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____/ skydweller on Monday 24 November 2008 15:57 : \____
>
>
> On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:32:22 -0700, High Plains Thumper wrote:
>
>> http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=akCb7oaU1FEs
>>
>> [quote]
>> Microsoft Missing Netbook Growth as Linux Wins Sales (Update2)
>>
>> By Tim Culpan and Dina Bass
>>
>> Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Small laptops are becoming a big problem for
>> Microsoft Corp.'s Windows business.
>>
>> A new breed of lightweight computers called netbooks are beginning to
>> crack the company's dominance of operating systems. Acer Inc. and
>> Asustek Computer Inc., which together account for 90 percent of the
>> netbook market, are using the rival Linux software on about 30 percent
>> of their low-cost notebooks.
>>
>> 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. [/quote]
>>
>> [quote]
>> Linux, equipped in 30 percent to 40 percent of Eee PCs sold, will
>> probably sustain a market share of about 30 percent, said Samson Hu, a
>> general manager at Asustek. The company estimates it will ship at least
>> 5 million Eee PCs in 2008 after selling about 4 million since the
>> product's debut.
>>
>> Acer, which is aiming to sell 5 million to 6 million AspireOne laptops
>> this year, estimates that Linux-equipped models account for about 20
>> percent of its shipments, spokesman Henry Wang said.
>>
>> Vista's computing needs makes it hard to run on netbooks, making older
>> versions of Windows more suitable for the devices, according to Michael
>> Cherry, an analyst at Kirkland, Washington- based research firm
>> Directions on Microsoft. [/quote]
>>
>> [quote]
>> 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.
>>
>> To cut costs, computer makers such as Acer and Asustek opted for slower
>> processors and less memory. On these systems, Linux can boot up twice as
>> fast as XP, according to Acer's Web Site. [/quote]
>
> I'm not sure if 20-30 % qualifies as "eating Microsoft's lunch", but it
> is a significant number, and represents a heretofore unachieved
> penetration of the consumer computing device market by Linux. The
> difference in price point (vs Windows) is less important than the
> superior performance of Linux on comparable hardware; superior
> performance will spread by word-of-mouth and may have some influence on
> future sales.
Microsoft gives XP almost for free (maybe for free), so if Microsoft's lunch is
margins, then GNU/Linux eats it well. Microsoft's Windows revenue has already
taken a tumble as a result of this.
BTW, other sources say that GNU/Linux's market share in sub-notebooks is just
over 40%.
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Holey (sic) Cow! Longhorn is full of holes...
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Mem: 2075800k total, 1660792k used, 415008k free, 12460k buffers
http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms
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