Edition in Russia, for example, but has placed that project on hold until the government there is ready with its low-cost PC program.
Starter Edition grew out of a test program Microsoft created for government-backed efforts in Thailand and Malaysia to offer budget PCs to consumers. Microsoft formally launched Starter Edition as a product in August 2004, promising to bring the OS to five countries as part of an expanded pilot project.
Edition in Russia, for example, but has placed that project on hold until the government there is ready with its low-cost PC program.
Starter Edition grew out of a test program Microsoft created for government-backed efforts in Thailand and Malaysia to offer budget PCs to consumers. Microsoft formally launched Starter Edition as a product in August 2004, promising to bring the OS to five countries as part of an expanded pilot project.
Gartner said that the software's restricted features also blunt the ability of Starter Edition to act as a check on pirated versions, which are widespread in most of the markets where Microsoft sells the OS.
"Ultimately, Microsoft can't limit the functionality of Windows and successfully fight piracy," Gartner said in its report. "The only real options are to lower the price and maintain functionality."
But Wickstrand counters that the limits haven't been an issue among testers of the version of Windows XP.
Wickstrand said that Starter Edition is meeting the needs of its target market, based on feedback from Microsoft beta program participants in Thailand, India and other countries.
One is Sagaya Shalini, a woman who runs an Internet cafe in a village in Tamil Nadu, India. Shalini uses her PC to run a variety of businesses for the very rural village, home to about 1,000 people. It is three hours from the nearest city and 10 kilometers from the nearest other computer. As a result, her PC gets a lot of use.
Shalini gives computer and language classes and also uses the PC to send basic medical information, such as a villager's blood pressure or EKG, to a distant medical professional. The PC even helps diagnose agricultural problems.
"She'll take a picture of someone's crop and get advice with what may be wrong with their crops," Wickstrand said.
When making product decisions, Wickstrand says he tries to think about what would work for Shalini. "I use Sagaya as a
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