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Is Windows Worth $45?

Posted by timothy on from the systematics dept.

bgelb writes "This article from the Wall Street Journal questions whether Microsoft really innovates enough to justify the enormous amount of money (nearly 10% of the cost of every PC!) it takes from consumers each year. Hard drive and chip makers innovate constantly, but what about Microsoft?"

16 of 1,038 comments (clear)

  1. fp! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    woooot!

    1. Re:fp! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      has anyone else noticed that www.sco.com is back up?

    2. Re:fp! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      I hadn't, no, but thankyou for alerting me.

      I can now go to sleep with a clear mind and rest easy.

    3. Re:fp! by tarunthegreat · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Eventually, Bill croaks and Satan is there to greet him. "Welcome Mr Gates this will be your home for all eternity. I'll be generous and give you a choice of three places in which you'll be locked up forever."

      Satan takes Bill to a huge lake of fire, in which millions of poor souls are tormented and tortured. He then takes him to a massive coliseum where thousands of people are chased about and devoured by starving lions. Finally, he takes Bill to a tiny room in which there is a beautiful young blonde with an alluring look on her face, sitting at a table on which there is a bottle of the finest wine. To Bill's delight, he sees a PC in the corner. Bill says "I'll take this option." Satan agrees and locks the room after Bill gets in.

      As he turns around, he bumps into Lucifer. "That was Bill Gates!" cried Lucifer. "Why did you give him the best place of all!" "That's what everyone thinks" snickered Satan. "The bottle has a hole in it and the girl hasn't!" "What about the PC?" "It's got Windows 95!" laughed Satan. "And it's missing three keys," "Which three?" "Control, Alt and Delete.")

  2. Beowulf Cluster by Sediyama · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    This one is an easy one to imagine a Beowoulf Cluster!

  3. HHAHHAHAHA OMFG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    hhahhahahahaha ror

  4. To answer your question... by R0SS1 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    No.

    --
    _____ There seems no plan because it is all plan. -- C.S. Lewis
  5. Re:Who actually pays? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Because you are a pirate, argggggg.

  6. Re:Article Text -- plagarism? by debrain · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Is anyone concerned that this is:

    1. blatant plagarism, and
    2. undermining their business model.

    We might not agree with their business model, and certainly if they were slashdotted I could see posting this having a point, but someone put the time into this work, presumably with remuneration in mind. Just pasting the content here, for the sake of undermining their 7-day free access business model, seems somewhat unethical to me.

    Perhaps I'm barking to the wrong bunch. :) It does strike me as a bit of a conundrum, though. Had the authors or creators intended unhindered publication, would they not have specified so?

  7. The real question is... by red0x · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Is Slashdot worth $45... ;)

    --
    --red0x
  8. Apple Tax by nfotxn · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    What about the last two versions of OS X? They weren't exactly cheap. Plus the hardware premium.

    --

    _nfotxn

  9. Re:Who actually pays? by hdparm · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    However, you may want to pay for this awesome new release:

    ############

    09/03/2004 02:34 PM
    Reuters

    Only in America could a bad singer become so popular that he gets a recording contract and a music video deal.

    Independent music label Koch Records said this week that William Hung, who has become famous for his less-than-stellar performance of the song "She Bangs" in an audition for the Fox reality TV series American Idol, has agreed to a record deal. Hung was first offered the contract in February.

    Koch said Hung's album, tentatively titled The True Idol, will be released in the U.S. April 6, and cable channel Fuse Music Network said it would air Hung's "She Bangs" music video.

    The album, which will also include versions of Ricky Martin's "Shake Your Bon Bon" and Elton John's "Rocket Man," will initially ship with a 40-minute "making of" DVD.

    With his bad singing and stiff dancing featured in commercials for Idol, Hung has become a pop culture icon in recent weeks. The University of California at Berkeley engineering student has been spoofed on Saturday Night Live and is set to appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno next month.
    #############

    better than Windows!

  10. Re:Who actually pays? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    you splelled arrhgggg wrong.

  11. Re:Who actually pays? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Parent is FUNNY!!!!

  12. Re:Who actually pays? by pyrrhonist · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    you splelled arrhgggg wrong.

    No, that can't be right:

    int main(int arrhggggc, char **arrhggggv, char **envhpppp) { ... }
    --
    Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
  13. Re:Who actually pays? by smittyoneeach · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Uhh, the grammar nazi would like to point out that you took a noun, the individual copy, and type-cast it to a verb, 'to copy'.
    The rest of your arguments hinge on whether or not not you throw a read-time error at that point.
    IANAL, but if I was, and across the table, this is where I would start.
    Adding my $0.02 to yours.

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear