Microsoft to offer crippled Windows to five countries

The software behemoth is also to offer versions of a cut down Windows XP to Indonesia and to Malaysia too. But while the release, issued in Bangkok, said it would be a five country affair, the Vole only mentions three countries in its press release.

The firm calls this the Windows XP Starter Edition and it said it's compatible with a wide range of Windows applications and devices.

It said that specific pricing information will be made available to OEMs and distributors in the five countries - five countries again - in the next few weeks.

It is also talking to other governments about similar programmes.

What are the restrictions? You can apparently only run three programs, and three windows per program at the same time, you only get resolutions of 800 x 600, and there's no support for home networking, sharing printers across a netowrk, or multiple user accounts.

What the release from Microsoft doesn't say is whether it's simply switched off the features it doesn't want users to have. It certainly doesn't seem as if it's a specifically designed version of Windows XP for these five countries, or is it three? µ

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