NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is removing features and cutting prices in India for a special version of its Windows XP operating system to tap the large market potential in a country where only about 1 percent of the 1 billion people own computers.

"People think (Linux) is so cheap that it is virtually free," said Pawan Kumar, the chief of vMoksha Technologies, a Bangalore-based software services firm. "To counter this psychology, Microsoft may also want to create the impression that Windows is so cheap that it is also virtually free."

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hi there

is microsoft cutting on secirity features too if it is cutting down on money??

and the virus attacks will be the same whether it is full or half version of windows Xp,may be more in the latter case

regards

Hi Masand:

I am also from India originally, lived in the suburbs of a big city, close to smaller villages. There are lots of folks there on small income, specially farmers, low wage workers etc., etc., Their children all go to small local schools with limited budget. $35 is a real lot for all these folks. Hope they stick to Linux.

The Linux user groups need to become stronger than the Marketing/Sales Department of Microsoft in India. Only then they can assist the maximum number of people.

By the way you have done an excellent number of posts here in this forum. My sincere best wishes to you for all your future efforts.

Vijay

hi vijay

i also share the same concern

but the one problem with linux ,which i too had faced is hardware compatibilitly

th hardware for ur system whichwe gte here is not testwd for compatibitly with linux and later on when we try to install linux,we find that this H/W is not compatible with linux , ,this case is less with windows

also another problem is linux desktop...
,microsoft has made peole so much lazy that they do not want to do some work by migrating to linux desktop, and the expertise available very lesss on linux and more on widows

i remember 4 years back ,when e installed LAN at our residence,then i had very less knowledge of linux,and the vendor demanded 1000 Rs. to make samba run on linux to windows

that was the first challemnge to me ,and did that in some time,altough got frustated a lot,but i learned that this is the way things work.

and now it is more easy with LQ around....

and i tell u these no. of posts do not matter much,what matters is that i can help someone out there and i too will get same

regards

Hardware compatibility is expected to increase down the road. PCs are also becomming cheaper. There is certainly a need for a strong Linux Network in India, that extends even into the remotest villages. This is not just for the OS but also for all the other software. For eg., Windows users pay for the CD Burning Software etc., etc.,

Number posts shows interest and how much a person is learning. Contribution comes later.

Vijay

hi there

i think windows will be major in the desktop market,till piracy is here

in india as u may be ware that maximum home users ,and cybercafe PCs use pirated softwares .
once they are sked to shell out some amount then only they will try to migrate to another option.LINUX maybe and then only they will realize the true power of linux.
and now is the case that they do not want to think pf migration inspite of the virus attacks on windows and other issues

i remember one case,here where i live ,there is one cybercafe where i visit regularly and one day some M$ officials came and asked the owner to purchase licenses of windows and office.
he had no option but to go for it,but when i told him about openoffice on windows, he could tell the offials that he will not be using M$ office,and he could save on that

now i also tried to install linux there but the problem came up like
the ISP authentication software did not support linux
and the customers were not at all comfortable with linux

so what can one do in this case???

also u r right i am very much interested in linux and very much addicted to LQ

regards

That is true here in Ecuador too. But how about viruses and spyware. Those are less easy to happend on a Linux Box. I think that peole like us who understand linux have to installed for the other people that don't understand it and just want to use a computer. Once installed, Linux is realy easy to use. For me KDE is much more easier than WIndows GUI. My mother who had never use a computer before, uses Mandrake with KDE and she is really happy. Well she doesn't know about viruses or spyware. She can surf the web really relax.
It could be an intresting and fun way to sell Installation of Linux on machines of people who uses Windows. Freeing people from Windows. For me Windows starter edition is an insult for third world countries. First of all who would buy that crap if you could buy the profesional edition on the street for a dollar. But Linux is much more than the professional Windows.
I would try this here in Ecuador. First I would install Linux on my friends computers and see what happend. What they would like to do in Linux, that they use to do on Windows, and make it for them. Then I would start installing to other people and companies. I think that giving Knoppix for free is a great way of marketing. For one side it is a Linux demo, but it also is a powerfull system recovery.
I really belive Linux is the future and I want to be part of that

hi there

one computing field which can make linux much in demand is low cost computing
in developing coutries it will be a big boost to organization with less or moderate budget
(www.k12ltsp.org)

regards

in my opinion, the new windows is insulting to everyone that has ever backed or used windows in the past. The new "mini windows" has been reported to only support up to 3 programs at a time. If you wanted to cut down the price by cutting out features, are there not better ones to take out?

oh, i don't know if it has been said in other posts, but Russia is also going to get the cut down copy of windows, and so will China.

It is a great alternative. If you would like to update several computars, yous just buy a good one, use it as server aplication and the others would use the hardwere of the server. Ii is a great alternative.
It can be achive with any linux distribution that uses X.

Why has M$ cut down their OS for these countries which are developing? I would say that this is discriminatory towards those who live in a country which the 'true blue american corporation' deems to be beneath full blown use of it's software. It would not have cost M$ anything to simply cut the price of a liscense in these countries to try to increase the proportion of legal users. Instead they spend money developing a cut down version to 'better fit the price'. The price they charge is still probably unrealistic due to the apparent ease and low cost of a pirate version (full pirate version). Will M$ now be held responsible for the lack of productivity due to the smaller functionality of it's operating system? Businesses which are operating within these 'too poor for M$' countries should really look hard at themselves now, the alternative is right there. Now is the time for promotion of freedom with respect to the use of software, dont be dictated to by the proponents of restriction and control.

First off,I have to reply to the discussion topics,Mini Windows XP.

As far as I know,Mini Windows XP will not have security features like Home & Professional edition.And it offers very less features.So why would you spend this money on this so-called OS???

By the way,I have been a Linuxer for 3 years. I see the healthy growth of the use of Linux around the world (China,Germany,U.S.,South America's countries),especially in the developing countries.In my situation-Hong Kong,many SME (Small & Medium Enterprise) use Linux as their server's OS.It keeps increasing.I am optimistic about the growth of Linux globally if it can become more user-friendly,(No any command input),it definitely can beat Microsoft.Secondly,if it can convert openoffice's file to Microsoft Office version without any problems,Linux is the greatest.

P.S. I think the contribution of any members in LQ will help Linux to move to the next level and keep flourished in the foreseeable future.

I live in Tahiland, and when I ask people if they want to buy the new XP. they burst out laughing.
They feel insulted , because Microsoft seems to think that they are stupid, which they are not.
Why would any person pay $40 for a crippled version of XP, when they can get the Full version for $4.-, without any problems ?
I think the same is going for malaisia and other " poor " countries .
As for Linux, that is going to take a long time, as they know windows, it's free too, and they are comfortable with both.

'mini XP'?????

when they will be fixing the existing bugs!!!!