Foil Linux, attack piracy
p2pnet.net News:- "Aiming to foil the advent of Linux and attack software piracy in emerging markets, Microsoft plans to expand its cheap Windows XP Starter Edition offer to more countries, a company executive says."
That’s an interesting perspective, and it comes in a PC World article here which says Microsoft is already working with governments in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia to offer Windows versions with a "lower price appropriate for the emerging market needs," according to Will Poole, senior vp of Microsoft’s Windows Client group.
While the Starter Edition is still a pilot project, Microsoft plans to offer the software in other countries as well, PC World quotes him as saying, continuing.
"Microsoft estimates that 92 percent of the PCs sold in China run unlicensed, pirated copies of Windows … Also, competition from open-source products, specifically Linux, is strong in the emerging markets."
But Windows isn’t alone in its efforts to conquer new markets, says the story. Microsoft’s Office group is selling through "tailored and market specific offerings" – in China, for example and "Microsoft has generally stuck to a system where its products are priced the same around the world, but has recently reconsidered its unified pricing. Windows XP Starter Edition is part of that approach."
China’s response to Microsoft Offices, Evermore Integrated Office (EIOffice) 2004, hit markets in China, Japan, and the US in May.
"EIOffice 2004 inherits the progress made in speed, compatibility, visual effects, and other functions since the previous edition and greatly strengthens the function of its science editor by providing over 2,000 commonly-used symbols of maths, physics, and chemistry," says the People’s Daily Online here.
"Founded in 2000 as a joint venture between a local government-controlled company and a returned Chinese who had received education overseas, Evermore put all its 200 software engineers into the development of the company’s only product, EIOffice, thus becoming China’s largest developer of office software," says the report.
Written in Java, the $149 EIOffice runs on both Linux and Windows.
July 30th, 2004 at 11:05 pm
It would be nice to be able to buy a inexpensive operating system that will natively run Windows applications and little else. No unneeded (and hacker-prone) features like universal plug and play, no frills, no software bloat.
The only problem is that to get this, you have to create it yourself (or with 3rd party apps) as M$ refuses to provide such a product as a scaled-down operating system.