Getting round regulatory regimes with Windows Vista
Lots of consideration of regulatory regimes and what they do to tech company’s products, especially Microsoft’s.
Ever heard of Windows N? It’s all the EU’s fault (what isn’t?)
Microsoft was “directed” (yes, we have to put up with that too) to offer a version of Windows without a bundled Media Player, as part of the European Commission’s order against the company last year. Windows XP N was available to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in mid-June.
How does this affect Windows Vista? Mini-Microsoft ~ the maverick insider ~ has a few ideas :
I’m not clear on the SKU* plan for Vista, but perhaps there is a stripped down “N”-ish version in there with all the basic components to program against but none of the executables present that we can provide for situations like this. I like the idea of “Mega” or “Max” or “Supah Premium” versions because they then do give value to the, ah, bundling of features out of the box and distinguish them from a monolithic operating system that governments object to. Choice begets wiggle room.
Quite. I thought I’d share that with you.
* SKU ~ Stock Keeping Unit. A common term for a unique numeric identifier, used most commonly in online business to refer to a specific product in inventory or in a catalog.
[Via News.com and Mini-microsoft]
