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Microsoft is jumping on the low-cost PC bandwagon, by offering free software to Martha Lane Fox's scheme to get cheap PCs to Britain's broadband have-nots.
The "E-cycle" project will see refurbished PCs sold to people on low incomes, in a bid to reduce the figure of nine million Britons who don't have access to the internet.
The PCs are currently being supplied with Ubuntu 10.10 Linux to keep hardware costs below £100 for a Pentium 4 2.7GHz PC with a 15in flat panel monitor.
However, a spokesman for Remploy-UK, which is co-ordinating the scheme, said that a "popular Microsoft operating system" will be available "within a couple of weeks" at "no extra cost".
That will almost certainly be Windows 7 Starter, a restricted version of Windows which Microsoft introduced as a low-cost alternative to Linux, primarily for the netbook market.
Mobile broadband
The broadband part of the scheme is currently being supplied by mobile network 3, which is offering pay-as-you-go mobile broadband for £9 per month, or £18 per quarter.
However, with 3 itself admitting that its average broadband speed is a mere 1.5Mbits/sec, users may prefer to wait for the forthcoming fixed-line package, which the Remploy spokesman told us should be announced in a fortnight or so.
With fixed and mobile broadband providers offering "free" new laptops with long-term contracts, why should people pay up-front for hardware?
Aside from the additional cost of those contract options, which usually start at around £25 per month, the Remploy spokesperson said the scheme is "targeting low-income families and people on benefits, who haven't got the credit rating to get a fixed-term package."