Is a stripped down version of Windows possible? In the Unsettling States' version of the antitrust trial (the full, unexpurgated version, as opposed to the DoJ's Antitrust Lite) Princeton University professor Andrew Appel argued this week that it is, basing his opinion on the existence of Windows XP Embedded.
XP Embedded is designed for use in cash registers, slot machines, ticket machines and the like, does not include Internet Explorer, and is described by Microsoft as "modular." From this, Appel extrapolates that XP Embedded's ability to have components removed and Microsoft's description of it as modular means that Windows XP itself must be modular. "I am of the opinion that the code underlying Microsoft's software platform products is most likely written in modular fashion... the modules serving to support Microsoft's middleware should be removable without causing disruption to the functionality of the remaining operating system."
|