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Windows Operating Systems Software Microsoft

Microsoft To Sell Win XP Starter Edition In Russia 453

Posted by timothy from the but-not-in-moscow-idaho dept.
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."
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Microsoft To Sell Win XP Starter Edition In Russia More

Microsoft To Sell Win XP Starter Edition In Russia

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  • In Soviet Russia, (Score:4, Funny)

    by Motherfucking Shit ( 636021 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:12AM (#10371905) Journal
    ..ahh, why bother.

  • In Sowjet Russia (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:13AM (#10371909)
    Microsoft is going to sell Win XP starter edition.

    What did you expect here?

  • At $36.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by DLR ( 18892 ) <dlrosenthal@gmail . c om> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:13AM (#10371910) Journal
    ...that's about what the full version is worth.
    • But in Russia they can go down the market and get the full version with the latest patches for a few rubbles. As the version supplied is hamstrung they will have no choice but M$ will still bitch about the sales of 'pirate' software...

  • In Soviet Russia (Score:4, Funny)

    by detriment ( 92950 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:14AM (#10371914)
    Customer rips off Microsoft!

  • good against piracy! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Boeboe ( 815330 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:16AM (#10371919)
    I'd like to see anyone willing to pirate thing thing :)

  • Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dutt ( 738848 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:17AM (#10371922) Homepage
    Why would anyone want to pay 36 USD for an operating system which isn't capable of networking and multitasking past 3 programs?

    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.

    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Phroggy ( 441 ) * <slashdot3NO@SPAMphroggy.com> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:25AM (#10371973) Homepage
      Why would anyone want to pay 36 USD for an operating system which isn't capable of networking and multitasking past 3 programs?

      Do you have any idea how many bajillions of people there are who don't have an Internet connection and never run more than one or two apps at a time?

      • Re:Why? (Score:3, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Yes, but most of those don't own a computer.

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by El Cubano ( 631386 )

      Why would anyone want to pay 36 USD for an operating system which isn't capable of networking and multitasking past 3 programs?

      Because many people simply run only one app at a time. The system may be capable of multitasking, but the user may not be. I know people who will not open more than one window at a time and will nearly freak when an application opens a new window that shows up in the task bar.

      One of the additional benefits that I see is that it will make it more difficult for worms/viruses to

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Funny)

      by Lalakis ( 308990 )
      > Why would anyone want to pay 36 USD for an
      > operating system which isn't capable of networking
      > and multitasking past 3 programs?

      Well, windows are very well known to crash when you have more than 2-3 programs running, so I expect this edition to be the most stable windows ever sold. The cheapest too...

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by user1003 ( 816685 )
      Please... someone give them a proper OS for free.

      Actually, in Russia pirated software is sold on the streets by disc, i.e. you pay $2 for WinXP professional on one disc while some 6-disc Linux distro costs you $12. So ironically if they want to save money they gotta go with Win. On the other hand, I think the pricing is quite fair like this.

    • Here's Why... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by zoward ( 188110 ) *
      ...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.

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dasmegabyte ( 267018 )
      Hey, look at it this way:

      Now there's a market for simple bootloaders. Want to make a killing? Spend about an hour writing a program that loads other programs as its own threads. Sell it for $5. Viola, the biggest crippling disabled.

      Then write a program that ports samba as a disk driver. Sell it for $5.

      For $10, a person can get the equivalent of full Windows. You're not technically "unlocking" features, so you're DMCA home free. And the money goes to you, not Microsoft.

  • That looks like surplus to me... (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheTXLibra ( 781128 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:17AM (#10371923) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • Piracy (Score:5, Informative)

    by Nickolay Stelmashenk ( 816154 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:19AM (#10371931)
    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.

    • Re:Piracy (Score:3, Informative)

      by ceeam ( 39911 )
      Well, closer to $3 now due to inflation. ;)

    • Re:Piracy (Score:5, Informative)

      by bircho ( 559727 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:58AM (#10372148)

      Being from a "third world country", i can attest this isn't true only in Russia. But I think the biggest problem isn't bad people selling pirated CDs that people WANT to buy.

      When you use indian workers to code something three times cheaper, then try to sell it in a country three times more expensive than it would cost if it was built there, something must be wrong.

      US$30 is 5-10% of a programer's salary here. Piracy is a economical problem, not technical one.

  • The point? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by endemoniada ( 744727 ) <nathaniel@endemP ... minus physicist> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:19AM (#10371936) Homepage
    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?

  • Why the Fuck are they doing this? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:20AM (#10371937)

    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?

    • Re:Why the Fuck are they doing this? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by BigJimSlade ( 139096 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @07:38AM (#10372380) Homepage
      You have free linux that can do 10000x as much, and is cheaper

      Yeah, that just made me think of Codeweavers CrossOver Office. It is available for about the same amount as this entire operating system and runs on a free OS.

      So...
      • Free, stable operating system
      • Run as many applications as you want
      • Run Windows applications with support from Codeweavers

      or...
      • Crippled OS that can only run 3 apps at a time, limited screen resolution, and no networking


      I know which one I would choose. Or, In Soviet Russia, which one would choose me.

  • No networking.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by peterprior ( 319967 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:20AM (#10371938)
    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 :)

  • Wow! What a scam! (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by Alsee ( 515537 )
    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.

    -

  • Seems reasonable to me. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JanusFury ( 452699 ) <kevin DOT gadd AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:21AM (#10371952) Homepage Journal
    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...
    • 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.
    • It is not only not a bad idea, but nothing new. MS already sells two levels of XP. Home and Prof. This is just a another level targeted at another market. And judging from what OEM charge extra for Prof, it looks like this new edition just follows existing price structures.

      The problem is that the editions stil are not customer oriented. There is not way to get the consumser level crap out of the Prof edition. Any commercial computer is exposed to numerous security risks caused by the consumer crap b

  • I am willing to bet... (Score:5, Funny)

    by overbyj ( 696078 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:22AM (#10371954)
    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.

  • Piracy is legal in Russia? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Landak ( 798221 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:23AM (#10371962)
    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*

  • 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>

  • What is the point of this thing? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Toby_Tyke ( 797359 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:26AM (#10371983) Journal
    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.

  • Microsoft Tax? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Tim C ( 15259 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:26AM (#10371984)
    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?

    • Re:Microsoft Tax? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:35AM (#10372032)
      I'm more than willing to buy a laptop with no OS or just Linux but have quite a hard time to find any vendor willing to sell.
    • Unfortunately there are some similarities to a tax due to Microsofts coercive OEM Contracts.

      For an OEM to get good discounts for the Windows licenses they have to agree not to install any operating system besides Microsoft Windows.

      Therefore you can go to a small supplier which charges higher prices but it's usually cheaper to get a machine with windows pre-installed from say "Dell" and then format over windows and install Linux.

      So if you want to buy a cheap PC atleast in the UK you probably pay like 80%

    • It is a tax. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by mewphobia ( 630153 )
      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 so

  • Linux "Starter Edition" ? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by polyp2000 ( 444682 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:27AM (#10371986) Homepage Journal
    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 ....

  • Ridiculous (Score:5, Insightful)

    by igrp ( 732252 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:27AM (#10371988)
    According to the CIA World Factbook [cia.gov] Russia has a per capita GDP of $8,900. US per capita GDP is $37,800 (all US-$, all figures 2003 est.).

    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.

    • Re:Ridiculous (Score:3, Informative)

      by Alioth ( 221270 )
      Ummm... $36 is not 20% of your monthly income - it's just under 5% of your monthly income if your monthly income is $741. (36/741)*100.
      • So the cost is comparable to an entry-level geek in the US getting an XP pro license, or a cell phone, or a good MP3 player, or...

        Doesn't seem too unreasonable to me.
      • Oops. I guess I really shouldn't post before I've had my morning coffee. Thanks for correcting me.

        But even 5% is a lot of money for most people in Russia. If you're living on $741 a month, you just don't have a lot of disposable income. And it's not like life in the US -- if I wanted to, I could easily save some money by turning of air conditioning in my house and by carpooling/biking/walking. In most parts of Russia, the winters are so harsh that you there's nothing you could turn off since you're barely

    • Re:Ridiculous (Score:3, Informative)

      by shutdown -p now ( 807394 )
      In the town where I lived, a manager of a relatively small (~20 employees) private drugstore gets about $200 a month. This is considered pretty good.

  • wow (Score:3, Funny)

    by unhooked ( 21010 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:28AM (#10371992)
    and all this time I thought the cold war was over.

  • Never going to work in Russia (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rxmd ( 205533 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:28AM (#10371996) Homepage
    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.

  • Baby's first Microsoft? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by smchris ( 464899 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:29AM (#10372000)
    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?

    • Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rainer_d ( 115765 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:51AM (#10372105) Homepage
      > 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.

      That's what you get when you outsource code-development to 3rd-world countries.
      Unless you keep your employees imprisoned (<cough>China...</cough>...), the knowledge about your software/product is just going to walk out of the facility....no matter how secure it is.

      But it's long way before execs will learn that, I'm afraid.

      Rainer

      • That's what you get when you outsource code-development to 3rd-world countries

        Bullshit. Piracy of MS Products has been going on for a long time before Offshoring even reached it's current magnitude.

        This is not a problem with offshoring, no matter how much you want to make yourself believe that. This is a problem of getting governments to fight piracy. The Average Russian cannot afford WinXP. So he buys a pirated version. MS Finds out that this is all too common, and asks the Russian Government to step

      • That's what you get when you outsource code-development to 3rd-world countries.

        Wait, wait, wait... are you trying to say that piracy is somehow the result of outsourcing?

        Little too far, don't you think? Pirated software in all its various forms existed long before outsourcing was en vogue.

    • link, please?

  • Most secure XP yet ? (Score:3, Funny)

    by mirko ( 198274 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:30AM (#10372006) Journal
    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)

  • Finally!!! (Score:2, Funny)

    by hdparm ( 575302 )
    Has there ever been more apropriate article for someone's 666th post?

    No.

  • 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.

  • Wait a minute... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Gilesx ( 525831 ) * on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:34AM (#10372031)
    You can't run more than three applications at once?

    So that's

    1 - Anti virus
    2 - Firewall
    3 - Anti spyware

    Nice....
  • Well, basically they are going (to try) to charge $36 for a basic diagnostics tool and hardware functioning demo. I dunno, do you think they'll be able to push a dozen of them?

    And I can't see any PR value in making your ass a laughing stock. But what do I know about innovative business models.

  • hmmmm (Score:2, Interesting)

    by inmortal ( 752451 )
    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!
    • Now, exactly which part of the Internet will you be Exploring without any network connection?

  • "XP High Security Edition" (Score:4, Funny)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:41AM (#10372061)
    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.".

  • less is more ? (Score:5, Funny)

    by eludom ( 83727 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @06:46AM (#10372081) Homepage
    > This release of Windows ... is not ...networking
    > capable.

    Hey...how come Russia gets the secure version of XP?

    ---eludom


  • 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 goe
  • 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.
  • [gwidion@localhost gwidion]$ ps aux|wc -l
    105

    Hmm...I guess I would not fit.
  • 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 w
    • 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 us

    • 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

  • OEM Market (Score:2, Interesting)

    by nbkolchin ( 788061 )
    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.
  • Was it Microsoft itself, who named us 'developing nation'? We had better sending a few nukes in response.

  • XP "Tax" (Score:3, Informative)

    by RzUpAnmsCwrds ( 262647 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @08:02AM (#10372568)
    "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.

  • MS targeting vendors, not users (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mike449 ( 238450 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @08:47AM (#10372939)
    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.

  • The Russians Aren't Stupid (Score:3, Insightful)

    by blueZhift ( 652272 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @10:00AM (#10373657) Homepage Journal
    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.

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