Posted by : Anonymous on Aug 22, 2004 - 08:19 PM Microsoft

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Microsoft announced Wednesday it will offer a low-cost beginners' edition of its Windows XP operating system in Asia starting in October, as it strives to hold onto market share facing erosion from the open-source Linux system and software piracy. Although U.S. software giant Microsoft still holds a commanding share of the desktop PC market worldwide, several major computer retailers in Asia in the past year have begun offering hardware with locally adapted Linux installed.

Industry analysts have described the launch of what already has been dubbed ``XP Lite'' - with lower-resolution graphics, fewer networking options and less capacity for multitasking than full XP versions - as a pre-emptive move against Linux.

Linux is open-source software available for little or no cost to computer vendors and users because no licensing fee is charged in its basic form.

Microsoft also hopes lower-priced products can help combat software piracy, which is rampant in the developing countries of Asia, where legitimate programs often are out of the reach of buyers.

The new software, officially called Windows XP Starter Edition, is ``affordable ... and designed specifically to meet the needs of first-time (PC) users'' in developing countries, Mike Wickstrand, group product manager of Microsoft's Windows division, told a news conference Wednesday.

The Starter Edition will ship on new, low-cost desktop PCs available through manufacturers and Microsoft distributors in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, he said. The software will not be available separately for endusers.

He said two more countries in the pilot program would be announced later this year after further discussions with governments, and that vendors would be informed about pricing in coming weeks.

When Microsoft found out Linux was being offered last year as part of the Thai government's program to promote affordable computers, it decided to offer a Thai-language-only version of normal Windows XP at unprecedentedly low prices.

This year it instituted a similar program in Malaysia, while it developed Starter Edition.

The success of last year's project led to the Starter Edition, which will teach basics to new users ``who don't know what a mouse can do,'' said Andrew McBean, Microsoft's managing director in Thailand.

Key features of the new software include enhanced help features, country-specific motifs, and ``preconfigured settings'' for features that might confuse novices.

Starter Edition was initially conceived for Thailand, but Microsoft found an enormous untapped market of potential customers, Wickstrand said.

Based on the results of the pilot project, which are expected in about a year, the company will ``make a decision on how do we change the product, how do we change our approach to help us reach the goals of meeting those first-time users' needs,'' Wickstrand said.

He did not elaborate.

The new software's ``simplified task management'' can run three programs concurrently, representing a downgrade from the standard XP system. A full XP version can run many more programs concurrently, depending on the amount of memory in a computer.

Other downgrades include display resolution set to 800x600 maximum and no support for home networking, sharing printers across a network or more advanced features such as establishing multiple user accounts on a single PC, the company said.

The new software retains standard XP features such as Internet connectivity, Windows Messenger, Windows Media Player 9 and digital photography support.