Netbooks Take a Bite Out of Windows Profits 221
twitter writes "Analysts at Bloomberg noticed the tumble in Microsoft's traditional software sales last quarter and blamed it on netbooks: 'The devices, which usually cost less than $500, are the fastest-growing segment of the personal-computer industry — a trend that's eating into Microsoft's revenue. Windows sales fell short of forecasts last quarter and the company cut growth projections for the year, citing the lower revenue it gets from netbooks. When makers of the computers do use Windows, they typically opt for older and cheaper versions of the software. Equipping Linux on a computer costs about $5, compared with $40 to $50 for XP and about $100 for Vista, according to estimates by Jenny Lai, a Taipei-based analyst at CLSA Ltd.' This is why MS declared war on the segment last year and palm top computers in previous years. While they may have successfully tamed the Asus EEE PC, they can't hold back everyone who wants to make a buck on cheap hardware and free software. Analysts have predicted the fall of MS's business model when computers break below $250/unit retail. We are there now, and it has shown in the bottom line."
Why make it more complicated than it really is? (Score:5, Insightful)
The economy (U.S. and the world) has slowed. Why would Microsoft be bucking the trend?
Re:Why make it more complicated than it really is? (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft is regarded as a utility stock these days - in a recession, people still need computers as they aren't the luxury item they once were.
Also China and India are much bigger than USA and Europe, and those markets are still growing, at a slightly slower rate than before. That ought to more than counteract any decline in western economies.
Re:Why make it more complicated than it really is? (Score:5, Insightful)
Lots of talk of late about moving to less frequent refresh cycles. The bathtub graph of failures is more like a hockey stick, and the PCs in place have the processing power to meet people's needs throughout the current fiscal difficulty.
Software support is of course an issue, but there are no fixes for this either on offer or projected through FY2011.
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I'll add to parent's post with another point:
It seems to me that hardware vendors for PC components have been so competitive compared to software creators that they've shot themselves in the foot by making such powerful devices.
Let's face it. Several things have caused software development to take a steep nose dive in terms of innovation over the years. Some blame lies with business practices such as MicroSoft's well known "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" or even the way Apple bans competing applications on
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Not a single game since Crysis came out comes close to taxing the system
Ever try FlightSim 10?
The guys who run it, also run a pile of addons like real world weather, ATC, virtual 3d cockpits and the rest.
Even FS9 on directx 9 sucks on a 3.2P4 with 2gb ram with the best 3D card - maybe 20fps.
FS10 or FSX as it is known, can barely do 10fps.
3D card/systems comparisons generally avoid the FS game as it is very demanding on all systems.
Re:Why make it more complicated than it really is? (Score:4, Interesting)
Somebody doesn't like you in moderator land but you're perfectly right -- though I wouldn't dig all the way back to the PIII and the PII is way too far. I'm a packrat and even I have given up on stuff that old. That an OS is useful on hardware that old is no longer even indicative of what it can do on the lowest power modern gear. It's of historical interest, and embedded platform interest, only. Maybe as unit tests for prelaunch satellites, though I understand they prefer BSD.
The Atom PC at 35 watts is ideal for emerging markets, cheapo PHBs and treehuggers. It runs all the decent business software just fine, works with the latest technologies like SATA and PCIe, and burns less coal-powered watts than the dimmest desk lamp bulb. In comparison a P4 3.6GHz blows enough amps to power a pair of hot halogen floods.
This is important in the US if you want to evince energy independence. It's even more important in emerging markets where if you want to build out a call center you have to provide the watts yourself.
But the Atom not only doesn't run Windows Vista well - it doesn't run it in any acceptable way and Windows 7 will be "less bad" but still not useful.
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Even firms that nee
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"Also China and India are much bigger than USA and Europe, and those markets are still growing, at a slightly slower rate than before. That ought to more than counteract any decline in western economies."
Yes, but in China a copy of windows can be purchased for 5-10 RMB (about $.80-$1.20). Some of the people I work for went on a quest for a legitimate copy of Windows and Office. Here on a campus of over 50,000 people there was not a single legitimate copy, not one.
The quest continued. What we finally discove
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It's much better than the alternative. China is addicted to MS Windows just like the rest of the world. The fact that they aren't paying for it is irrelevant, because it still helps reinforce the Windows monopoly in the rest of the world, and that enormous audience still represents potential future revenue, once MS decides they really want it.
Now imagine if Windows weren't widely pirated in China. Would Chinese people pay a good fraction of a month's salary for a copy? Hell no! The entire place would have e
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You get modded interesting. When I suggested that companies such as microsoft would not be allowed(by the govt.) to die because of their influence on the market I was called a troll. What a difference a day makes ! All I got was accusations of re-distributing wealth and I should just let them die, no matter the consequences for the helpless people who HAVE THEIR PENSION INVESTED IN THEM !
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Microsoft is regarded as a utility stock these days - in a recession, people still need computers as they aren't the luxury item they once were.
I'd argue that anybody doing this is making a mistake. Utility stocks tend to be stable because it takes some massive changes for somebody to use less water, fewer kwh, lower amounts of gas during the winter, etc...
In comparison, not paying the microsoft tax is rather easy. Simply stop buying a computer every 2 years, extend it to 3. If you're on a 3-4 year schedule, extend it a year or two.
Don't buy the vista upgrade. Consider Linux for your business.
Microsoft is about as much a utility as a car manufa
Re:Why make it more complicated than it really is? (Score:4, Informative)
They never followed the standards before, why would they start now?
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Because twitter and his sockpuppets fancied a troll and its Saturday so there wasn't much else to stick up!
Re:Why make it more complicated than it really is? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because it really is a part of a trend. I just got one of the el-cheapo Acer Aspire one. It's got a 160gig drive, a dual core processor, a 1024X400 screen that is brighter than any laptop I have ever seen (LED instead of the crappy CFL as well.
This thing is really fast, really small, and cost me less than $350.00 at WALMART of all places. It does more and has better specs than my new Dell laptop from 2 years ago and cost 1/4 the price.
Microsoft better be scared, because the high end one like this has XP on it and not vista. and that is how it was marketed to me, "you want these laptops because they do not come with vistal.. Vista is something you want to stay away from."
Yes it's walmart, but even if the minimum wage know nothing about computers sales guy at walmart is telling people that vista sucks, then it is hurting microsoft... And I bought the high end aspire one.. most of them come with linux (a variant that sucks) and with ubuntu having a distro coming out just for these tiny pc's that is brain dead easy to install from a thumb drive, I can see joe sixpack installing ubuntu on his new pocket sized laptop he got for cheap.
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a 1024X400 screen
I trust it has a mighty scroll wheel!
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That screen would be 1024x600, and the processor is only a single core with hyperthreading. I should think that your Dell laptop from two years ago has a faster processor if nothing else.
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Thanks for the correction on the screen, and that means the sales guy lied to me, each me to not read the full online specs. Time to go kill a sales guy, Nahh. for this cheap I really dont care. It plays Command and Conquer Generals as well as bzflag incredibly well. I've been kicking a coworkers butt in operations meeting bzflag tourneys for a week now.
It feels quicker, but then that could be the effects of a 2 year old XP install in that laptop as well. I have not reformatted and reinstalled that w
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Totally off topic, but I'm posting from an Aspire One right now too, and I paid the same you did.
Awesome machine. If Microsoft suffers greatly reduced profits when someone sells one, Microsoft is in serious trouble.
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The economy ? How about the fact that Vista is a complete flop ?
If anything's taking a bite out of Windows profits, it's the release of their worst-ever operating system.
Chill dude. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's slashdot, don't take it so seriously. You're allowed to say M$. You're allowed to hang out here when the pub's shut and there's nothing on TV.
Vista is a failure by most standards and Microsoft's OS monopoly is gradually being eroded. This recession is helping.
Vista only "sells" because PeeCees come with it installed by default. Don't kid yourself that the situation has changed in the last few years. MS still has a monopoly and uses every dirty trick in the book to keep competing operating systems off of new machines.
Also, remember that a substantial proportion of new (Vista) machines get reinstalled with Windows XP legally or not.
Never mind, the future is bright. Windows 7 will come with 256 threads, comrade. Double-plus good!
My Communist-Anti-American-Virus-Cancer Linux PeeCees eat 256 threads for breakfast. So do my All-American Sun SPARC/Solaris boxes. 10 lines of C says so.
I don't like Microsoft, and I hate Windows. Bill Gates, Steve Balmer et. al. are a bunch of crooks. I'm human, I have opinions. Twitter's cool. It's allowed opinions, and it's nice to see them amongst the pro-M$ apology this site has become.
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Vista is a failure by most standards and Microsoft's OS monopoly is gradually being eroded. This recession is helping.
I'm sorry, but an OS that racks up that number of orders, pre-installed or otherwise, is not a failure on any level. Something many anti-vista people forget when they knee-jerk the response "sales != installs" is that yes! You're right! There's a tonne more people that have pirated it too, and thus swing the figure the other way.
In my honest opinion, there's two things that Vista did badly; 1, released too early (for reasons that constitute their own debate), and 2, not enough work done on trimming fat so i
Re:Chill dude. (Score:5, Informative)
I have not confused cores with threads. Cores are simply individual CPUs integrated on to a chip. AMD and intel are currently up to 4 on a chip. Sun does 8 on a chip (with 8 thread contexts per core).
Solaris, Linux and many other unixes have been scaling (not merely being just "aware of") many more that 256 CPUs (call them cores) for well over a decade.
Do some googling. Solaris especially and linux scale almost linearly to thousands of CPUs per system today. To say that Windows' performance is embarrassing in this respect would be an understatement.
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Uh, why would this *particular metric* be embarrassing?
If you look at boot time or responsiveness Linux and Windows are significanty worst than BeOS was (yes, I've read about Arjan de Van Jen work on Linux's boot time, but until it's part of distribution and works with the majority of PC it's not very useful), in terms of desktop market share Linux is tiny compared to Windows, etc.
Face it, each OS has its strong point and its weak point..
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I know what a core is. I thought you were referring to software threads per process, not core thread contexts. Apologies.
Re:You should not. (Score:5, Insightful)
180 million sales! And at least some of those were actually activated and are actually in use!
Microsoft have the precise number of Vista machines in the wild - it's the number hitting the Windows Update servers. But they don't push that number, they push the "licenses shipped" number, which is meaningless in a world with legally allowed XP upgrades.
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And at least some of those were actually activated and are actually in use!
Not only that, but apparently they're even connected to the intertubes [hitslink.com].
Uncomfortable stats, those. twitter says the "methodology is flawed", but can't actually point out why [slashdot.org].
When Microsoft's revenue fell 24% a few quarters ago, willy (that's his real name) wrote up a storm of lame journals detailing why "M$" was dying; next quarter when they continued to shovel money, he was strangely silent. He's been smoking the BoycottNovell weed
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Why does an effectively untraceable pseudonym confer any more credibility than being explicitly anonymous?
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I constantly have clients asking if they should avoid Vista, how to avoid Vista, and if their prior Vista purchase was a mistake. This never happened with XP.
From a public perception standpoing, Vista generally stands in the way of buying a new computer, rather than an enticement. I'd consider that a failure.
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Indeed. The past 2 computers I've bought have had XP installed, with Vista upgrade CDs. Two more 'sales' of Vista, but I haven't bothered to take them out of the packaging.
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180 million sales! And at least some of those were actually activated and are actually in use!
There's plenty more I suspect that were not purchased but are in use, that of course won't be included in that ball-park-figure. Remember, we're talking to installations that someone handed hard cash over for only, which of course isn't necessary for FOSS operating systems.
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But those organizations do license counting -- Microsoft knows how many Vista are in use at those sites.
It's the Vista bundles we are talking about.
Re:You should not. (Score:4, Insightful)
And how many sales of Vista would there be if Microsoft didn't have a de facto monopoly and could force that steaming load of overripe cheese onto practically every new computer sold in the world?
Not 180 million but maybe 180 thousand.
Vista is a failure because very few people would choose it. The vast majority of sales were forced on people regardless of what they would choose, and I can guarantee most of those sales would not happen if customers didn't have a choice.
I'm glad the Netbooks are hurting Microsoft because Microsoft does nothing but damage the industry and stagnates the state of the art. They are a boat anchor on the whole technical industry and the sooner their monopoly is broken, the better we will all be.
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While I too am hopeful of MS's comeuppance, at least to some degree, their share price is largely a reflection of their shitty dividend policy. MS hasn't accepted the fact that they are now a value stock, like any other blue chip, and not a growth stock. They need to raise their dividends to reflect this, or the market will continue to punish them.
MSFT goes SaaS? (Score:4, Interesting)
I was talking to a friend at work about this. We basically felt the same way--Microsoft will eventually either have to cut significant costs so that it can afford to sell Windows for $10-25 per copy (even if it's a reduced version for netbooks) or move to a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Microsoft could charge $10 to OEMs (maybe $50 retail) upfront, then require a subscription to get updates other than security updates. It could move to a "new big feature" once or twice a year that only subscribers can get.
It's a little farfetched, I know, but it seems the way to go these days. I'd rather pay $50 upfront and then $10 per month for four years than pay $400 upfront at retail. On a netbook, I think it wouldn't be unreasonable for Microsoft to offer something like Box.net on-line storage/backup as part of the subscription, too, especially for netbooks, which, like phones, are more prone to being lost/stolen than larger laptops and desktops.
Not farfetched (Score:5, Insightful)
They are salivating while trying to make it work. Their MOLP"s are almost that and part of their core revenue stream.
Re:MSFT goes SaaS? (Score:5, Insightful)
People are not going to pay for updates. It is difficult enough to persuade people to load updates when they are free.
Re:MSFT goes SaaS? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ultimately, though, it just comes down to the fact that cheaper hardware demands cheaper software. 50 or 100 dollars for windows is noticable; but not hugely important in a $2000 computer. 50 dollars for windows on a netbook probably means the difference between impulse purchase and not. I don't think that this will affect MS's market share directly, they can afford to give away XP for netbooks until the end of time, if they want to. Their margins, though, will suffer, and that could be quite serious for some of their divisions. Being able to start a project and let it absolutely hemorrhage money for years if need be gives MS impressive strategic freedom. If their margins on Windows and Office suffer, they won't be able to do that anymore.
Re:MSFT goes SaaS? (Score:5, Insightful)
$400 for Windows is too much, the OEMs pay much less.
Also the last thing I need is another monthy bill. I have a Trac Phone to avoid that (could easily afford the iPhone but not justify the monthly rate). My used car is bought outright. Other necessary bills minimized, especially in this economy. Etcetera.
Once windows becomes subsciption: it will either be structured in such a way (updates as you describe) that most people don't bother thus lose money anyway, or many people start migrating away which is exactly what they don't want. It would be the beginning of Linux as a mainstream desktop OS.
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I like your fiscal planning. I wish there was a decent prepaid carrier with good network. Verizon's "prepaid" essentially costs the same as their regular service and you don't even get minutes
Look at PagePlus [pagepluscellular.com]. They use Verizon's network. I have used T-Mobile prepaid for about 4 years and am happy with it.
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One note. Subscriptions tend to become contracts from what I see. Paying $20 for the OS, and signing an agreement to pay $15 a month for a year is not what I want to do with a computer.
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Yeah, I'm down to one software that doesn't have a Windows equivalent or can't run on wine like ebay Blackthorne. Unfortunately, it's not going to work anytime soon.
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Indeed. Arse! [winehq.org]
Oh well, this is the sort of thing VirtualBox was made for ;-D
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Okay, cool thanks.
I was told exactly because of .net 2.0 that it won't install. Didn't think of installing net by itself.
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I don't think Microsoft will have to cut significant costs to sell Windows for $25 a copy. Especially XP, which they have pretty much already paid for. As it stands, their OS sales are essentially printing money for them. Go to the following page and find the "Client" section to see what I am talking about:
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/reports/ar08/10k_fr_dis.html [microsoft.com]
Re:MSFT goes SaaS? (Score:4, Informative)
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Microsoft can afford to sell Windows for $10-$25 a copy, or even less if they need to. At the moment they're making 85% profit on it (according to GIS for "windows profit margin").
What this means is that the gravy days are over for Microsoft.
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They already do better than this OEMs pay something like $50 or less for a license, they make their money on corporate sales.
Re:MSFT goes SaaS? (Score:5, Interesting)
> Microsoft could charge $10 to OEMs (maybe $50 retail) upfront, then require a subscription to get updates other than security updates.
Yea, it could. But they currently get $32 for XP on a netbook and as much as $80 for a basic Vista. Big OEMs like Dell pay less (exact amount secret) and some machines that ship with more expensive versions of Vista pay more. The point being that even if your idea could work it would be a fatal hit to their bottom line. If they can't tap people for at least $5 a month a subscription model is going to be seen by Wall Street (rightly) as a lot less profitable than the current model.
The problem is that the only way people might pony up that kind of coin is they actually get something major, not just fixes to product defects. Even giving access to every Microsoft non-game product wouldn't induce many people to put up with a monthly subscription.
> I'd rather pay $50 upfront and then $10 per month for four years than pay $400 upfront at retail.
If they could still clip people for $50 up front they would have a future. Good luck convincing an OEM to put a $50 component into a product destined to retail for $200 or less. That is the world that is coming and it terrifies Microsoft. As the hardware cost for a basic network node approaches zero the software cost must do likewise, the days of selling the basic operating system, browser and office suite are coming to a close. And as computers become consumer electronics the reality of that transition is just being realized by the soon to be former PC makers. So both the current hardware makers and Microsoft are desperately trying to find some way to survive and would just love to transition to a subscription model in some sort of joint venture with the telcos/ISPs. Laptops/netbooks might end up tethered to a cell modem and a monthy bill but neither Dell nor Microsoft are needed by the telcos. They would rather buy the machines direct from China themselves and pocket the profits.
> On a netbook, I think it wouldn't be unreasonable for Microsoft to offer something like Box.net on-line storage/backup
> as part of the subscription..
Pay for a net based service? Surely you jest. ASUS is already giving it away for free now.
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Now it would not be unreasonable for a person to choose a computer they wanted, get a discount, up to 100%, pay an activation fee, and walk out with a compl
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Yea, it could. But they currently get $32 for XP on a netbook and as much as $80 for a basic Vista.
Where are those figures from, I thought MS direct OEM (not system builder) pricing was negotiated on a case by case basis.
DamnSmallWindows (Score:2, Insightful)
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It's called embedded XP and it also is a utter failure. I've had to fight with Embedded XP on several systems. It's a resource hog and has all the flaws of XP for embedded use.
Windows Profits Down (Score:2)
Should we take up a collection?
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Wait... you bought a 10" eee with windows just to return windows and install Linux? The same eee that comes in 8GB windows and 20GB Linux configurations?
microsoft (with a $) (Score:3, Insightful)
people want to use their computers, not be used by a corporate giant and third parties nickeling & dimeing them to the limit at every corner...
The best thing since sliced bread (Score:4, Interesting)
My Linux-based eee 901 is the best computer I ever had. The Atom chip sucks compared to the multicore CPUs in my other computers. Its SSD is tiny compared to massive 1TB drives I have in other computers. Its graphics capabilities suck compared to my game desktop. But (a biiig but) it is so
lightweight that I carry it with me all the time, and the battery lasts me a full day! In a month I have been assimilated and now am part of the
symbiotic Me-and-my-EEE borg. It is amazing to be able to have a real computer with me even in the toilet. The Nokia 800 tablet was the closest I got before to this but it was not a full-capability computer, and it showed. There is reason for Microsoft to be scared because they see resistance will be futile. I sometimes walk while typing on my EEE without fear of breaking my hard drive. I always drive with my EEE on the dashboard. More powerful netbooks miss the whole point. They are just laptops, maybe cheaper and less heavy, but not good enough for assimilation.
Attacked from two ends... (Score:3, Insightful)
Combine the netbook and OS X trends with the Linux becoming increasingly easy to use for novices and a worldwide recession, and one has problems brewing for Microsoft. Not fatal problems, to be sure, but problems nonetheless, and problems whose solution is not obvious.
Bah! Orion Blastar begs to differ. (Score:3)
In consumer electronic stores there are $350 Laptops (after rebate) with Intel Graphic chips and 2G of RAM a 120G HD. that run Vista and cost less than a Netbook.
The $350 Laptop can easily be reformatted to run XP, Linux, AROS, or whatever.
If it is an open box special you can get one for as low as $300.
Can you stick it in your briefcase? (Score:3, Insightful)
In consumer electronic stores there are $350 Laptops (after rebate) with Intel Graphic chips and 2G of RAM a 120G HD. that run Vista and cost less than a Netbook
Handbag?
Or is it 30cmx30cm, weighing in at 3kg?
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Considering how easy it is to image a disk for identical machines, those are some well-paid children. Better paid than you, I would imagine.
Unless you're saying that that's what development costs, in which case, I'd say those are some well-educated children...
Re:Correction (Score:5, Funny)
The children are not paid to install the software on the machines.
They are paid to drag the crates of machines up out of the mine.
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They mine those machines
Haven't you heard about data mining before?
Sure I have. But laptop mining? That's a first.
Re:Correction (Score:4, Insightful)
Equipping Linux on a computer, USING CHILD LABOR IN CHINA, costs $5 each.
Linux. So easy, even children can install it!
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There, fixed that for you.
Next up - American "volunteers" outsourcing "volunteering" to Chinese children
Wrong (Score:3, Informative)
Normal labour doesn't even cost that much in China.
Even with a brain dead CD installation method I'm sure you can install Linux on more than 10 computers in one day. Low cost labour in China doesn't cost USD50/day.
A decent ready-made meal probably only costs USD1.
Yes most chinese workers can't affor
Re:Wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
It's kind of ironic how it's been the Chinese who have been financing so many Americans to be able to live beyond their means as described above.
Re:Mmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
I stared to a Asus Eee thing a while ago running Windows XP. Just the idea of running XP on that machine along with Antivirus, Firewall and only the software updates horrified me.
If the companies put XP as option to them, it is not like they are getting it free (or dirt cheap), it is because they are very afraid of Microsoft.
If you are World's one of the most respected mainboard manufacturers (Asus) and you started to gain ground with your Laptops, you don't want to make Microsoft mad. MS can provide a single buggy driver update and create chaos in your customerbase. All they need to say "oops" after it. Customers will blame YOU, not them.
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Why would someone blame ASUS when a driver update pushed out by microsoft breaks a previously working system?
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Re:The troll, the legend (Score:5, Insightful)
But Microsoft don't make much money on home sales or oem sales (its something like $10-$20) they make their money on corporate sales, which are unaffected by the netbook trend. So this article IS just twitter bullshit.
And this isn't the 1st time timothy has been caught.
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Don't bet on that lasting.
I'm looking at getting a netbook for portable use for work. It's a brilliant idea for bringing a real computer wherever I need to be without any "lug" factor.
And if it works for me, I will be recommending that the IT department do it for everyone.
Price of a cell phone, power of a business-class desktop. And you can bet IT will be insisting on Windows, not Linux, on those netbooks, so they're compatible with the enterprise system in place.
I can only change one form of corporate in
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Re:The troll, the legend (Score:5, Interesting)
Monopoly, meet perceived value.
Before MaBell was broken up, only Bell System phones could be connected to the phone line. And they charged arms and legs for that phone. Why? One, you didn't have alternatives, and two, if they charged too little, then customers wouldn't appreciate the service as much.
The price of something has very little to do with cost, especially in software. How much is an accounting program worth it to you? How much is it worth to a business? What if that software cost $20,000, and runs only on Windows with no alternatives? $200 is cheap in comparison.
Add to this the fact that OS is bundled with the computer (no direct means of perceiving the cost), it's very wise to set the retail price high. See, our product must be good to cost that much.
As much as I like GNU/Linux (3/4 of my boxes boot Linux), for most people, it's worth paying the $100 -$200 to get an OS that runs all the other popular software.
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.
AT&T in its prime delivered the best telephone service in the world - and, because your phone was leased - not sold - it was built to last.
It is almost trivially easy to find handsome - and still functional - examples from the 1930s,
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Exactly, the retail price is propped up. Partly because when you buy retail you actually get support, but mostly because the high price props up Microsoft's real customers, the OEMS. Why pay $200 for an OS when you can get a "deal" on a $500 desktop with that $200 OS "free"?
The second effect since Linux is on the scene, is that the high price of Windows (but PC users get it for "free") make Linux look like a bad, cheap product when it's free or even $50. Why would you want to use a $50 OS when Dell includ
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MSFT is pricing their goods WAY too freaking high! $99 for XP Home? $199 for XP Pro
I'm going to have to agree with you... I remember when I went down to finally buy a copy of Windows. My copy of 2000 was burnt for me at a repair shop in Beaverton, Ore.. The days before WGA were great... And that's what I call customer service! Either way XP Home was a big chunk of the money I had budgeted for upgradery, and lo and behold it didn't support dynamic disks, something I had nearly forgotten about. I really would of appreciated a little warning before losing all my data. So needless to say I do
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Re:The troll, the legend (Score:5, Insightful)
Some companies do that when they feel that they need to make progress and their current product is holding back. Apple did it when they killed their iPod mini line even though it was their best selling line of iPods. Apple could see that flash was the wave of the future for smaller MP3 players and moved towards it. Unlike MS, Apple provided a better product at the same price. MS provided a product that was superior in some ways and inferior in others. However the cost was higher factoring hardware requirements. For those upgrading on older machines, Vista was not an improvement.
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Average joe does not care about high def video.
Average joe cares that his DVD quality looks better than regular.
Therefore give them medicore 3d and 1/2 way video acceleration and you got a winner. Mine so far has played everything I can throw at it.. It freaked on a 1080p uncompressed video, but then I know of quad core machined that freak on that one.
Re: (Score:2)
Compatibility has value, and those are still the most-compatible operating systems there are.
Compatible with each other and with all of the installed copies of Windows in the world.
As Windows' installed-base share erodes, this compatibility factor will decline, and the price Microsoft can command for it will be reduced.
Time for Microsoft to start thinking about using its development and marketing might to do something game-changing. Something that reverses the bleed to other OSes. (But isn't as lame as .n
Re: (Score:2)
It seems to me they would make a great non-geek spouse machine, especially if you can't justify the cost of a Mac. I'm looking at picking one up myself, just for something I can carry around for reading slashdot in coffee shops and running VNC, Penguinet etc. to access the machines on my home network remotely.
You're right to a point. (Score:2)
As you describe, I still run and require my desktop setup. I only picked up a netbook to replace my worn out but trusty old WindowsCE portable word processing device from 1998. I was never in the market for a new machine capable of running Vista in the first place.
Although, when the new school term began this Fall, the guys at the computer store told me that university students descended like a plague of locusts and cleaned out their stock of netbooks in under a week. --Sales which would likely have been
Re:People know what computers are now (Score:5, Insightful)
and people know how to use them.
After working for a university help desk, I can tell you with a great deal of certainty that this is quite false.
And I still think of a directory as a "folder" because pretty much all of my software refers to it as that. All the icons are of little folders, my file manager has a "make new folder" command, lots of programs I use have a command along the lines of "open folder". You know, maybe this is just proving that I'm some sort of "child clinging to my woobie," but I'm honestly not sure what the hell any of your points are.
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. Although computing is hurt a little by the folders metaphor:
Unlike a file cabinet, there is no reason why any document needs to be in only one folder at a time.
Now this is somewhat solved by linking: what a file cabinet solves with duplication of resources, most modern file systems solve with pointers, although this functionality is typically *not* exposed at a level that is convenient or intuitive for the median user.
But, there's no reason why that needs to be the limit of things, and indeed there
Must be joking (Score:2)
Most PC users aren't even aware of the concept of a filesystem. A good portion aren't aware of the possibility of installing programs and using them without an internet connection, or that needing an account on a website to use some basic thing is a loss of autonomy. Some users are getting more PC saavy, but many are barely hanging on as their boss tells them to type at the new-fangled glowy-box.
Re:People know what computers are now (Score:4, Insightful)
That is funny.
I deal with only degree holding education professionals for tech support. and Most do not know how to use a computer. they completely freak out when they lose a "folder" and they bork their Office or Outlook all the time by deleting a toolbar or doing something else that is trivial to fix.
Most people, including highly educated people DO NOT know how to use a computer. They can barely operate them.
Re: (Score:2)
Why do you think of a folder as a directory? [reference.com]
Just because it isn't your metaphor of choice doesn't mean it isn't an equally valid metaphor.
Re:Yeah, I'm seeing these everywhere (Score:4, Funny)
Thanks for letting us know. Hey everyone, the entire planet is where 93escortwagon is!
I'll tell all the students at the MSU and UofM campuses that they cant use the eee's and aspire one's I see all over the place, because you said so..
Have you proven that the universe revolves around you yet? we are all waiting with baited breath.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I bet you have no windows in the basement?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Really? show me where to buy a G4 iBook with 1 gig in it for $350.00 in new shape with a new battery and 160gig hard drive.
Oh and make it very portable and have a very bright screen instead of the very yellowed ones that G4's are known for when they are used.
Also the G3 toilet seats are incredibly slow compared to these netbooks, and again only come with dead batteries and no ram or hard drive space.