Chennai:
Gartner, the leading research and analyst firm, is recommending
potential users to steer clear of Microsoft's Windows
XP Starter Edition (XPSE) until the company provides
room to grow with the user.
Microsoft has announced that it would begin offering
the less-expensive version of Windows XP to three countries
in Asia — Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. However,
Gartner warns that Windows XPSE for emerging markets,
which contains new functionality targeted at first-time
users, is unlikely to help in the fight against piracy
and in fact may encourage potential customers to buy
the full version of Windows XP Home from a software
pirate.
According to Dion Wiggins, vice president and research
director at Gartner, "Microsoft could have made
a big difference with this product, but is more likely
to be seen as pushing the upgrade path and frustrating
users rather than delivering the value that this product
is capable of, due to unnecessary limitations."
He adds, "Fortunately XPSE is still in beta so
it is not too late to make changes before the October
launch."
According to Gartner, Microsoft has made the mistake
of focusing on first-time users and not first-time owners.
"Many citizens who do not own a PC are already
familiar with basic PC use from cyber-cafes and schools,"
says Martin Gilliland, principal analyst at Gartner.
"XPSE is likely to frustrate these users as it
is not delivering the same quality experience due to
the limitations imposed and the failure to allow the
operating system to grow with users as they gain experience.
We believe this will result in increased piracy as Microsoft
has no upgrade path unless users pay full retail price
for the Windows XP Home edition."
According to Gilliland, Microsoft has put significant
effort into its XPSE having studied 1,000 first-time
users in Thailand for almost a year following the launch
of the Thai ICT PC programme last year.
As a result, a number of new features that help first-time
users have been added including a new support centre,
tutorials on how to use the mouse and beginners' guides
to using Windows and common applications. A number of
features that are of little relevance to a first-time
user - such as those that simplify overall use such
as file and print sharing and local area network support,
have also been removed from the operating system.
"While Microsoft should be commended for these
efforts, they fall far short in other areas," said
Wiggins.
"The
most significant is the deliberate crippling of the
operating system to allow just three applications to
run at any one time. Microsoft claims this provides
a simpler end-user experience. But if a user were to
run Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Microsoft Instant Messenger
and an Email client they could not open a web browser
or anything else for that matter."
The cut-down version of the XP operating system also
restricts the hardware the end-users can run. XPSE will
not recognise more than 128MB or RAM or 40GB of HDD.
On top of this the maximum video resolution is set at
800 x 600.
Wiggins added that although XPSE ships with XP SP2 installed,
Microsoft has also failed to address security issues
such as ongoing patch distribution on slow and expensive
connections and anti-virus. He said the company had
also failed to provide the user with any education in
these areas.
"While
Microsoft has made great improvements for the first-time
user experience, it still fails to meet the most basic
needs," said Gilliland.
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