These special editions, released without the integrated Windows Media Player, will be available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish today to computer manufacturers. Retail and volume licensing channels will receive the "N" editions by next month.

The remaining European language versions, which include Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese and Swedish, will be made available by the middle of next month.

Last year, Microsoft was required by the European Commission to remove Windows Media Player in order to promote fair competition in that market.