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Re: [News] GNU/Linux PCs Cross New Barrier, Price Drops Below $200!

<posted & mailed>

____/ Jerry McBride on Monday 07 January 2008 12:54 : \____

> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> 
>> Shuttle to release sub-$200 Linux box
>> 
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | ONE OF THE potentially biggest announcements at CES will probably go
>> | unnoticed by most, a Linux box from Shuttle. Get ready for a low priced
>> | machine from a big name, a first that I am aware of.
>> `----
>> 
>>
>
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/06/shuttle-release-sub-200-linux
>> 
>> 
>> Related:
>> 
>> Linux is about to take over the low end of PCs
>> 
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | Opinion -- Sometimes, several unrelated changes come to a head at the
>> | same time, with a result no one could have predicted. The PC market is
>> | at such a tipping point right now and the result will be millions of
>> | Linux-powered PCs in users' hands.
>> | 
>> | [...]
>> | 
>> | Microsoft will fight this trend tooth and nail. It will cut prices to
>> | the point where it'll be bleeding ink on some of its product lines.
> 
> 
> Hey... they've been bleeding ink since the dot.com bubble debacle... It'll
> just be a wee bit faster now...

I'm not too sure about Windows. Based on Dell's Linux offer, Microsoft makes
only 50 bucks selling (forcefeeding) Windows _just so that the OEMs actually
take it_ and people then follow the natural route towards buying ('pirating'
in the case of home users and less wealthy countries) Office.

Microsoft's cash cow is still Office and Andy Updegrove said that ODF is /well/
beyond the tipping point (over 30 applications support it and many governments
too). He also rightly pointed out that kids no longer grow up on such
software. The Web has got to have an impact here, which is why Microsoft moves
to Web-based equivalents. So far it has failed miserably (almost nobody used
its online office suite).

In some countries, those in Microsoft who didn't defend to growth companies
like Google still try the pay-per-document or pay-per-month business model for
Office+Windows, but that won't last with better free software out there.
That's why they attempt to tax free softare at the moment (the deal with
Novell included OOo).

Microsoft's best chance now is tied to Gates' ability to bribe politicians
through his charity (like kickbacks, there are different classes of bribery
and this is just one). This way, fools in suits won't listen to the technical
guys. Case of point (quickly, off the top of my head): in Hungary, technical
people voted "No" to OOXML. Microsoft then contacted high-level politicians
(this is well-documented) and had another vote with the votes already 'cooked'
in Microsoft's favour. Maybe that was Poland actually, but it's the same old
chorus pretty much everywhere you look. Same story in the US. Mind you, the US
was prepared to vote "No" (they checked the prospective votes), but Steve
Ballmer and Bill Gates /both/ picked up the phone separately and spoke to
politicians. They hacked the vote.

Remember this: Microsoft is like the mafia. You can't assume that they'll lose
based on the rulebook. Mere mortals can at least expose Microsoft's pattern of
crimes (I dare say so because I see this every day). The press, which is owned
or tied financially to Microsoft in one way or another, will try to sweep the
truth away, but the Internet gives us power. The big danger now is censorship
and other forms of bullying, shilling, smears, and so forth.

>> | And
>> | Windows XP is going to stick around much longer than Microsoft ever
>> | wanted it to. Still, it won't be enough. By attacking from the bottom,
>> | where Microsoft can no longer successfully compete, Linux will finally
>> | cut itself a large slice of the desktop market pie.
>> `----
>> 
>> http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS2414535067.html

Wow. I wrote that quick and went totally off topic. Maybe you at least found
that informative.

-- 
                ~~ Best of wishes

Roy S. Schestowitz      | Bottom-post: as English goes from top to bottom
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