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Thread: Nobody Cares About Windows XP N

  1. #1
    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Nobody Cares About Windows XP N

    A few months ago Microsoft got a wrist slapping, the mother of all fines from EU antitrust regulators, and were forced to produce a version of Windows XP without Media Player in it. The creative folks at Microsoft have called this new version "Windows XP N", though to be fair they did try to call it "Reduced Media Edition", but that didn't go down well with the regulators.

    XP N is now available to distributors, but according to a CNN story there's no interest in the product.
    "We'll continue to sell the old version because it's obviously better value for our customers," said Gina Jones, spokeswoman for PC World.
    Given that XP N is the same price as XP, yes, the old version is quite clearly better value, because it has Media Player installed. Anybody who doesn't want to use Media Player doesn't need to buy the version without it. All they have to do is install something else, so what's the point in buying a cut-down product?

    I'm also struggling to see how this helps Microsoft's competitors. Who are Microsoft's competitors? I use Winamp for audio and VLC for video. Winamp might have been competition, but development on it has essentially been canned now and VLC is a F/OSS affair, which I doubt was ever considered as a competitor.

    Furthermore, I'm surprised the EU got Microsoft to ditch a piece of DRM-happy software from their OS. What if XP N users start buying/downloading a less DRM'd piece of software from a "competitor"? I doubt that'll please the music and movie industries. Perhaps people will have to download and install Media Player onto their XP N OS so that they can listen to that DRM'd music file?

    The bottom line, as far as I see it, is that XP N is a pointless exercise which will probably result in more aggro.
    Last edited by Steve; 25-06-2005 at 12:43 PM.
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    Eccentric Trend setter
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    I'm surprised they didn't do this with IE years ago....poor Netscape

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    They tried, but apparently internet explorer is an integral part of the operating system, and to remove it would fundamentally break the entire os, so they gave us the option to "hide" it instead..

    Yeah right..
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    Why did the development for Winamp stopped? It is one of the most reliable player that will play anything you will throw at it. It also uses less memory then wmp and real. Sad isn't it ?

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    Cause AOL bought it.

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    The EU should have made MS charge less for it - why should I be forced to pay for MS' development costs for it when I don't use it.

    The IE thing was a great big scam by MS. I agree it can't easily be removed from Windows anymore, but back in the day it could. And its a deliberate welding of the two together since then that is causing 75 percent of current security woes on Windows

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    Personally, I would pay more for XP N. It would save me the hassle of totaly removing media player from XP.

    I just wish they would release an XP N-BS edition that was wildly stripped down (no software beyond what was need for the OS to run). I would pay alot more for that. Or they could just make XP embedded easier to get a hold of.

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    Xcelsion... In Disguise. Xaneden's Avatar
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    Really, N was only ever made to make the EU not look totally incapable and ineffective as far as forcing corporate law is concerned, and is only ever going to be uptaken by 'techies'. I doubt very much manufacturers would bundle N with new sytems unless it is an option during product configuration. I say this for the simple reason that "with media capabilities too!" can be added to a list of 'features' their PCs have, which of course appeals to novices (and I guess to an extent WMP users, though they'd have realised it is downloadable I'm imagine ).

    As a user of Winamp, I can safely say that the next version of Windows I purchase will have a 'N' after its name.
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  9. #9
    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oralpain
    Personally, I would pay more for XP N. It would save me the hassle of totaly removing media player from XP.
    My question is: why bother? I don't use WMP, but I haven't had to remove it to get other applications to work in its place.
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    we'll see about that... alterion's Avatar
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    well personally i would quite like a copy of n pro simpley cause i could then have windows pron edition on my pc.. but i doubt that would be the view of the general public
    AMD3000+ ATIX800XL + GBNF44x mobo.. all at stock because they're good enough atm + CA A1 amp-->Mission 73S Loigtech MX1000 + 1GB ram + 1/3 TB HD array
    Wintendo XP + Linux (when it works) .. just incase you were wondering

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    Quote Originally Posted by alterion
    well personally i would quite like a copy of n pro simpley cause i could then have windows pron edition on my pc.. but i doubt that would be the view of the general public
    I'm with you there, rotfl

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