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____/ bbgruff on Monday 25 August 2008 13:03 : \____
> Linonut wrote:
>
>> * thufir peremptorily fired off this memo:
>>
>>> On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:20:14 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>>
>>>> Acer Cuts Price of Aspire one Subnotebook
>>>>
>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>> | The Windows XP version of the Aspire one now sells for $350, while the
>>>> | Linux-based version is $330.
>>>> `----
>>>>
>>>> http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=14312
>>>>
>>>> This can't be good for Microsoft's margins. They why they pursue new
>>>> business models like subscription and patent assaults that are
>>>> slanderous at best.
>>>
>>> It can't be that the cost differential for Acer is $20 per unit? That
>>> seems suspiciously low.
>>
>> Sounds like they're using Linux to enhance their profit margin.
>
> On first sight, yes.
>
> However, IIRC the price of XP Home (to the manufacturer) on these machines is
> in the order of $30. Then bear in mind the premium that pre-installation
> of "crapware" (pre-loaded 30-day trials, etc.) commands, and I can appreciate
> that pre-loaded Linux isn't going to be much cheaper, if at all, on
> the "headline price".
> By contrast, I look from time to time at Dell prices, and when I actually
> compare like-for-like I find that in the U.K. they seem to charge up to $100
> *more* for Linux rather than Windows! Presumably I'll be told that everybody
> wins if one buys a Windows machine and over-writes it with Linux, in that:-
>
> - Dell makes a profit on the Windows and the installation of crapware.
> - Microsoft makes a profit, and convinces Joe Public that
> Windows is cheap or "free" on a new machine
> - The Linux user gets a cheaper machine than buying one with Linux
> pre-loaded!
>
> However, what has cheered me throughout on pre-loaded Linux offerings is
> that, almost by definition, the manufacturer is selling a true "Linux-ready"
> machine.
...With Microsoft 'Linux tax' (codecs). As happy as I am that Dell sells these
Ubuntu boxes, it's probably better than just get a PC without an O/S (and
without Intel, NVidia).
When you buy a Ubuntu PC from Dell, Microsoft is still paid, by Fleundo at the
very least. Dell joined the Novell/Microsoft deal over a year ago.
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Windows Vistaster: Newly-coined Windows MEstake
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
14:20:01 up 35 days, 26 min, 3 users, load average: 0.38, 0.72, 0.73
http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project
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