? AOL could defray the cost of Linux or F/LOSSaccession just by distributing the disks with Linux and Open Source software on them.
I think it is possible and viable for companies from European states and even some in the US and China and Japan to offer hardware, AOL/ROL disks, and Wi-FI to Russian citizens to get them off mshaft's (lower-casing/deprecation of ms' name intentional/perpetual with me) warez.
If the world concensus is that ie and outlook and windoze in general are security threats, then when will "better the devil you know" yield to "let's try a new, more readable devil"?
All the PCs that are going to landfills could phenomenally boost the Linux and F/LOSS uptic something FIERCE. Since most of the newere PCs are still to pricey for even some FSR citizens, the older, worn out (to us, at least) computers could be shipped a few freighters here, a few there, and hopefully they don't end up on the black (or even the grey) market.
Russia, Russian/FSR people: if you value:
1. privacy
2. security
3. sovereignty
4. intellectual brainpool
then you'll seriously blunt the intake of ms' warez. You have an historic opportunity, combined with China and India (if counting populations over 700 million) to rectify a corporate wrong: you can blunt a defacto hook-and-crook convicted monopolist from making further ravaging incursions into your market space. With Open Source, as you should know, you have far fewer legal restrictions on software development. Why base your future social, defense and economic infrastructures on a dependency with a company that at the end of the day just wants your rubles and your blind loyalty?
Go for independence! Technical self-direction or align with global standards, not with a hijackery-based hegemon. Given your history (or rather what is published about it), you should have a distaste for ms as your states forge ahead for economic opportunities.
David Syes
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
In countries like those, everyone uses a pirated version of XP, everyone is used to it, and expects it at work. Kids develop software for it, and most people cant work with anything except Windows. It is sufficient for their needs.
With these microsoft initiatives. Windows becomes either crap in features or too expensive. It sure does kill piracy and thats the best thing that can happen to OSS OSes. Most people wouldnt buy anything but the starter edition, and quickly get sick of the limitations. If piracy isnt pervasive enough, they'll install Linux.
If microsoft were smart, they'd lower the price of XP professional in those markets. That way they'd sell at least something. Right now they're pushing the whole market away.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
but it would be relevant to add antivirus software. Using Windows without is dangerous.
Oh really? With a Windows PC, an Internet connection, and IE, anybody can visit Housecall for a weekly overnight virus scan for no extra charge.
The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated. But there's Matt Drudge for you.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
I've not been in Russia in 5 years, but I doubt this changed significantly.
$20 is how much some people make in a month, especially in more remote/rural areas. I believe some seniors' pension hovers around that amount as well.
What does "three programs" mean in this context?? On the rare occasions that I boot up Windows, and then use ctrl-alt-del to look at at task list, I typically already see more than three processes up and running even before I actually *do* anything. Now, I realize that in Windows the processes are typically more heavyweight than in unix, and so there are fewer of them, but it still does have the notion of system-level things that are always there in the background.
The reason I'm asking is that it has to be something more high-level than the concept of what a "process" is, and therefore it has to be something that is crackable by editing something somewhere.
Much like the 10-connection limit in the old NT workstation, this has to be a totally arbitrary artificial limitation. The software to actually run more than 3 things is obviously already in place, and is being throttled with a setting somewhere.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
XP Professional upgrade Retail which is what the vast majority of normal people buy cost anywhere from ~$165 to $199 depending on where you go. So no, that $85 academic upgrade version doesn't count.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
...most stable Windows EVER!
Unless the 3 it'll be running are Love You, Nimda, and Blaster.
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
Viruses don't only come from the internet.
In Russia they DON'T PAY for software. It just doesnt make sense. Let me explain. Suppose you have these choices:
1. Pay hard-earned dollars for a limited version of software.
2. Get a full version for free.
The dollars you have to pay if you take option 1 are MUCH harder to earn in Russia than in any developed country. So, to be fair, for you Americans, multiply the price of the software by 10. Say, you'd have to pay $360 for the preview WinXP. Would you ever seriously consider NOT using a pirated XP pro instead? I don't think it would even occur to you. Besides, if you don't like downloading OS images from the internet, you can always go out and by a factory-cut CD full of latest versions of pretty much any software for about $5.
To sell anything in Russia M$ would have to really compete with pirates. They'd have to sell XP Pro for, say, 36 cents, not $36. Which is about what it's worth anyways.
Firstly i can see the OEMs not bothering to tell MS the truth on how many blank boxes they sold. Also i have this feeling that the russian Gov is not all that bothered about licenses
Saying Apple is better than MS is like saying Botulism is better than rabies.