Lite a Fire

Computerworld - It's official: You're now paying much more for Microsoft Windows than some of your potential competitors. Last week, Microsoft confirmed that starting in October, it will offer Windows XP Starter Edition, a cheaper, scaled-down XP, to PC customers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, with two other not-yet-named countries soon to join that list .
How much cheaper? Microsoft won't say yet, but published reports quote retail prices of $40 for a still-very-functional version of Windows XP. The version you're using retails at $499.
Are you getting hosed? Maybe so. But it is the right thing for Microsoft to do. And you should be glad it's happening.
According to Microsoft, this "XP Lite" is both more affordable and easier to use and support than regular XP. It won't handle multiple user log-ins, PC-to-PC home networking, printer sharing or having unlimited windows open at once. It will support Web browsing and security.
Sound like something you could use? You can't have it. Why? Because you're willing to pay for full-blown XP, that's why.
Look -- Microsoft has said for years that it wouldn't offer a Windows Lite. It's doing so now only because people in some markets simply aren't buying Windows XP. With the threat that Linux could start displacing Windows in those markets, Microsoft had to do something radical.
Will it work? It may, though there's no guarantee. Remember, XP Lite isn't something Microsoft's customers demanded. Microsoft's customers were already buying XP. XP Lite was created because of people who weren't Microsoft's customers. By refusing to buy, they forced Microsoft's hand.
And Microsoft wisely did what the market required -- even though those could-be customers still may not go for XP Lite. It's a gamble that might not pay off. But for Microsoft, it's worth a shot.
What does that mean for the rest of us, half a world away? Well, if you compete against companies in Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand, it means those competitors just got an advantage over you: a cheaper, simpler version of Windows XP. It may be a small advantage, but in a globalized economy, every little bit matters. That's the downside.
The upside is that Microsoft is now doing what was once unthinkable: trimming down a product to what users need. After two decades of bloating Windows and insisting that one size fits everyone, Microsoft is finally acknowledging that not all users require all that expensive complexity.
And that's cause for optimism, even if it's based on something that exists only on the other side of