By any other name

As Todd Bishop noted, the clunky monikers for the Media Player-less versions of Windows that Microsoft is required to sell in Europe -- "Windows XP Home Edition N" and "Windows XP Professional Edition N" -- sound "like something a regulator would come up with."

Actually, they were picked by the European Commission after it rejected a short list of 10 alternatives submitted by the company. After seeing that list, which includes the even clunkier "Windows XP not incorporating Windows Media Player" and mystifying labels like "Windows OS/C," I have to say that I'm with the bureaucrats on this one.