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Windows XP Starter Edition off to Slow Start
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft may have started shipping its cheaper version of Windows in Asia, but getting support for its low-cost computing vision is still very much a work in progress. It seems Starter Edition has not gained much interest from vendors, nor has it generated much interest from end users." I haven't seen any sort of consumer research, but I imagine people don't like to have their number of possible network connections restrained by the host operating system.
Maybe in the coming days of Longhorn, Microsoft should sell a standard Shorthorn version, with built-in limitation.
I believe normal users don't really know/care the differences, but if you tell them A is a standard version, it has xx features, they can also buy B with x features, people tend to choose former.
However, if you tell consumers A is a standard version with x features, they can also buy a premium version with xx features, people still tend to choose the former, but some of them will upgrade to the latter simply because it is better.
Oh by the way, naming it Shorthorn is just as bad as XP Starter, MS should have the standard Longhorn with fewer features, and come out market Longerhorn as the premium.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
That any machine they buy probably has the pirated full version of Windows XP already installed, or it can be found on the street for 5 dollars...
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
How many billions has win2000 made? surey they could just sell that for $5 as is on a cheap cd, no box.
:)
They could retro fit the XP theme into 2000 and call it XP-$5 edition
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
does that take into account the connections started by spambots?
vodka, straight up, thank you!
The "starter" software near enough fails to get started itself!
This just goes to show how threatened companies feel about alternatives (read: F/OSS). If you look about it from the global perspective, Microsoft's options caters for just about every audience: from poor to rich, honest and dishonest. Every one of those has a reason to use Windows -- generally it's "but everyone else uses it too!" It's a shame, really...
How surprised can anyone be if full version bootleg copies of XP are sold in the malls for $5 versus $32 for a legal, though crippled version.
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The restrictions in Starter Edition (low maximum resolution, limited number of applications that can be run at once) are completely arbitrary. Microsoft hasn't put these restrictions in place because it makes the software cheaper, it has put them in place because it wants to force a cheaper version to be less functional.
The problem is that, regardless of whether users would actually need the functionality that Starter Edition doesn't have, people won't like it. People are simply averse to buying products that have been deliberately crippled. It doesn't matter whether the restrictions affect them, they feel insulted by being offered something that has been willfully hobbled.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
Linux Starter Edition
Same price as full edition.
Same features as full edition.
Same amount of source as full edition.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
It's called Windows XP Asian Street Corner Edition. Available either free or next to nothing in most metropolitan street corners in Asia.
But when the desktop came up it said I couldn't run anymore programs besides gator, hot bar and virtual bouncer.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
The summary comment about users not wanting to have their OS limit network connections is a bit of a red herring... The average user doesn't really even know what a network connection IS, much less care about how many their OS allows. As long as it can browse and get e-mail (usually not even at the same time) they're happy with it. Starter Edition may be a silly idea, but at least be realistic about why it's silly.
Very few people are going to choose a 'cheap', but brain-damaged operating system, when they can get a more sophisticated one for free. They'll either (illegally) copy XP, or (legally) copy Linux.
Further, if Microsoft manages to talk OUR government into pressuring THEIR governments into cracking down more on piracy, this will probably increase sales for them a little bit. It will also increase Linux adoption a very great deal.
The dirty little secret that Microsoft has been hiding all these years is that piracy was GOOD for them in creating their monopoly. Now that they have a monopoly, however, they believe the illegal copying does them no good, so they are trying to stop it.
But in many of those foreign countries, they do not yet have a monopoly. And the concept of serving the customer has been absent from Microsoft for so long that they actually think people will buy this brain-dead crap. Instead of doing the RIGHT thing by the customer, which is dropping the price on the normal product to something the local economy can supporty, they're trying this racket to protect their home monopoly pricing.
Ultimately, it's just not going to work. They may eventually figure it out. I'm not convinced of this, however. They have been a monopoly for too long and fear losing that power more than they want to get into new markets.
Microsoft tried to push the Starter Edition in Brazil, to replace Linux in a government-funded program to combat the digital divide.
Brazilian representatives refused the offer, because they didn't want poor people to have a second-class computer, as if they were second-class citizens.
With Linux, people have everything: the operating system, OpenOffice, Firefox, Gimp, programming languages and hundreds of useful software.
(BTW I think it's revolting that MS put money to create a "worsened" version of Windows, instead of improve the "real one".)
The only things not included in home are support for domains and one user level.
That's basically it.
I imagine people don't like to have their number of possible network connections restrained by the host operating system. Well people wouldn't get this OS if they want to start a server. Or download music. I assume they want to pretty much learn what a "pointer device" is.
1) Is the countries MS is seeking to market this product, illegitimate full copies are already sold at a cut rate 2) Since prosecution of the criminal copiers is nearly non-existant, why would a customer purchase a legal crippled version of the software vs, a fully-functional illegal version? On another note: This is a wonderful opportunity for Linux to make a good foothold.
They came for the Communists, and I didn't object - For I wasn't a Communist; They came for the Socialists, and I didn'
XP added the rounded edges to the top of the windows to make it safe for three-year-olds. Now Starter Edition builds on this innovation by being large (impossible to swallow), soft (so no-one gets hurt when the machine is ejected from a 10th floor window), and non-threatening ("My First Li'l Computer"). The default font will be Comic Sans.
Starter Edition. What a patronising title.
Here's a friend's accounting of how organized piracy is in HK:
<genjzzz> there are several plazas in hk that sell only computer and video game stuff
<genjzzz> a lot of grey market stuff there
<genjzzz> and counterfeit stuff like ps accessories
<genjzzz> ps2 that is
<genjzzz> and oversea versions of consoles that have no reason to be in hk
<genjzzz> i bought my cdrs from an organized group of individuals
<genjzzz> maybe about 14 in all
<genjzzz> anyway, inside one of the plazas, they have a corner shop set up with only color photocopies of the software they have available
<genjzzz> about 300 or so
<genjzzz> they have look outs at every entrance
<genjzzz> so i walk in and find the software i want
<genjzzz> and someone take the order and give me a slip with the software's stock numbers on it
<genjzzz> then i walk to the other side of the plaza where there's a "cashier" standing around
<genjzzz> i give him the slip and the money, he tells me who to see about pick up
<genjzzz> usually a few stores away
<genjzzz> the cashier gives me a slip with a number on it, that's my receipt to get the items
<genjzzz> so the dude tells me where to pick up the software: down the street and up the stairs at some store
<genjzzz> in about 15 minutes
<genjzzz> so i wait and go up and see some guy with a bunch of cdrs in plastic bags with receipt numbers on them
<genjzzz> i give him my receipt and get my software ~
<genjzzz> so they have seperate places for choosing, paying, information, and pick up
<genjzzz> and the warehouse of the cdrs is never revealed
This isn't a case of a few guys selling cdrs to friends, it's a huge, well-established business.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Windows XP SP2 limits the number of possible TCP connection attempts per second to 10 from an unlimited number in SP1. This can affect performance on server and P2P programs that need to open many outbound connections at the same time.
Notes - With the new implementation, if a P2P or some other network program attempts to connect to 100 sites at once, it would only be able to connect to 10 per second, so it would take it 10 seconds to reach all 100. In addition, even though the setting was registry editable in SP1, it is now only possible to edit by changing it directly in the system file tcpip.sys. Keep in mind this is a cap only on incomplete outbound connect attempts per second, not total connections. Servers and P2P programs can definitely be affected by this new limitation. Use the fix as you see fit.
When you are using your Windows XP system as a File-server of a network of system, how many systems can connect (use a shared resource ) at the same time to a Windows XP-system ?
- Windows XP Professional : 10 simultaneous file-sharing connections ( same limitation as in Windows NT4 workstation and Windows 2000 Professional ) - Windows XP Home Edition : 5 simultaneous file-sharing connections ( Windows 95,98, ME do not have a known limit of simultaneous file-sharing connections )
Source of this information : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit Documentation Appendix G: Differences between Windows XP Home Edition, page 1539
Not to give Ballmer any undeserved credit, but Microsoft is in a different phase of corporate life now than in the Bill Gates era. As a business grows in terms of customers, products or employees, change becomes increasingly difficult and inefficient.
Stock analysts have compared MS to a guy in his 40s going through mid-life crisis, wanting to act young but not having the body or mental outlook for it. I read a good article on Motley Fool a couple years ago that said MS is in stage 3 of the corporate life cycle.
Stage 1 is the Startup stage, where obviously you take a lot of risks and do a lot of innovation.
Stage 2 is the Growth stage, where you focus on expanding market share by learning how to replicate your success as cheaply and efficiently as possible, which usually means developing a culture of standardization and uniformity.
I forget the name of Stage 3, but it's where the company can't make changes fast enough to compete in the real world. At this stage it should be reinvesting its money in younger companies and branding their innovations.
Employees who produce the most new ideas -- the young, creative people with the least structured minds and the greatest ability to go without sleep -- are the ones most alienated by Stage 3 corporate culture. Microsoft's problem, according to the Motley Fool article, is that it's a Stage 3 company trying to perform like a Startup. If Ballmer's to blame for anything, it's his failure to accept that fact.
I feel it's necessary to clarify this. Starter Edition is not a cheap alternative to XP Home; it's supposed to be for people who have never used a computer before. Ever. In fact, look here -- it's maximum resolution is 800x600 (that's XP Home/Pro's minimum supported resolution!) and it only allows three programs to run at once. But it has other features geared to people who are basically afraid of computers.
Of course, people who can't even use XP Home or OSX are probably not eager to use computers at all, so the market for this is understandably minimal.
~CGameProgrammer( );
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