Windows Vista is known to be released on the 30th of this month and one product of the Windows Vista family, i.e. Windows Vista Starter is also schedule to be released on the same day. The role of this Windows Vista Starter is primarily to attract the consumers mainly from the developing countries. According to an article of CNet, it is similar in concept to the Windows XP Starter Edition that Microsoft announced in June 2003: a version of the operating system that can run on lower-end processors, in numerous languages, with extra tutorials bundled for customers who may be used PCs for the first time. In addition, this Windows Vista Starter was designed to the needs of South-East Asia, Russia, India, and etc. developing countries. It will also available in 70 languages in order to facilitate the learning processes of the users that buy this Vista version. As expected, as this Vista Starter version is designed for developing countries, for those users that live in United States, Canada, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, or other high income markets as defined by the World Bank, they will not get this version in their own countries. However, the price for this version is yet to confirmed by Microsoft.

In term of the brand name, i.e. Windows Vista Starter, I think the name of this version, its objective is aligned with the strategic marketing goals of Microsoft, i.e. Starter aimed for starters that live in developing countries. However, I believed most people that should not be coined as starters, they want the “ultimate”. Any specific and technical knowledge can be learned if one has the desire to that.