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Leopard Vs. Vista
Rockgod writes to point us to an ongoing series of articles, "Leopard vs. Vista," by Daniel Eran. The latest is part 4, Naked Sales, and it's a meditation on hardware without Windows, Apple's strategy of hardware-software integration, and the dissatisfactions that arise from the creative tension between Microsoft and hardware manufacturers. (The earlier articles in the series are linked form this one.) From the article: "The vast majority of PCs come with Windows pre-installed, and actually can't be sold without it. Leading PC hardware makers can't freely advertise PCs sold without Windows, or with an alternative OS such as Linux, without having to pay Microsoft significantly more for every other OEM license they ship. That's why all name brand PCs prominently repeat their own version of the cult-like phrase 'Dell recommends Windows XP Professional,' as if there were a choice in the matter and they thought it would be helpful to provide some guidance... Apple's current Get a Mac advertising campaign doesn't compare Mac OS X to Windows, it compares the complete experience of a Mac with that of a PC. After all, Windows is only half of what's wrong with the PC as a product."
This is truly getting old.
Incorrect facts.
Bad assumptions.
Pure 'idealistic' bias.
The licensing of the 'discounted' OEM copies of Windows was something that the monopoly suit again MS changed dramatically.
However with that said, companies were providing 'exclusive' discount deals since IBM was first dealing with software back in the 70s, and most companies STILL continue to so to this day. Go ask an OEM why they only offer WordPerfect as their Office Suite, it is because they get a discount from Corel to do so. PERIOD.
I don't see any articles telling the world why PCs suck because some manufacturers only offer Corel WordPerfect and that this is why Mac are superior because they can buy MS Office and aren't forced to chose from retailer to retailer. (Quite Insane...)
The sad part is, Apple FULLY controls the hardware as shipped in addition to OSX, yet when it comes to reliability it doesn't even best Linux, BSD, or Windows where OEMs are dealing with 1000x the different components and configurations.
This is where people should be going, wow, why can't Apple get the reliability status of even freaking crappy Windows that has to install on an infinite amount of hardware and configurations? This is the real story.
As for the MS licenses being the 'problem' with PCs, last I checked most manufactures easily will sell a computer without and OS, and some even offer *nix alternatives - yes even Dell.
However it isn't the MS licensing that 'forces' manufacturers to 'bundle' Windows, it is the simple cost equation that when you ship a COMPUTER without an OS, you have no baseline to support the Hardware. So for 'most' consumers it is easier to ship an OS that provides a baseline for support. If all PC OEMs provided tons of distributions or OS choices it would be a support nightmare for them and their support cost would MORE than override the cost of the MS Windows License that they can use to baseline the system and provide support to their users.
When Apple starts selling their hardware with 5 Linux distributions, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and even offers Windows as a choice in addition to OSX, then this will be a story.
Until then, the story avoids the facts and writes out of pure 'idealistic' views that are self-serving at best.
After reading the article, apparently the only thing wrong with the PC market is that people are not bright enough to bow down to Apple and admit how perfect and wonderful they are and everything they do is. Basically calling all non-OSX desktop users idiots.
And even though there are a lot of idiots using computers, this is the wrong crowd to make that claim to. I think the majority of the *nix crowd at SlashDot should be more than a little outraged at this undertone and presumption.
The only thing truly wrong with the PC market is ignorance, and this article is a good demonstration of how ample it apparently is.
I find it just as easy to get Windows to work as OSX...it's either pre-installed in which case it's child's play for both...or it's not and it's 30 minutes to an hour of work for each. Also games like Tetris don't count...the only game I've heard of recently that was even decent that had a Mac version was WoW and I don't play that one. So whenever you find time, go play your Starcraft...I'll be here playing Splinter Cell : Double Agent, Counterstrike : Source, Scarface, Need for Speed Carbon, Battlefield 2142, and plenty of other PC only games. So keep telling yourself that you have tons and tons of games...but not everyone wants to play rehashed puzzle games while they listen to emo music and smirk with glee when they think about how well their shiny new Mac matches their wallpaper.
Marky Mark Killed Jason Bourne!