Less is less.
Microsoft seemed to put that message right into the name of its latest Windows version: Windows XP Reduced Media Edition.
Ordered by European regulators to sell a version of Windows without a built-in media player and denied a stay on Wednesday from an appeals court, Microsoft said it will deliver both Home and Professional versions of the scaled-back operating system to computer makers in January. The Reduced Media editions will be available only in Europe.
Microsoft group product manager Matt Pilla said the company wanted to be as clear as possible about what customers are -- or aren't -- getting. "As descriptive as we can be in the name, to reduce confusion, the better," Pilla said.
In addition to lacking a copy of Windows Media Player, the new version of Windows won't be able to do things like play a CD or MP3 file or transfer music to a portable device -- at least not without additional software from another company. Among the limited media features that do remain are the ability to play .wav files using Sound Recorder as well as a moviemaking program that is separate from Windows Media Player.
"This is the first time we are being required to offer to consumers a version of Windows that provides them with less value rather than more," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said in an interview on Wednesday.
Customers who opt for the media-player-free version won't be getting a bargain. The EU ordered that Microsoft couldn't charge more for the version sans player, but it didn't say that Microsoft had to charge less.
"I am anticipating that it will be offered on exactly the terms that the court's -- I should say that the Commission's -- decision permits it to be offered, which is the same price as the version of Windows that we offer today," Smith said during a conference call with reporters.
Those who do want the version will also have to head to Europe, as Microsoft said it does not plan to offer the software elsewhere.
"We have no plans to offer this version of Windows outside of the European Economic Area at this time, and I don't expect we'll have any such plans in the future," Smith told reporters. The EEA includes the European Union countries as well as Switzerland and Norway.
Smith said Microsoft has been working on developing the stripped-down version of Windows in advance of Wednesday's ruling.
"We've had technical teams working very hard over a series of months now on all of those steps, and there will be some additional work for the final stages of testing this additional version of Windows, but I think it's fair to say that most of the technical work is behind us," Smith said. "We do have some final stages ahead."
Microsoft said that all of the things that are supposed to work do work, though it still expects support calls from customers expecting features that aren't there.
"There's things that a customer is going to expect that won't work," said Dave Fester, general manager of Microsoft's Windows consumer unit, in an interview. "Customers [using] all operating systems have come to expect certain base functionality, whether it is Windows, Mac or Linux."
Smith did not say what the exact price tag will be for complying with the EU order, but did say "It's not the kind of cost figure that one would consider to be material for a company the size of Microsoft."
Talkback
Fantastic! What else can they throw out? There's so much MS rubbish cluttering up my computer I can't get rid of.
Now can we get rid of IE, Messenger, Movie Maker and the rest please?
Why do I suspect that MS will make this scaled-back version as unappealing as possible?
"In addition to lacking a copy of Windows Media Player, the new version of Windows won't be able to do things like play a CD."
Does this mean that MS is going to remove the stand-alone CDPlayer.exe program too? That would just be plain silly, unless it's MS's intent to sell as few copies of this new version while still being seen to comply with the EU's Ruling. Then presumably MS would point to the dismal sales figures and the costs of creating the new version, and turn around and say "See? We told you so! This was never in the customers' best interest, and we have been damaged as a result!"
And can those who buy the scaled-down version still download and install Windows Media Player from the MS website, should they so choose? This would seem like an important part of placing WMP on an equal footing with its competitors.
All rather curious when every Linux release I have tried includes a host of Open Source add-ins providing the same features that Microsoft has been required to dump.
I am looking forward to my next optional SUSE release package of just the Linux core ...
This whole rulling is a non-sense.
So lets say Microsoft deliver a version of windows without IE, Media Player and a whole host of other features, will they really sell it cheaper than Win XP pro with these features?
It's crazy, If you buy the "full" editon you get them, if you don't you can go and download them from the MS website FOC anyway (perhaps)? Maybe MS will make them available on some kind of subscription if you want to download them?
People like it with the extra features because it's easiest for them. Those that don't want them or don't want to use them, seem to be the ones who are anti-microsoft, or who choose not to and search the web for free or low-cost alternatives.
I see the argument, for all this, but ultimately people go with what's convienient. And that's why the MS O/S is popular.
Clearly the EU doesn't understand how to deal with convicted organizations like Microsoft. Maybe the EU even forgot why Microsoft was convicted in the first place.
That, or Microsoft is forcing the issue to see if the EU is bluffing or not.
I might be wrong but at first look it seems that a monopoly market position will be abused again.
In short: we would have a re-offender on our hands then.
Words that come to mind are: do want to life in the spirit of the law or to the letter of the law?