Inside Windows XP Reduced Media Edition

An anonymous reader writes "Flexbeta.net has got it's take on Windows XP Reduced Media Edition, which is basically Windows XP Pro stripped of its Windows Media Player. To sum it up, there is hardly any noticable difference between XP RME and XP Pro, except for the welcome screen and Windows not recognizing their own file format. The article hints how this may be the beggining to a Windows OS without any Microsoft applications. Bye-bye Internet Explorer?"

Comments

Re:Call me when there's

[theWrkncacnter]

How about call me when there's Reduced DRM Edition.

Re:What is the point??

[dioscaido]

I agree with your point, but how does the EU's proposal solve the problem? Now when they click on a media file windows will prompt the user to download WMP, and we're back to the original problem... I would have rather have them keep WMP but bundle other media player apps with their installation.

Re:Unbundling can be a BAD thing

[Doc Ruby]

I've been writing software since 1977. I remember when a "PC" meant a Commodore PET/CBM, bundled with its builtin green screen, keyboard and tape drive. No choices. Or an Altair 8080, which was built by its owner from parts sometimes as simple as a switch bank - too many choices. Nowadays, there's a market for companies like Dell, HP, Gateway, which bundle standardized parts and their own specialized components, to make the vast array of choices into manageable packages.

Listen to your own advice: "everybody is just like me" is a fallacy. Getting only the same WMP with the same XP for eveyone sure does save on support costs, and avoids those confusing choices. But of course we want to be able to have the PC environment best suited to us. So there is clearly a market for a retail layer which assembles HW, OS and app components from the galaxy of options, into an understandable set of choices from which the mass of goal-oriented, tech-disinterested consumers can buy. Linux, with Linspire and other vendors, is delivering that model. Even Windows could work that way, with brands like AOL or Electronic Arts, or even TV brands like CNBC putting together PC bundles to serve their market segments. But Windows bundling competes unfairly with all those options. Consumers don't get manageable choices, competitors don't stand a chance. That's a middle ground that's being explored profitably for all, wherever it's not preempted by something like a Windows monopoly. We deserve better, and we can get it.