Home Messages Index
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index

Re: [Rival] Signs of Weakness in Vista: Microsoft Does Clearance Sale

Linonut wrote:
> * Rex Ballard fired off this tart reply:
>
>> The crazy thing is that even though chip makers are freaking over low
>> chip volumes, PC makers are undewhelmed by the demand for Vista, and
>> have had to deeply discount even laptops to levels even lower than
>> prices at which XP machines were sold a year ago.  And yet Microsoft
>> is claiming 40% increases in volumes, revenues, and profts, most of
>> which were financed by Microsoft's interest-free flooring plans.
>
> Rex, is anyone writing a book about this stuff?  I know it all can't
> be true (can it?), but if even 1/8th of it has a factual basis, this
> would be a fascinating exposé on the desktop computing industry.

It's all Rex Ballard bullshit.  If you want information on chip sales, go to 
a reputable source like the Semiconductor Industry Assocation: 
http://www.sia-online.org/pre_release.cfm?ID=457

Rex goes to BestBuy and sees a sale on one laptop model that runs Vista and 
"concludes" all OEMs are deep-discounting because nobody wants Vista.  Right 
next to that sale system is a non-sale system running XP and he "concludes" 
XP is an upgrade to Vista.  And since that XP laptop might be able to run 
Linux, he concludes the manufacturer build it to be "Linux Ready" and is 
proof of manufacturers' supporting Linux.

On top of that weirdness, he continually concocts 'facts' about MS marketing 
out of thin air (from July 2007):

> Remember, even at "full price", Vista is
> about $30/copy to the big OEMs who make minimum commitments to buy 1
> million or more windows licenses per year.  And this is with none of
> the additional restrictions.
>
> The average Vista machine has already dropped in price by as much as
> $500, and some "high end" models have dropped as much as $1000 per
> machine.  Many models are already selling below cost less than 6
> months after the release of Vista - BECAUSE they are "Vista Only"
> machines.  They are just trying to get rid of them before they are
> completely obsolete.
>
> Microsoft's offers of discounts of $5/license if you use a DirectX-10
> card, $5/license for advertizing Co-Op (giving Microsoft control over
> content and placement of ads), and $5/license for exclusive control
> over the boot sequence - don't seem so attractive when you realize
> that accepting that $15 discount could cost you $500/machine in
> profits.
>
> Of course, in the short term, if the OEMs don't take these discounts,
> and pay a premium of $2/machine for the option of offering XP for
> another year, then Microsoft will actually get more revenue per
> machine.  It could be Microsoft's best year ever.

He made up every number and claim in the above 4 paragraphs.  He calls it 
being a 'Visionary for the Linux community'.




[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index