C|Net News.com is reporting that Microsoft’s Windows XP Starter Edition, a lighter version of their full Windows XP operating system, is getting lackluster support from the market they hoped to take by storm.
Windows XP Starter Edition is targeted at the poorer markets in Asia, where software piracy is common in countries when the annual wages simply cannot sustain the prices such software commands in the West. In Malaysia, for example, the $32 Starter Edition is competing against bootleg copies of the full versions of Windows XP being sold by local retailers for as little as $5.
The Starter Edition suffers from having a number of features of the full operating system removed or downgraded, such as limiting the number of network connections the OS can make at any given moment. These limitations make the legitimate software unattractive to buyers used to a market where they can buy the full software for a fifth of what Microsoft is asking for.
In light of this, Microsoft is attempting to step up their plans to help introduce cheaper computer hardware from other manufacturers to those markets in hopes that the reduced prices will make increase interest in the inclusion of their bundled software.