Microsoft moving beyond once-price-fits-all strategy

The long-running legal battles between Microsoft Corp. and governments in Europe and the United States make the company look like a partner in a bad marriage, ready to walk out and call the divorce lawyer.

But in Southeast Asia, the software giant seems more like an ardent suitor, wooing governments with sweet promises and gifts -- such as unprecedented bargain prices on its Windows operating system.

Microsoft executives suggest that pricing policies for government-promoted PC sales pioneered last year in Thailand and used again in Malaysia this year presage a new marketing approach for emerging markets.

So far, the localized versions consist of Windows XP minus English language support. The company also has hinted that it's developing a kind of "XP Lite," a leaner Windows with features more appropriate to developing countries where "high tech" is not a reality of everyday life.

Microsoft executives are themselves being lean with details, citing competitive strategy. But they're willing to discuss the concept.

"This is a new market with very different needs, from an economic perspective, from a social perspective, from a technical perspective," Barry Goff, group product manager for Windows Client group, said in a telephone interview from company headquarters in Redmond, Washington.