Windows XP and Office for $3, but there's a catch

Redmond holds its first red tag sale

There's a great old joke where Steve Ballmer goes into Gates's office and says "Hey, Bill, I've got some good news, and some bad news. The good news is that China is standardising on Windows XP. The bad news is that they've only bought one copy...."

This is an issue that raises lots of arguments because Microsoft has certainly benefited from piracy, which has helped to create a bigger market for Windows software and also made Microsoft file formats ubiquitous.

The company has certainly looked at a number of ways of trying to make Windows more affordable in less developed countries. Steve Ballmer once told me, to paraphrase, that if Microsoft could get some money for Windows, this would be better than getting no money, which is the case today.

Now it seems that "some money" could be as little as $3, which includes both Windows XP Starter Edition and the cheap version of Microsoft Office (Home and Student 2007). Bill Gates has just made the announcement in Beijing, China, according to a press release:

Through the Partners in Learning program, Microsoft today announced the Microsoft Student Innovation Suite, an affordable and reliable software package for governments purchasing and giving Windows-based PCs to primary and secondary students for their personal use at home and for schoolwork. The education suite includes Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office, and Windows Live Mail desktop.

But there's a catch:

Microsoft will offer this suite in the second half of 2007 for $3 (U.S.) to qualifying governments that purchase and supply PCs directly to students. More information about the offer is available at http://www.microsoft.com/unlimitedpotential/MSIS

This could be a terrific deal because it can be used with refurbished PCs -- ones often donated by Western countries -- and because it could be a huge help to small, local PC manufacturers in third world countries.

However, there are not going to be enough takers to make a dent in the 200 million or so pirate copies of Windows out there today. To give you some idea of the scale of the problem, there are roughly 10 times as many pirate copies in use than there are copies of Mac OS X. And those pirate copies are a problem because they are not secure. Under the circumstances, it's no surprise how big botnets are: it's amazing they are not much bigger.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2007/04/19/
windows_xp_and_office_for_3_but_theres_a_catch.html