WINDOWS OPEN FOR NEW USERS
Critics say Microsoft’s move is in response to the growing competitive threat from open-source software, especially Linux, and to high levels of piracy. An estimated 37% of software in use in SA is thought to have been installed illegally.
Microsoft says Starter Edition is aimed at the millions of people worldwide who will become first-time computer users in the next few years. It’s easier to use than regular versions of Windows, it says, and is designed with affordability in mind. Icons are slightly larger, for example, and the software includes tutorials to help users understand the components in a computer.
PCs running the software should be available within the next two months.
Starter Edition won’t be available in shrink-wrapped form from retail stores. Instead, Microsoft will work with PC manufacturers to pre-install the software on entry-level computers. The company has deliberately crippled the software so it won’t run on a PC with more than 256MB of memory and an 80GB hard drive. It also won’t work on high-end microprocessors, such as Intel’s Pentium or AMD’s Athlon chips. More controversially, Starter Edition can’t be used to establish a network. Nor can it be used to run more than three applications at the same time.
It won’t say how much it will charge PC makers to pre-install the software, but Microsoft says it will make Starter Edition available much more cheaply than regular Windows variants. The company hopes that PC vendors will be able to use the cheaper software to sell PCs in SA for as little as R2000.
Microsoft hopes to provide the software to 4000 of SA’s 8000 public schools. It also wants to work closely with government and development agencies to develop adult computer literacy programmes.
In fact, the company wants to work closely with governments around the world to increase the penetration of Starter Edition.
This could prove challenging, though. Governments in many emerging market economies, including SA, have shown more than a passing interest in Linux. The State IT Agency is experimenting with open-source software and several government agencies, including the SA Revenue Service, have already installed the open-source operating system in production environments.
However, Microsoft insists that Starter Edition is not a response to Linux. Rather, it has identified a market requirement that until now hasn’t been met by anyone. “This is not an attempt to stave off a perceived threat by open source,” says Neil Holloway, president for Microsoft in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“We’ve done significant research around this product,” says Jonathan Hatchuel, Microsoft SA business group manager for the Windows client. “The barrier to many families is the intimidation factor.”
Microsoft will launch Starter Edition in other English-speaking African countries, including Namibia, Botswana and Nigeria, and, later, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. The product is already available in many markets in Asia and Latin America.
It has not been universally well received. Analyst firm Gartner, for example, criticised Microsoft for what it termed “poor execution” when it launched the product in the Far East in 2004. “Microsoft could have made a big difference in computer literacy and encouraged wider adoption of PCs among underserved populations. Instead, because of the unnecessary limitations introduced in the software, Microsoft will likely be perceived as pushing an upgrade path and frustrating users.”
Gartner thinks this could even push up piracy levels as consumers, frustrated with Starter Edition, look for a more powerful version of Windows.
It’s a problem Microsoft can ill afford as competition from open-source software intensifies. It’s not only in emerging markets that the company is feeling the heat.
Linux developers, including SA software billionaire Mark Shuttleworth, are forging ahead with new products. Linux, which is already popular for some server-side applications, has not yet made meaningful inroads on to users’ desktop PCs. Microsoft will be hoping to keep it that way with a major upgrade to Windows, called Vista, which will be available to consumers early next year.
Vista makes maximum use of the hardware that ships in new PCs. The operating system, which has been delayed several times, will harness the horsepower of modern graphics cards to provide an array of eye candy, such as transparency effects and animation. Open-source rivals are not far behind, though. Linux company Novell plans to introduce a three-dimensional user interface using software called Xgl. The software creates a 3D cube, with multiple work areas, that can be rotated at will.
The fight is intensifying. Holloway says Vista is the most important operating system release for Microsoft since Windows 95 was launched in August 1995. He declines to speculate about how quickly the market will adopt the software, though. Vista, he says, has a number of important enhancements that will help keep Linux at bay. These include better security, usability and manageability.
Microsoft will release a second beta, or test version, of Vista in June or July. A release candidate version should be ready by early September.
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