In Australia, XP Cheaper Than Linux On Eee 900

KrispyDollars writes "It sounds crazy to say this, but the XP-based version of the Eee PC 900 (the new version with the 8.9" screen) will actually be considerably cheaper than the Linux-based version. At the official launch today, the company told journalists that 'Microsoft has been a longstanding supporter of Asus' to explain the price discrepancy. And — get this — only the XP-based machine will be sold at mass-market retailers, while the Linux-based model will be consigned to computer stores."

Comments

Re:12 GB HDD Vs 20 GB HDD

[Col. Klink (retired)]

> I've suspected for quite sometime that Microsoft basically gives away XP & MS Works with Dell computers ... Microsoft doesn't "give." Here's what they did prior to their conviction as a monopolist (from the United States vs Microsoft findings of facts):

Page 29:

One of the ways Microsoft combats piracy is by advising OEMs that they will be charged a higher price for Windows unless they drastically limit the number of PCs that they sell without an operating system pre-installed.

Page 33:

An aspect of Microsoft's pricing behavior that, while not tending to prove monopoly power, is consistent with it is the fact that the firm charges different OEMs different prices for Windows, depending on the degree to which the individual OEMs comply with Microsoft's wishes. Among the five largest OEMs, Gateway and IBM, which in various ways have resisted Microsoft's efforts to enlist them in its efforts to preserve the applications barrier to entry, pay higher prices than Compaq, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, which have pursued less contentious relationships with Microsoft.

Page 34:

For example, Microsoft attaches to a Windows license conditions that restrict the ability of OEMs to promote software that Microsoft believes could weaken the applications barrier to entry. ... In addition, Microsoft charges a lower price to OEMs who agree to ship all but a minute fraction of their machines with an operating system preinstalled.

I don't know how much has changed since their conviction, but I would assume that, even if they aren't allowed to do exactly that anymore, they've just found workarounds to achieve the same results (as evidenced here).

Re:12 GB HDD Vs 20 GB HDD

[Anonymous Coward]

it's the only OS to have left the earth,

Wrong, you fail it



Linux Out of the Real World
July 1st, 1997 by Sebastian Kuzminsky in

        * Industry News

Debian Linux has taken flight aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.