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Cut-price Windows launched
29/06/2005 10:47 - (SA)
Mexico City - Beset by rampant counterfeiting across Latin America, Microsoft on Tuesday introduced a cut-rate, cut-down version of Windows XP aimed at first-time, low-income computer users who might otherwise run pirated software.
XP Starter Edition helps users learn to use a mouse and other computer devices, but strips out networking, limits the number of programmes that can open and won't work on top-level processors.
The programme "is for people who want access to legal software", said Microsoft Mexico general director Felipe Sanchez Romero. The company sees a large potential market, given that 83% of Mexicans do not yet have personal computers.
Preventing a brush with the law
"Our aspiration is that people will prefer to have legal software rather than stolen software," Sanchez Romero said, adding though pirated equipment is still cheaper, "we should not forget piracy is stealing".
The versions is expected to lower the cost of original-equipment software bundles from around $90 to less than about $35.
The company says most novice users do not need the advanced functions and it says it has designed the bottom-tier version of XP to be "an affordable and simple introduction to personal computing".
Microsoft launched the Spanish language version of the programme at a news conference in Mexico City that featured several partners, including a state-owned lending agency, the main phone company Telmex and local computer manufacturers Texa, Lanix and Hergo.
Product only found where piracy is a problem
The software only will be available pre-installed on machines, not as a boxed product. Microsoft has not offered it in the United States or western Europe.
The company earlier had released versions in Thailand, India, Russia, Malaysia and Brazil — other markets where counterfeiting is common.
A report by the Gartner consulting company last year criticised the product for limiting upgrade opportunities as people gain expertise.
Sanchez Romero said last week about 65% of the software used in Mexico is pirated. Even some small local computer makers include counterfeit versions of Microsoft Office on their machines and counterfeit software is sold openly at hundreds of impromptu stalls on Mexico City sidewalks.
While mainline computer makers usually include Windows, customers who want to buy a legal boxed version of Windows XP Home — must pay more than $300 — almost a month's wage for the average Mexican worker. A boxed package of XP Pro costs about $500 at major computer stores in Mexico City.
The ubiquity of pirated Windows software also may have slowed Mexico's adoption of a Windows rival, the open-source software Linux, which has grown more rapidly in other Latin American nations.
- AP
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