Windows N++?

Bloomberg: Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, threatened to pull its Windows operating system from South Korea if antitrust regulators order the company to remove programming for instant message and movie player services.

I have nothing to do with any of this, but I still have an opinion as a stock holder and speaking as a non-employee: I have to say I’d rather see a response like this, over the than the response that came out of the WMP concerns of the European Union (EU) that resulted in the development of Windows XP N.

What is Windows XP N? Exactly my point.

Windows XP N is a version of XP doesn’t include the Windows Media Player, out of the box. A user can still download it, of course, and the thought process of the EU is… um. I don’t know what the thought process is. I mean, Apple bundles all types of applications with their OS; no one cares. Apple has a monopoly on their hardware and software combination; no one cares. iPod’s can’t download music from any store but Apple’s: no one cares. I don’t understand the backlash over a media player, but whatever.

What is already obvious, post the roll out of Windows XP N, is that the Europeans don’t care about it either, if the Internet reports are to be believed at Download Squad who got the article from SlashDot. So here’s a situation that cost Microsoft a bunch of money without a promise of gain. They had to defend themselves in the courts of the EU over – what I think – was a pointless claim. They were forced to produce a special and unplanned edition of Windows for a specific community, when they did. That the community in question shows little to no interested in it, preferring to stick with the full version of Windows XP, is what makes it even more laughable.

Now yet another community is up in arms for what I consider to be another “unacceptable” demand, because again: having WMP or IM is a non-issue to the end user. If you don’t like the applications, you can uninstall them. I mean what makes for a better user experience, if we want to defend the end user? Out of the box, click on a movie link and get a 404? “Oh, now you have to go download a player!” How does that make life better for the end users? If you want to use another media player, go get one! I have four media players: WMP, WinAMP5, iTunes, and QuickTime. They can all co-exist. I don’t like Real, so I don’t install them. I forgot which one came with my ThinkPad, but it wasn’t just WMP, so OEM’s are obviously including additional software on their own. On the IM front, on my home machine I have Windows Messenger, MSN-IM, Yahoo! Messenger, and AOL’s IM. What’s exactly is the problem here?!

I don’t know how the business situation will eventually shake out, but I have to admit that I’m glad to see some push back on this, in the beginning. From a business point of view, I’d rather not see another version of XP created, solely for a politically charged – in the business sense, not governmental – reason.

I mean, sure, if they could guarantee a market for it, fine, but look at the results from EU’s uptake on XP N – ugh. That shouldn’t be allowed to happen again.


2 thoughts on “Windows N++?”

  1. You have to understand where the EU was coming from – this place is ruled by people who have rules about the degree to which a banana can bend before it’s “acceptable” for sale to it’s citizens. I live in the EU and didn’t even know WXP N existed. Had I known, i certainly wouldn’t have bought it. What’s the point.

  2. Hey, in Connecticut, a pickle that doesn’t bounce cannot be sold as a pickel – there’s all kinds of stupid little laws floating around our respective cultures, but the simple fact is that this one caused a company I’ve invested in to lose a LOT of money with no return. I agree: what’s the point.


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