14 DAY TRIAL // Windows XP Starter Edition in 2004 together with Windows Vista Starter in 2007 are an integer part of Microsoft's Windows Starter initiative designed to deliver technology to 139 developing countries around the world. Today, Microsoft revealed that Windows Starter has touched the lives of over 2 million people. Windows XP Starter Edition has the lion's share of the 2 million Windows Starter licenses sold as the Redmond Company is yet to ship Windows Vista Starter edition.
"The response to Windows Starter has been amazing," says Mike Wickstrand, director of Product Management, Microsoft Market Expansion Group. "We achieved the 1 million milestone in September 2006, two years after the product's inception, but that number doubled in just six months. This growing demand drives us to constantly evolve Windows Starter to meet the needs of our customers."
Microsoft's Starter initiative has come a long way since 2004, when Windows Windows XP Starter Edition was originally introduced in Thailand. Currently, XP Starter is available in no less than 24 languages across the world. Subsequently, Vista Starter will speak a total of 59 languages across the same 139 developing markets that first saw Windows XP Starter.
The Redmond Company has characterized Windows Starter as a passport to a digital society. The Starter edition of Windows XP and Vista are stripped down versions of the most basic versions of the two operating systems addressing people that otherwise could not afford access to such technology.
"For example, the Russian-language edition of Starter features a simple, two-minute tutorial on getting started with a mouse. Engaging visual images and a voice-over in Russian combine to teach basic skills that are critical to a beginner, such as rolling the mouse across a mouse pad and clicking the buttons to acquire on-screen targets, and how to choose items from drop-down menus. Similarly, a version of Windows Starter available in India features a quick and easy how-to on printing from a PC for the first time. Colorful graphics, dialog boxes and on-screen menus, coupled with a voice-over in Hindi, guide the novice user through the simple steps of cable connection," revealed Microsoft.