Windows XP Starter Edition Snubs P4, Athlon 705
Apu writes "CNET is reporting that Microsoft's Windows XP Starter Edition operating system specifically checks the result of the CPUID instruction on bootup and fails to continue if a Pentium 4 or Athlon processor is detected."
How would Microsoft know... (Score:2, Insightful)
You would think (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft is essentially creating a market for Linux by doing this. It's all about standardization and if companies have to purchase two different versions of Linux to use their hardware, they are going to look hard at the decision before doing so.
shoot(this.foot); (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft claims they're using this software as a way to get pirates to start paying for the software. But tell me, what is the average person going to use: the "starter edition" that doesn't even work on their PC, or the pirated edition that does? The value of legal software indeed.
Probably to prevent competition... (Score:5, Insightful)
If they let it run, then, it would effectively compete with their full versions, hurting their profits!
This is what happens (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Perhaps a strange suggestion, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
great.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Upgrade cost? (Score:2, Insightful)
The point is to help poor countries develop, not to just "help poor people in poor countries do basic stuff".
What if those poor countries were given high-end computers as DONATIONS? Like for schools, universities, etc?
IMO Microsoft is asking for BIG trouble here. Key term: Discrimination.
The funniest thing in the whole piece... (Score:2, Insightful)
Interesting, that bug patches are cast as "perks." - Of course leaving unaddressed the value of software that doesn't need bug patches in the first place.
So maybe that's why there are so many bugs in Windows -- So we'll all be so dang grateful when we receive the bug patches!
This finally explains why I like Microsoft products so much...
Another brilliant marketing strategy (Score:2, Insightful)
Think about it. You live in India. You consider yourself lucky for being able to afford a computer, but still, you have a very limited budget compared to Americans / Europeans / whatever. What would you do? Buy a better system and get a pirated version of the OS or do The Right Thing (TM) and buy a worse system but with a legally acquired OS? Sure, you won't help your friend whose family is starving, but you're willing to give money away to the richest foreigner in the world.
Why this won't work (Score:5, Insightful)
Why then, you ask, do they have to pirate Windows? The reason is cost: A user can afford to spend $100-$200 for a legal copy of Windows in the US, but in India due to the exchange rate it becomes a huge amount! It's comparable to the actual price of the desktop, and note that people spend a large fraction of their income to buy a desktop in the first place. Microsoft does not price their software according to purchasing power, instead it does a straight conversion of $$ to Rupees.
If Microsoft offers a cheaper Windows for a lesser price, people will just keep pirating the 'proper' OS for free. And sometime later, they will migrate to Linux when they find that Linux can offer them pretty much the same functionality. If MS wants people to use Windows and PAY for it, all they need to do is offer an uncrippled OS for a price that is affordable in India.
Note to Microsoft: People don't want to buy your crippled software, even if it cheap.
Re:Does anyone else think... (Score:3, Insightful)
I hope you meant a pirate copy of XP Home or Pro. Although you did say non-crippled.
Re:The funniest thing in the whole piece... (Score:1, Insightful)
software that doesn't need bug patches, eh? You have an example of an OS with similar functionality to windows that doesn't need bug patches? Come on, no codebase of that size can possibly be perfect. Even my beloved debian has security.debian.org.
Re:Replace CPUID instruction system call? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Arbitrary marketing decision (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't see how they are better... if you got a "Core dumped" error, then an application died, but the OS was able to handle the dead application and continue running. If you have a blue screen of death, the OS has also died, and your computer is now completely useless until you reboot it.
Re:The funniest thing in the whole piece... (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd love to see an example of non-trivial software that doesn't need patches. Thanks.
Re:Arbitrary marketing decision (Score:2, Insightful)
Another quick question: so what? Last time I checked, there are quite a few distros of Linux running around out there. Everyone and their dog has a distro out -- mine is due to be released in about a week or so.
But there's only one Kernel! Well, except that there isn't. There's the unstable series. The stable series. Older stable series that are actively maintained. Other branches like -ac.
So yeah, once could argue that there are a lot of versions of Linux out there as well. I'm far from what you'd call an MS fan, but this is one of the weaker points to be attacking them on.
Re:Marketing Geniuses (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine being the engineers tasked with writing the feature that disables the OS on "advanced" CPUs. What pride they must have in their work.
They are effectively competing against themselves with the cheaper product and have to make sure it isn't too good. I'm not sure it is a matter of shame, just trying to capture an additional market segment.
For example, with my software [entropicsoftware.com] I have a number of different editions, effectively free, budget, and full (I call them the Free, Silver and Gold Edition). It took a decent amount of extra work to develop the Free and Silver Editions, and this was done by disabling features that would have been simpler to just leave in. Some people are simply not going to want to fork out for the Gold Edition, so if I can give most of what they want through one of the Silver Editions, at least I made a sale when otherwise I wouldn't have. But the danger is that the Silver Editions and the Gold Edition do compete with each other. If I leave too much in the Silver, everyone will buy that, and the Gold sales will suffer.
I think the general gist in both cases is to make a product that is good enough for people who don't want the full version, but not so good that it affects the sales of the full version.
Whhaa... huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Uhm.... isn't it just MS-Windows XP with stuff ripped out? If so, then it is NOT "designed for low-cost, entry-level desktop PCs running value-based processors." It is designed for the exact same computers for which XP is designed.
It's marketed for cheap-assed computers. But it was designed for x86 computers.
Re:No (Score:3, Insightful)
Having a screen go black merely covers up the problem. Yes, it makes Microsoft/Windows look better than it really is, but it leaves people with a false impression. What you call "obtrusive" I call "informative".
Re:Why this won't work (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a starter editon of Windows! (Score:2, Insightful)
On the other hand, if this starter edition is installed on a PC that is upgradeable, you'll also have to upgrade the OS if you want it to work with higher-end CPUs. How nice, but that's true for most "starter editions" of software.
Re:Why this won't work (Score:3, Insightful)
Ruling out all P4s and old Athlons may be a bit excessive, but do you truly say that those CPUs ruled out by this limit would be an option in a system at this price point?
Re:Marketing Geniuses (Score:5, Insightful)
Happens to be one of the reasons I don't use much commerical software, and kind of avoid it like the plague.
Indeed, that is an appropriate name for it too. But sometimes relying on human nature isn't enough. Humans can be such terribly selfish things.
For example, I developed my software full-time over eighteen months. This wiped out my savings and left me in a fair amount of debt. It is a bit unreasonable to expect a single person to shoulder the entire burden of the development when a number of people reap the benefits. Hence I sell the software. Maybe one day I will make enough back to try this whole crazy experiment again.
As for avoiding crippleware, I'd have to disagree. What I can't stand is when people sell something without giving you a chance to try it out beforehand. That really sucks. Time limitations are a pain too, I hate the presumption that I can dedicate 30 days to trying something out; my free time is limited and sporadic. But trial versions are a good thing. Certainly something to be encouraged. Much better than nothing at all.
apparently you don't get it (Score:2, Insightful)
M$ found a way to still make money, while giving manufacturers what they want: a PC they can advertise running windows. The PC makers really don't give a crap if it's a full version or not either. Joe public, whether in india or america or afghanistan hasn't a cluebie the difference between XP starter edition and XP pro.
What did they learn? (Score:3, Insightful)
What did Microsoft learn?
DR DOS was a threat to MS-DOS. Using windows 3.11 they put doubt into the minds of users that DR-DOS wasn't truly stable and compatible. Follwing this was a fierce second blow with windows 95 which finished off DR DOS. Eventually, after Microsoft killed DR DOS they settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. However this sum could never amount to a pittance compared to the billions that Microsoft made as a monopoly.
Microsoft learned that playing games entrenches their monopoly and earns them billions in the long run.
Re:apparently you don't get it (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Probably to prevent competition... (Score:3, Insightful)
Why not? What if all your business apps are web-based and you only need thin clients? Starter will definitely have IE.
XP Home's network is only crippled in that it can't join a domain. If you're using thin clients and you can do without implicit NTLM authentication then that's no big deal.
Re:Upgrade cost? (Score:3, Insightful)
No big deal (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why this won't work (Score:3, Insightful)
You are talking about selling legal copies of Windows on eBay. The simple way out is to brand the copies sold in India as Windows - India edition, with no other differences. Make sure that the license says that the India edition can be sold only in the Indian subcontinent - that way no one would be able to sell them on eBay legally unless the buyer is in India.
Before someone says that a licence is not going to stop someone from selling it outside India - note that we are talking about selling it legally - if we talk about pirated editions, then it doesn't matter what Microsoft sells them for - the cost is always $0.
Re:apparently you don't get it (Score:3, Insightful)
IT matters to the PC makers since they operate on extremely low margins that can be as low as $25-$50. Now why would someone put Windows -crippled edition (which no customer would want) for $15 when they can put XP-professional for free.
Re:Why this won't work (Score:3, Insightful)
The whole point of outsourcing is to PAY India-scale wages to your workers,
but at the same time, PRICE your projects according to US-scale prices.
Never mind that it's inconsistent, unsustainable, stupid, shortsighted, or any other such adjective one might care to mention. At the endpoint of the current outsourcing rage, in the US for the most part the only high-paid workers will be executives, and the rest will work at barely above minimum wage, which will still not have moved up. When that happens, the market for those fancy products will be gone, because nobody will be able to afford them. Then the execs can kiss their companies goodbye.
I know that's not really a realistic scenario. I know that there are other highly-paid service jobs, like Doctors, Lawyers, etc. But even with what can realistically come to pass, IMHO it could get pretty unpleasant.
Re:Arbitrary marketing decision (Score:2, Insightful)
Wow, Linux applications must make perfect use of pointers. Linux applications programmers must be so good that they never overstep an array bounds.
Re:Perhaps a strange suggestion, but... (Score:3, Insightful)