It looks like Microsoft is feeling the Linux heat. Faced with having a million Linux users in Thailand they have announced a program to have XP light (broken). The inital program is going to be in Thailand, India, Russia and Indonesia and is only for desktop computers.

Users can have up to three programs and three windows per program running concurrently. A display resolution set to 800 x 600 maximum and no support for PC-to-PC home networking, sharing printers across a network or more advanced features such as the ability to establish multiple user accounts on a single PC.

It is interesting to note that back in 1996 Windows accounted for 5% to 6% of building a PC and today the OS accounts for 12% to 15%. Unlikely, but maybe this is a step in the right direction. Maybe used laptop users will have a lower cost option in the future, as it appears to be priced at 1500 Thai Baht, or about $38 US.