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Microsoft to Sell PCs, Starting in India
kripkenstein writes "According to an Ars Technica report Microsoft will begin selling complete PCs, for the first time in the company's history. The program is aimed at customers in India. 'Dubbed the IQ PC, the machines will cost RS21,000 (about $525), are manufactured in partnership with Zenith, and will sport AMD Athlon CPUs. ... In some ways, the move to sell hardware is a natural extension of Microsoft's low-cost Windows initiative ... It may also be a response to projects like Intel's Classmate PC and the OLPC XO.' The Ars Technica summary is careful to state that they seriously doubt this will lead to Microsoft selling PCs in the US, yet the question must be asked: After Microsoft mice and keyboards, then the XBOX and Zune, Microsoft is increasingly becoming a hardware vendor. Is it only a question of time before Microsoft starts to compete directly with the likes of Dell and HP?"
I mean the best place to sell PCs would be the place where all the tech support is, right?
This really is just an extension of Microsoft's business model. From the article:
Aimed primarily at students...
If they can get students hooked to MS products when they're young, especially in these developing countries where the alternative may be Linux, then it's likely these students will continue using Microsoft later on in life, because they're familiar with it. It's a clever move, and really, I'm surprised it took Microsoft so long to start doing this.
... the very best parts that were left over from the X-Box 360 repair program!
Time for hardware vendors to start selling more PCs preloaded with Linux. Why sell Windows when Microsoft is your competition?
Website Just Down For Me? Find out
...but does it run Linux?
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds
...that have software subscriptions anyway. At first.
All pass beyond reach of medicine. None pass beyond the reach of love.
Sun and Apple have made quite a good bit of business with this model. I am more surprised that Microsoft did not try this years ago.
Bearded Dragon
but at least they're already selling linux
(OK, technically not selling, but intel is one of the bigger investors in linux, right up there with redhat, novell, IBM).
Microsoft sells hardware in pretty much the same fashion they sell everything outside the Windows and Office teams: They pay a company to produce the goods and then slap the Microsoft label on them. The only difference between hardware and software in this regard is that, historically, Microsoft has bought software vendors outright versus simply being a continuous customer to the hardware vendors.
The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
For Years Microsoft has been neutral to OEM's. Could this move drive a further wedge between leading PC vendors and MS?
Is it a sign that Microsoft understands it cannot require OEM's to stop from selling alternate OS's and must enter the PC market itself?
Or is MS just licensing its brand name to go on the outside of the computer and making money for very little cost (something MS is good at)?
Will this prompt the big manufacturers to ship more Linux PCs?
The natural suspicion is that this will eventually lead to whole PCs elsewhere in the world and not for just academics/students. Long term Dell, Gateway and the crowd should be eyeing this carefully I should think.
The writers may doubt it, but even in the FA "..if Microsoft sees success in India, similar partnerships may be forged in other emerging markets".
So the monitors will be Black & White and kind of fuzzy?
Microsoft using AMD processors... this makes me feel as conflicted as when I hear Al Qaida's operating strategy described as "open source terrorism;" the geek part of me says "yay!" but then the adult part says "oh, crap."
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
i do believe they just put hotels on boardwalk....or at least baltic avenue
LostHobo.com
Soup Kitchen of the Internet
They're not competing with Dell and HP. They'd be competing with APPLE. They could sell hardware AND software, but without the Apple lock-in, and (hopefully), without the Apple price. If they can keep the quality up (like they do with their keyboard and mice), they should do well.
Nobody wants to be in Dell's position. Dell has a very precarious business (tiny margins and very dependent on just a few vendors). HP is just a mess these days, so I can't even guess what their core competencies are any more.
I don't respond to AC's.
It's simple, really. If the market doesn't see software as a product, but rather sees software as inseparable or an ephemeral customization of the hardware "appliance," then the only way to make a profit on software is to bundle it and make profits on the hardware it's installed.
Rarely do people copy a completed MS Word installation from one machine to another. They copy an installer. If there's no installer, there's one piracy vector down. If all the machines have equal deployed software images, that's another piracy vector down. However, if all the machines are alike, but some don't come with the Office and some do, will they start to copy those post-install files and try to get them to work anyway?
[
A more interesting question to ask is whether they will be hardwired in some way that Linux will NOT be installable on these machines.
Look at this way: if something goes wrong with your MS PC they can't tell you to call XXX company you purchased it from in attempt to hide the blame.
CDE open sourced! https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/
Given that Dell has started selling Ubuntu, and Intel has written real OSS 3D drivers for it's hardware (along with decent wifi drivers, making laptop support trivial for many, many people) maybe they think that any goodwill which previously kept them out of the hardware business is no longer an issue.
Think of the Children; Sleep with your Sister
And also, what would that mean to their competition with Apple? Don't forget that a few years ago, Apple tried allowing 3rd parties to manufacture Mac hardware, and later decided that they wanted to maintain exclusive control of the platform. We still hear people talk about how "Apple is a hardware company, Microsoft is a software company," or "Apple can only maintain quality in their drivers / operating system because they have control over the hardware platform".
I guess we'll see what happens when Microsoft has their own reference platform to compare it against...
Is it only a question of time before Microsoft starts to [become Apple]?
illegitimii non ingravare
After Microsoft mice and keyboards, then the XBOX and Zune, Microsoft is increasingly becoming a hardware vendor. Is it only a question of time before Microsoft starts to compete directly with the likes of Dell and HP?
I think that will not happen anytime in the foreseeable future. Besides making them even more liable to government intrusion regarding monopolies (and I think MS realizes that the next administration, whether republican or democrat, probably won't be as anti-anti-monopoly fanatic as this one), they're going to run into a huge amount of opposition from the larger manufacturers. I think there's a reason they never introduced a mouse-and-keyboard for the Xbox, and that's because they don't want to annoy their biggest customers.
This is MSFT thumbing their nose at Dell selling Linux boxes. Oh, yeah? We'll show you, we'll sell PC's! Starting in India is just a shot over Dell's bow. Hinting that they could always start competing directly here in the US.
If I were Dell, I wouldn't be worried. MSFT won't be any better at selling hardware than they are at anything else.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
can i get a blue screen of death with the microsoft logo on it please?
What happened to the MS/Intel alliance of old? Microsoft getting annoyed at Intel making chips for Apple?
Get the equipment into schools, then sell the software, and watch kids graduate expecting Apple gear. If I were Microsoft, I'd put ISOs of all their hardware and OSs on the main site for this reason.
technical writing / development
Microsoft is simultaneously going in all directions, which is identical to going nowhere fast.
Maybe MS wants to be like Apple when it comes to tying the hardware with the OS.
Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
I honestly would *like* to see a Microsoft PC. But not one that ran standard Windows.
What they need to do is take something like the Xbox 360 (something that will plug into an HDTV, basically), and put a whole new, incompatible "Microsoft PC-only" version of Windows on it. Basically, a "clean" version of Windows that abandons backward compatibility entirely, and only runs on their own hardware.
Then, port Office and Internet Explorer to the new platform. Sell it for a few hundred bucks.
They *must* have thought of this. I wonder if it will ever happen.
But only if I can get it in Zune brown.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
I can't wait to see the EULA printed on the PC box, it would contain stuff like.
1. No 'unauthorized' components may be installed.
2. Unable to run 'unauthorized' software , such as Linux
3. Windows 'Hardware' Genuine Advantage
It will probably be full of proprietary hardware, incompatible with 99.9% of the other PC's out there. Special power connectors, special mainboards, 'special' videocards, etc.
The case will probably be welded shut. There is no need to upgrade, just buy a new 'usage license' when you need to, or an 'anytime upgrade'.
Don't expect to find a CD-Burner, or DVD-Writer. There is no need to backup your data, Windows-Live backup will take care of that..for a price.
The next logical step is to "Just Add DRM". I can imagine the start up text now:
"There is nothing wrong with your computer. Do not attempt to restart the machine. We are now controlling its operation. We control the hardware and the software. We can deluge you with a thousand windows or expand one single image to crystal clarity - and beyond. We can shape your computing experience to anything our imagination can conceive. For the next session we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to... The Microsoft Computer. Please stand by."
As for myself, I think I will pass on the Microsoft flavored Kool-Aid. I tend to get upset when machines start telling me that I can not do [function or feature] with the new [media type or gadget] that I bought because the MAFIAA thinks that disabling [function or feature] is in _their_ best interest.
-Valen
No I'm not making this up. Pronounced like the coins in Zelda. I'm deployed to Iraq and talking with the Indian folks out here I rofl'd when I heard what their currency is.
Old man says: "You got computer!"
Here's to the crazy ones
That's all I can remember of Zenith, cool little simple robots. Oh and TVs from the 60's.
They move from market to market trying to crush everything and anything within it? Still Developing with Visual Studio? You better not be making anything that will remotely become a success or Microsoft will come in and crush you. I don't even know why they bother making dev tools anymore. They obviously want to brand any and every piece of software. It should come to no surprise that they are moving into hardware. Why not cell phones too.
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
Microsoft software and hardware in India ?
Brace yourselves for spam like you've never seen before.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
This reminds me of PepsiCo when it owned KFC, Pizza Hut, and some other restaurants. All Coke had to do to sell to restaurants is ask "Do you want to fund your competitors by buying Coke?"
If PC manufacturers keep pushing PCs bundled with Windows, it looks like they're going to be funding a competing hardware vendor. OTOH, they probably started to realize this with Xbox I and never made any moves then, so maybe they are so 100% absolutely dependent on Microsoft that they can't see Microsoft's end game.
Wouldn't MS selling their own pc's force them to pull their software/make it more expensive to other vendors? Their messing with a world that could be easily imbalanced, a move into selling their own pc's could either make them a ton of money, or it could cause for a huge push for opensource/alt OSes from other major vendors and it'd be MS's downfall
Yes, this is among the first steps Microsoft is taking to ensure a viable product in the future. While this may prove to be a mistake in a long run (and I seriously believe it will be), despite its dominant market share, Microsoft is finding itself pushed into the proverbial corner more and more by the likes of Apple...not Dell or HP.
Laugh all you want, but the simple fact of the matter is that part of why Apple machines run so well is because the operating system is custom built to work with certain hardware. If Microsoft weren't forced to support virtually every piece of hardware on the planet, they wouldn't have so many issues with their software. Essentially, if Windows were able to code to only a select few machines, you can rest assured Windows would be a faster, much more competent, far more efficient operating system.
However, producing their own hardware will most likely prove to be a mistake, at least in the long run. Although they have certain contracts with major manufacturers, (HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc.), those contracts will eventually expire. Although Apple Inc. is unlikely to open up their hardware in the near future, they will likely see an opportunity here to take advantage of the cracks opening in Microsoft's armor. Quite possibly, they will agree to license a version of OS (?) at this point, in order to continue increasing market share. This will not hurt them, as by signing an exclusive contract with say, Dell, they will still be able to code exclusively for certain hardware, all the while offering a cheaper alternative to those who may want to switch over to Apple's excellent OS, while at the same time not being forced to use their quirky hardware (I'm sorry, but Apple hardware seems to use the most delicate parts on the planet, and can be extremely annoying to deal with).
People have said it before, but I do believe we are finally seeing the permanent erosion of Microsoft's domination, especially with operating systems. They have become too bloated, and their is finally a viable alternative commercial product to contend with. Regardless of what you think of Apple and/or Microsoft, this will have both positive and negative effects. However, I believe we will continue to see more and more futile moves by Microsoft to retain what considerable power and influence they currently posses...problem is, they're being forced to fight on at least two major fronts they really have few practical advantages in anymore: services and software. Their services are being challenged by Google and IBM, their software by Apple (amongst many, many others). Microsoft's greatest problem is that these other companies are in many respects doing a better job than Microsoft, for reasons Microsoft will not soon be able to deal with or fix.
All that aside, I still prefer to deal with the devil you see (Microsoft) than the devil you don't (Google).
I believe that's called "growing".
I believe they call that, "Flailing."
Like a whale on the beach.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
1) Blue Screen
2) Ask The case is open. Accept or Cancel
3) Invalidate the ELUA
4) Cause M$ to sue you for breaking their anti tamper patents
5) Issue a cease and desist DMCA warning.
6) etc etc etc
If they had produced MS-Box instead of being a OS only vendor, CP/M or some Unix would have been the dominant OS, and Microsoft Box would only have less than 10% market share like Sun and Apple. Or would have flunked like most of the company that sold integrated hardware+OS solution during the 80s and 90s.
Microsoft rose during the 90s because one could install their OSes (first DOS, then Windows) on any of the then dominating platform (x86 PC-clones) instead of being tied to a peculiar architecture.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
When someone calls for support on their brand new IQ PC they will be able to understand them...
I can't wait until all of the other corporations start following Microsofts lead and "offshores" their customer bases.
$diff terrorists hippies
$
$rm -rf *terrorists *hippies
Huahuahauahuahau... ;-)
Can M$ now sell a computer loaded with Media Player, Office, IE7, One Care, Desktop search, and some M$ video games and no get in trouble for being anti competitive?
Is this not what apple does. They make the hardware (or 3rd parties do) and they put there os on it along with preloaded software. some that they wrote and others that they did not.
Could this be a response to these Gujarati dealers from India?
so are there going to be 2 divisions of microsoft now? one for software (microsoft) and the other for hardware microHARD?
Am I the only one here who didn't know Zenith still existed?
This may be a little off topic, but how does Microsoft's hardware fair in general?
My friend has an XBox360 and it seems to work just fine. The only problem I've seen is that when playing music from the iPod, the USB will read it, start playing what you tell it to, but if you come back to change the track it has to re-find the USB drive before you can.
What about the Zune, does that run smoothly, no blue screen? I don't own an MP3 player so I don't have a comparison to work with here.
What about their keyboard and mouse? I've always had Logitech mice and off brand keyboards and they've always worked for me. Any problems or happy stories about Microsoft ones?
"To be is to do." --Socrates
"To do is to be." -- Aristotle
"Do-Be-Do-Be-Do..." --Sinatra
Guess MS can make at least $100 per machine, because unlike OEM's they have to pay $0 for the Window OS. That's a better margin than the Dells of the world. Plus they can control the numbers (we sold 10k machines all with Vista).
"If they can get students hooked to MS products when they're young, especially in these developing countries where the alternative may be Linux, then it's likely these students will continue using Microsoft later on in life, because they're familiar with it."
You seem to have forgotten that countries like India have a high piracy rate. MS doesn't have to get into the hardware business, nor is free Linux a big competitor.
After all, your statment was in this case, indeed, obligatory. (If you hadn't already said it, I was going to.)
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
Competition != Mortal Enemies.
M$ is abnormal. The company does not act like a sociopath because that's the way big organizations are, it acts like one because the people running it are sociopaths.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I could be wrong, but I thought there was some conspiracy between Microsoft and Intel--like Windows acted differently when it saw that a "genuine Intel" processor was in use. The few bits I can find on this blame Intel, but it seems like Microsoft would have to be in there somehow for this to work (perhaps I just don't know enough about compilers).
Takes one to know one.
So what would be the killer feature of the IQ PC? Lemme guess: it's brown.
INR 21K is tad too expensive... by about $20 or so. If you're amazed by this statement, please keep in mind that Indian market is extremely price sensitive and PC market is dominated by unorganized neighborhood "PC assemblers" whose neck you can go and grab if the PC "doesn't work".
Now about students, let me tell you, they are not in "need" of a computer. It's something nice to have, but often not a necessity by any stretch. FYI, even programmable/graphing calculators are banned even at university level, and there there are usually enough university/lab computers for class assignments needing a computer.
Oh, and of course, students know better than to buy a branded computer when they can cherry-pick the components and get an assembled one in their hands by the evening delivered free of charge!
Nope, doesn't make sense to me unless they plan on losing money on the hardware and making money somewhere down the road.
- mritunjai
This may be nothing more than the typical embrace and extend strategy. Microsoft may be aiming to present itself as the only provider of a totally trusted computer. First they will embrace the hardware and then they will start modifying it so that it integrates better with their software to the point that both are inseparable. Microsoft has realized that it cannot compete with Linux at the software level, so they must extend their grab to the hardware. At the same time, it may use their monopoly position to present their hw/sw product as the only tamper-proof trusted computer available, and thus make it desirable to Hollywood as the required platform for home computing and to corporate control freaks as the required platform for business computing. Some people will protest Microsoft's use of monopolistic practices, but they bet they will get away with it as usual.
Or is MS just licensing its brand name to go on the outside of the computer...
That's exactly what they are doing. Except they don't get their monopoly-standard ROI.
What's more interesting is there are OEM's with a global presence that would be happy to do a deal (ex. Acer) Heck there are probably Indian versions of Dell that do a fine job. Still, Microsoft has to do the deal on their own... Very mysterious indeed.
Microsoft has a long history of stealing their customers lunches and eating it right in front of them. A visible recent example is the DRM system that microsoft abandoned to start selling Zunes. They burned every Tom Dick and Harry with an MP3 player on the market. They won't be building PC's real soon, but it's definitely coming in my lifetime.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
This programme has most probably nothing to do with Microsoft selling hardware, but rather Microsoft trying to muscle in on the extreme low end market before it grows so big and full of low cost Linux machines that Microsoft has no chance. Microsoft will most likley use these lowish cost machines plus Vista starter edition (plus bucket loads of arm twisting, bribes and plain threats) to get authorities in developing country to stick with Vista Pirated Edition, since that is what will happen with the machines 5 minutes after they're powered on in any case. Microsoft is not going after Dell, Lenovo, or HP just yet.
However, Microsoft, you can bet your sweet fat arse, would love to build its own machines, so as to especially attempt to beat Apple at its own game of hardware/software integration. This is obvious. Vista copied so many features out of OSX (yay transparent windows and shadows, the calender, Windows Mail instead of Outlook Express, the gadgets in the sidebar, UAC and numerous things) in a transparent attempt to stop users drifting away from MS crapware to Apple. Microsoft entered the portable music player market ONLY because Apple was laughing so hard at Bill Gates every time he started up some new version of MSN music, claiming it would be an iPod killer. The zune may be a joke, but you can bet that MS will work on improving it to try and get it ready for the legendary 3rd revision, by which time MS products are expected to be better than the competition.
You can bet Micrsoft would build its own PCs in a heartbeat to counter Apple if it could. MS is scared silly by Apple. The iPhone is not going to help the fear in Redmond much either, because it is guaranteed to be a huge success compared to MSs Dumbphones. Expect MS to dump HTC and release its own phone in about two or three years.
The only thing stopping MS from making its own PCs is the fact that that is honestly, the only real MS success story. Windows, Office and the Server Windows is where MS makes its money. If MS were to frolic too hard with making its own PCs in the US and Europe, you can bet that Linux would be on the front page of HP and Dells sites tomorrow and that you would have to actually look at who would sell you Windows anymore. (Yes, I'm exagerating, but the OEMs will become OELinux pretty soon, since they would not be able to compete with MS.)
MS would stand to lose vast amounts of marketshare, and they'd still lose, beause no matter how well their machines sold, Apple, in a tight corner, would only have to start selling OSX to OEMs to really bust Redmonds balls.
(rereading this, I wonder just how desperate Ballmer and Bill the dweeb really are?)
Oh, my Z-100 was the first pc I had to myself, after moving to college. Remember Galahad?
This post was not intended to bait or upset anyone. It's an analysis of a successful business tactic and one, were I Microsoft, I'd apply.
//s looked more favorably on Apple than others.
On one of the mailing lists I'm on, there was chatter today about business actions that don't increase profits but might make the company's position healthier. I can't prove that giving away software makes more money by getting people familiar with it, but I know that all the kids growing up using Apple
technical writing / development
if Microsoft quit distributing to retail shops & OEM PC makers and started their own in-house PC company it wont bother me, (i build my own) and if the OEM makers (Dell, Gateway, HP) started distributing to users a choice of DOS, BSD or Linux that would be just peachy with me...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
How long before It becomes AMD / M$ / ATI vs APPLE / INTEL / NVIDIA?
But will it come with Linux pre-installed? Which distro?
I'd say it's too high by $100 or so... $525 isn't exactly a low-end price for a computer, even in the US.
I have no idea if MS would actually do this in the US, but if they did we would see Trusted Computing on all of them to an extreme.
A major part of current Vista sales are for older machines (and even new ones), that lack the required hardware for Trusted Computing style security, if they had required this hardware to run Vista it would have sold far less than it has.
because they won't have to incur the OEM cost to
include windows with each PC, they'll be able to sell
their PCs for an amount less than what they charge OEMs
to include windows -- all else being equal, it should
give them slightly better margins per unit.
...And Gnu-Linux / BSD / OpenSolaris will run on either AMD or Intel... and then some...
Money is the root of all evil?
...from the microsoft friendly pusher when it comes bundled with your new machine, you are in for a world of expensive megahurts from then on out.
If they can start selling enough pcs to take over the market, they can get rid of all those pesky resellers that always want discounts, and try to sell 'bare' hardware against Microsoft's wishes.
If they are the only game in town, you cant avoid the microsoft tax..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Finally Microsoft seems to be laying some claim to the IBM PC platform. Now the next thing they need to do, is go back to IBM's original idea in the early 1980s, of using the Atari 8-bit platform as its flagship computer. I don't care if it is a subdivision. Let's get the 6502 upgraded as a new independent computing platform, and fulfill IBM's original idea! It'll make the world just that little bit more right.
I think there are some laws against cross-subsidising.(yeah, that'll be the day).
Is it me or does this feel like a desparate move to have at least one OEM left who can be controlled? With Dell starting to wake up to Linux the hull of the MS ship has sprung a small hole. One other big OEM and it'll become a problem. Lenovo?
LG, to give a brand name more people recognize, is Philips. The game just changed in a big way.
The rest of the top 10 OEMs will not take this lying down. That was their market, and Microsoft was not welcome to it. Microsoft is taking the bread off their table. The objective of this "pilot project" is nothing less than to capture the entire emerging PC markets of India and China, between them nearly half the world's populace. There will be repercussions. As long as Microsoft stayed out of PC OEM land, everybody else was content to play their game. Now it is clear they will not be content with less than Microsoft Brand breakfast cereal. They will not honor the common principles of capitalism - including the commandment in my subject.
Microsoft has treated OEMs like they're sharecroppers on the field of IT, to plough and plant the field and subsist on the gleaning for too long. In boardrooms across the world this is being discussed, and it won't fare well for Redmond.
The top 10 are: HP, Nokia, Dell, Samsung, Sony, Motorola, Siemens, Toshiba, LG and Apple.
Personally I think this is a good thing. Nothing, and I really do mean nothing, could increase uptake of GNU/Linux more than this. It was time everybody knew where Microsoft stood: at the height of hubris.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
India and China are the emerging markets all IT vendors are looking toward for growth. Between them and Pakistan, they have half of the world's potential customers.
You don't undercut your distributors. They teach that in business 101. The reason why is because it's been tried, and the end result is all companies that tried it went bankrupt when their distributors struck back. It's one thing to cut off the air supply of a phone vendor that was going under anyway. Trying that on HP, Intel, Nokia, Dell, Samsung, Sony, Motorola, Siemens, and Toshiba all on the same day is going to get even Microsoft in a world of hurt. Those guys aren't going to let you knife their baby. Some of them have associates that don't "play well with others".
Trust me, this is being discussed at the highest levels. This is going to be the day GNU/Linux went platinum. Steve, grab a chair. You're going to need it for self defense.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Zenith was the last television manufacturer in the US to fold. Their brand was sold out of bankruptcy and the company that now holds it has nothing to do with the company that began manufacturuing televisions in 1948.
The US, where the thing was invented, no longer manufatures the device known as a "television".
Help stamp out iliturcy.
To me it just looks like OEM with Microsoft brand. Just like GE Toasters and Electric Kettles. Someone makes them and uses an established brand to sell them. Everyone makes money.
This surely does not mean Microsoft will compete with Apple et.al.
While on the topic, let me tell how the PC market in India works.
If you need a PC, you go ask the local geek to assemble one for you for a fee of about 1000-2000 Rs (25-50 USD). The hardware is 'orally' guranteed for one year and in most cases honoured. Your local geek will also install a pirated version of XP and just as customer service a copy of MS-Office, Adobe Photoshop, Matlab and what-not. All pirated of course.
Only corporate customers buy from Dell/HP/HCL/Zenieth.
What Zeneith is trying to do here is to convince MS that with their brand, they will sell more PCs and MS will have more authentic copies of OS in circulation. Microsoft is anyway not making any money with individual buyers so they should be fine with porting a stripped down version for this purpose and make SOME money.
Being a pre-cog I am, I think this model will go nowhere as long as you can still buy a higher spec PC assembled and guranteed with all the software coming free.
I've heard many economists say that Microsoft made computers. Now they will be right!
It's a clever move, and really, I'm surprised it took Microsoft so long to start doing this.
For years, Microsoft had PC vendors do the job for them, in a market with little margins and fierce competition. MS could sit back and watch OEMs tear one another apart. Everyone got hooked to Windows, with little intervention. Why bother invading an ally?
But now the trends started changing a bit. This move is really a message to PC vendors: if you sell competing product, we'll compete with YOU.
WYSIWIG, but what you see might not be what you need
I wonder what the pre-loaded O/S would be...for $525, these computers do not sound Vista capable, so I presume XP will be loaded on them. But wouldn't that hurt Microsoft's image?
'take the wsj for example. you ship via delivery people, they are your oems. you have dominant share of the daily news market. what if the delivery people could substitute someone's else's front page for your own and further more what if it was not even clear that it wasn't the wsj?'
davecb5620@gmail.com
awesome- now microsoft will be able to compete with apple and control 10% of the market share.....
honestly- I will be surprised if this is a good idea- apple is trying to corner the smartphone (which it won't unless it can stay in for a long time and create inexpensive fully business compatible models) and microsoft will be trying to control the desktop HW market (which it won't because if you want propriety non-configurable packages you go with apple)
the only people that this will appeal to is MS fanboys- not consumers like myself that use windows (though I won't switch to vista for this reason)because it is the most configurable machine with the strongest software/hardware support for multi-function use. I would like to switch to linux if there were more software/hardware support for audio and video and 3D apps and I hope that if MS goes hardware that it would push developers to support linux with both proprietary drivers and directx-like software support.
MS could lose money on every one they sell, and sell millions per year. I don't think they have any intention of profiting directly from this move. It's PR. Public Relations and Partner Relations. A warning shot to the partners, and a morality shot for the publics. It's also Press Relations. They get to boost the number of "sales" for whatever SW they want. As opposed to calling it "loss" you chalk it up (internally) as marketing or PR. The partner shot? Its not "We can make machines too", its "we can make agreements with non-US companies where we are not bound by restrictions in our dealings with them. We can certainly license them at cheaper rates and require they do things our way. And when we do we won't need you so much.
My Suburban burns less gasoline than your Prius.
Corporate buyers are the majority of Microsoft's money making market, so its still a thorn in their side.
---- Booth was a patriot ----