THEY SAY NO GOOD DEED goes unpunished. Microsoft's mission to bring cheap Windows to the Asian masses has got off to a very slow start. Windows XP Starter Edition, a cut down version of the full OS, debuted in Thailand last October, and Malaysia and Indonesia in February. But Microsoft’s grand plan to deliver low-cost computing to the developing world has had a lukewarm response from the all important local system builder community. The product is not sold at retail, so depends totally on buy-in from partner companies who are supposed to be bundling and promoting the software as part of their low end offer.
