November 19, 2005

Windows XP "N" Not Selling

Thie outcome would come as no surprise to Threesources regulars.

    Three of the largest PC vendors worldwide and a major UK retail store still have no plans to sell Microsoft's media player-free version of Windows, almost six months after it was released.

    Microsoft started offering a version of Windows without a bundled media-player, known as Windows XP N, in June this year, to comply with last year's antitrust ruling by the European Commission.


Windows Media Player has always been a free (as in money) product. Free to download, free to use.

Given that the differential cost between Windows XP with WMP installed and Windows XP N (WMP not installed) is ZERO, and you end up having to download WMP anyway, what's the point?

It's not like Microsoft was making any money on selling you the media player.

Such stupidity can only spring from the loins of government.

    A European Commission spokesman refused to comment on the Microsoft antitrust case on Thursday. In June, when ZDNet UK questioned the EC about the lack of interest in Windows XP N, a spokesman said it was "too early to start drawing conclusions".

It boggles the mind that this experiment would even be allowed to run.
    The continuing reluctance of PC vendors to sell Windows XP N raises serious questions over the effectiveness of the EU's antitrust ruling, particularly as Microsoft has been allowed to offer Windows XP N for the same price as the standard version of Windows XP.

How can a vendor be "reluctant" to sell a product no one wants to buy?

Am I losing my mind? I'm not an economist, but this doesn't strike me as that complicated.

Economics and Markets Posted by AlexC at November 19, 2005 3:11 PM

It's certainly not economics you lack, you just fail to understand collectivists. The EU bureaucrats count this as a win because they harmed Microsoft.

Bringing the powerful corporation "down a peg" is just as good to them as successfully helping a European corporation.

I wish I could simply blame the EU. This all started on our bonny shores when Jim Clarke of Netscape hired a bunch of lobbyists (including Senator Bob Dole) to try to achieve the same goal here.

Hate Wal*Mart, hate Microsoft, hate Starbucks. Big + Successful = Evil.

Posted by: jk at November 20, 2005 12:22 PM

Right after posting this comment a friend emails a CEI study on Wal*Mart.

http://www.cei.org/gencon/003,04993.cfm

Well worth a read, but the one sentence summary is that Schumpeterian Gales in American retail have always disturbed competitors and critics, yet innovation always pays off for consumers.

Posted by: jk at November 20, 2005 12:51 PM | What do you think? [2]