Windows Starter Edition Launched in Asia

A new, inexpensive version of Windows XP will be offered in up to five countries in a one-year pilot starting in fall 2004. Available only on new PCs, Windows Starter Edition (SE) is a subset of Windows XP Home, with limited networking and other capabilities. The new OS could ease relationships with governments concerned that the high price of Microsoft software is retarding technological development, but its effect on software piracy and enthusiasm for Linux will take longer to gauge. It also sets an important precedent: users in other countries (and antitrust regulators) may push for similar limited-function OSs.

Need for Low-Cost Windows

Pressure has been building on Microsoft to create a low-cost version of Windows, particularly for poor countries where even the cheapest PC costs several months’ average income. While the Web and e-mail could be valuable information and communication tools in many countries, most of their population has no access to them. For example, in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, more than half the population lives on less than US$2 a day and less than 5% of the population has Internet access.