Op Tue, 18 Jul 2006 12:23:10 -0500, schreef Erik Funkenbusch:
> On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 15:30:23 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Microsoft Landed On Us
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| Windows XP Professional OEM - £98.08
>>| Microsoft Office (Small Business Edition) OEM - £157.74
>>| Paint Shop Pro - £67.85
>>|
>>| This yields a grand total of £323.67. In one fell swoop, I doubled the
>>| cost of the PC... I simply couldn't believe it at first; it seems
>>| illogical that to do absolutely everything I can do for free with Linux,
>>| in order to do the same with Microsoft, I?d have to spend twice as
>>| much.
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.linuxextremist.com/?p=47
>
> Why would it seem strange that the software for a PC might exceed the
> cost of the PC?
Because mr. Gates himself has foretold us that the cost of computing would
continue to go down rapidly:
http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/columnItem/0,294698,sid39_gci1156919,00.html
He was right for the hardware part; today's PC's are immensely more
powerful and versatile, yet also much cheaper, than those of a decade ago.
But software prices haven't dropped - quite contrary, they have only risen
over the years, as have Microsoft's profits. Yet there appears to be no
logical explanation for these increased prices; Microsoft OS and
productivity software quality has only improved marginally, if at all -
most people do exactly the same things with MS Office they did a decade
ago, and use the Windows OS simply as an application launcher (also
because you're expected to pay extra if you want to do more with it,
such as serving up web pages).
And only a few types of applications (such as games) actually make
effective use of the increased hardware power. So please come up with a
good explanation why all prices in the IT world drop rapidly, except
Microsoft's.
But I still think mr. Gates made a valid prediction: people will
increasingly discover the advantages of Linux over Windows - including the
cost advantage. Several customers of mine chose Linux + OOo + LAMP when
they asked for a complete local IT infrastructure, because with Linux,
I could offer more than double the amount of new machines compared to a
Windows solution, and they could also add and install obsoleted machines
without having to worry about licensing and extra cost. And they're all
perfectly happy, as far as I can tell - I rarely hear from them, and their
machines just work, and keep on working.
Richard Rasker
--
Linetec Translation and Technology Services
http://www.linetec.nl/
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