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  • I am shocked. Shocked I tell you.

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    PC makers snub Windows sans media player
    Published: June 15, 2005, 8:08 AM PDT
    By Ingrid Marson
    Special to CNET News.com
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    Four major PC makers have no plans to sell the media-player-free version of Windows, which Microsoft was ordered to offer by Europe's competition commissioner.

    Microsoft will make an updated version of Window XP N available on Wednesday, but none of the computer manufacturers that ZDNet UK spoke to are considering preinstalling it on desktops or laptops.

    Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Fujitsu Siemens all said they have no firm plans to install Windows XP N, citing a lack of customer demand. A Dell representative added Tuesday that customers expect to have a media player included.
    Windows N

    "Dell will continue to offer European customers Microsoft's Windows operating systems including the Windows Media Player utility on Dimension desktops and Inspiron notebooks," the representative said.

    "Customers purchase computers expecting them to come equipped with the capability of playing back digital media files, and it's our obligation to meet this need. (Windows XP N will) not (be offered) at this time. We'll monitor the market to see if XP N is in high demand."

    Lenovo, which last month completed its purchase of IBM's PC division, and HP expressed similar sentiments.

    "At this time, HP has no plans to support Windows XP Professional Edition N on commercial notebooks in 2005," said an HP representative.

    A Lenovo representative said: "At present we have no plans to preinstall Windows XP N on desktops and laptops. We will continue to monitor customer demand going forward."

    The only company that conceded it may preinstall Windows XP N was Fujitsu Siemens, which said it would do so on request. "We will not preinstall as standard," said a Fujitsu Siemens representative. "It will only be on special requests, and we have had no such request from any of our customers to date."

    Acer, another PC manufacturer, has been unable to provide a comment on this issue during the past week.

    The lack of interest from computer manufacturers for Windows XP N raises questions over the effectiveness of the EU's antitrust ruling, particularly the fact that Microsoft has been allowed to offer Windows XP N for the same price as the standard version of Windows XP.
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    A European Commission representative was reluctant to comment on the issue. "Given that Windows XP N has not even been shipped yet, it is too early to start drawing conclusions," he said.

    Microsoft said it bears no responsibility for making PC manufacturers use Windows XP N.

    "Microsoft has made these products available through its standard distribution channels," a company representative said. "Whether or not customers or distributors offer this product in Europe is a decision for individual computer manufacturers, enterprise customers and retailers."

    One of Microsoft's rivals in the media player market, RealNetworks, criticized Microsoft earlier this year for failing to provide a fully functional version of Windows that is unbundled from Windows Media Player.

    RealNetworks declined to comment on the updated version of Windows XP N.
    Apparently PC makers see no incentive to bundle a Windows without WMP on their computers, because...customers want a media player by default?

    Jesus christ, who could have had the foresight to see this?

    I honestly expected all of the major manufacturers to switch to the crippled version, since it costs the same with less features!

    Europe.
    "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
    Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

  • #2
    Oh, Asher -- be sure you don't insult anyone in this thread.
    A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

    Comment


    • #3
      IMO everyone should boycott Europe, because the decision to force MS to release a WMP-less OS is unethical.

      Who's with me?!
      "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
      Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

      Comment


      • #4
        Probably the Bush Administration.
        "I predict your ignore will rival Ben's" - Ecofarm
        ^ The Poly equivalent of:
        "I hope you can see this 'cause I'm [flipping you off] as hard as I can" - Ignignokt the Mooninite

        Comment


        • #5
          Yeah! Europe should have done much worse things to MS! Those wimps!
          If you don't like reality, change it! me
          "Oh no! I am bested!" Drake
          "it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong" Voltaire
          "Patriotism is a pernecious, psychopathic form of idiocy" George Bernard Shaw

          Comment


          • #6
            Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Fujitsu Siemens all said they have no firm plans to install Windows XP N, citing a lack of customer demand.
            That's mighty interesting, seeing that it hasn't been for sale yet.
            (\__/) 07/07/1937 - Never forget
            (='.'=) "Claims demand evidence; extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." -- Carl Sagan
            (")_(") "Starting the fire from within."

            Comment


            • #7
              Yes, because companies never do any sort of research before releasing new stuff.

              They just throw whatever it is out there and hope that it does well.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by ixnay
                Yes, because companies never do any sort of research before releasing new stuff.

                They just throw whatever it is out there and hope that it does well.
                Maybe you can cite some researches on this Windows N or whatever its name is.
                (\__/) 07/07/1937 - Never forget
                (='.'=) "Claims demand evidence; extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." -- Carl Sagan
                (")_(") "Starting the fire from within."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Maybe you can tell us how often businesses release its marketing research to the general public

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I would gladly buy a Windows without Media Player. Save me the effort of untangling it from everything.
                    Voluntary Human Extinction Movement http://www.vhemt.org/

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      it costs $ to have 2 versions of marchines with different pre-installed windows. so they are just giving excuses on not spending those $...
                      Co-Founder, Apolyton Civilization Site
                      Co-Owner/Webmaster, Top40-Charts.com | CTO, Apogee Information Systems
                      giannopoulos.info: my non-mobile non-photo news & articles blog

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        They should've forced M$ to charge less for the WMP-free version.
                        Why can't you be a non-conformist just like everybody else?

                        It's no good (from an evolutionary point of view) to have the physique of Tarzan if you have the sex drive of a philosopher. -- Michael Ruse
                        The Nedaverse I can accept, but not the Berzaverse. There can only be so many alternate realities. -- Elok

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          How do you determine the fair market value of WMP? You can download it for free after all.
                          Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Who said anything about "fair"?
                            Why can't you be a non-conformist just like everybody else?

                            It's no good (from an evolutionary point of view) to have the physique of Tarzan if you have the sex drive of a philosopher. -- Michael Ruse
                            The Nedaverse I can accept, but not the Berzaverse. There can only be so many alternate realities. -- Elok

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Asher called Europe 'unethical'. Ban him!
                              Speaking of Erith:

                              "It's not twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham" - Linda Smith

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