Windows Buyers Pay Patent Tax of $21.50 ?

An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica has a story up about an estimate done by the Software Freedom Law Center of how much purchasers of Microsoft Windows are paying in 'patent taxes'. 'SFLA took the total of $4.3 billion dollars in legal costs for Microsoft from 2001 to 2004 and divided it by estimated sales of Windows XP over the same period — approximately 200 million copies — to come up with the $21.50 estimate. The organization added that North American and European customers, who pay more for Windows licenses than customers in other parts of the world, actually ended up paying more of this patent tax, and that people who pirate Windows pass their share of the tax on to paying customers.' The article goes on to point out several flaws in the study's logic. For example, the actual cost of a Windows OEM hasn't increased in the last few years; Microsoft isn't passing this cost directly on to the consumer."

Comments

The penguin with a paperclip.

[TheLazySci-FiAuthor]

These billions of dollars in legal fees seems to me all the more reason for Microsoft to release a commercial Linux distro.

*ducks and runs full speed from the pitchforks and torches*

Re:The penguin with a paperclip.

[Fifty Points]

Yes, but will it run lin-

Damn.

Windows Tax?

[Apocalypse111]

Well, I guess its a good thing that I've never paid for a MS OS, or for an MS Office product.

This post written on a PC running Windows and Office XP. How did those get there? Hold on while I go look for my, erm, install disks... and just ignore that folder named "ISO-WAREZ". *flees*

for years...

[cosmocain]

...and years i kept asking for a stupidity-tax.

now...there it obviously is! :)

The Taxman is coming

[zappepcs]

I couldn't believe this, there really is (well, was) a window tax. According to http://www.neatorama.com/2007/04/19/what-wont-they -tax/ ... Now, can we get some boards on the monitor please?

----------
WINDOW TAX

Pitt the Younger also tried a chimney tax, but found that windows were easier to count. People paid the tax based on the number of windows in their home. Result: a lot of boarded-up windows.

2^32

[mshurpik]

Anyone find it ironic that Microsoft's legal costs have reached the size of a long int?

Re:Something else to think about.

[Farmer Tim]

Does "an eternal stain on their souls" count as tax?