Slashdot Mirror
Netbooks Take a Bite Out of Windows Profits
twitter writes "Analysts at Bloomberg noticed the tumble in Microsoft's traditional software sales last quarter and blamed it on netbooks: 'The devices, which usually cost less than $500, are the fastest-growing segment of the personal-computer industry — a trend that's eating into Microsoft's revenue. Windows sales fell short of forecasts last quarter and the company cut growth projections for the year, citing the lower revenue it gets from netbooks. When makers of the computers do use Windows, they typically opt for older and cheaper versions of the software. Equipping Linux on a computer costs about $5, compared with $40 to $50 for XP and about $100 for Vista, according to estimates by Jenny Lai, a Taipei-based analyst at CLSA Ltd.' This is why MS declared war on the segment last year and palm top computers in previous years. While they may have successfully tamed the Asus EEE PC, they can't hold back everyone who wants to make a buck on cheap hardware and free software. Analysts have predicted the fall of MS's business model when computers break below $250/unit retail. We are there now, and it has shown in the bottom line."
The economy (U.S. and the world) has slowed. Why would Microsoft be bucking the trend?
Gone!
I was talking to a friend at work about this. We basically felt the same way--Microsoft will eventually either have to cut significant costs so that it can afford to sell Windows for $10-25 per copy (even if it's a reduced version for netbooks) or move to a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Microsoft could charge $10 to OEMs (maybe $50 retail) upfront, then require a subscription to get updates other than security updates. It could move to a "new big feature" once or twice a year that only subscribers can get.
It's a little farfetched, I know, but it seems the way to go these days. I'd rather pay $50 upfront and then $10 per month for four years than pay $400 upfront at retail. On a netbook, I think it wouldn't be unreasonable for Microsoft to offer something like Box.net on-line storage/backup as part of the subscription, too, especially for netbooks, which, like phones, are more prone to being lost/stolen than larger laptops and desktops.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
They are salivating while trying to make it work. Their MOLP"s are almost that and part of their core revenue stream.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Wasn't there talk a while ago that M$ was giving away XP for free to netbook OEM's?
Considering how easy it is to image a disk for identical machines, those are some well-paid children. Better paid than you, I would imagine.
Unless you're saying that that's what development costs, in which case, I'd say those are some well-educated children...
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
They are no longer novelties, and people know how to use them.
In this day and age, the desktop metaphor is no longer useful for helping neophytes.
Anyone clinging to their desktop metaphors are like children clinging to their "woobie".
Microsoft's days are past. People are sophisticated enough now to move to a new level.
If you still think of a directory as a "folder", ask yourself why.
That is all. ;)
The children are not paid to install the software on the machines.
They are paid to drag the crates of machines up out of the mine.
liqbase
Equipping Linux on a computer, USING CHILD LABOR IN CHINA, costs $5 each.
Linux. So easy, even children can install it!
I'd like to see MS reinvent the WinCE concept as something a bit more similar to DamnSmallLinux/PuppyLinux. A minimalistic base system, capable of (and optimized for) running at ultra low-end hardware, yet able to run virtually any "real" Windows application (and game) if the hardware is up to the task, and have storage space for the extra modules needed.
Equipping Linux on a computer, using MANDATORY VOLUNTEERISM IN AMERICA, costs $50 each.
...
There, fixed that for you.
Next up - American "volunteers" outsourcing "volunteering" to Chinese children
You're either trolling or you are one of those clueless people who have no idea how much lower the cost of living is in poorer countries and so keep believing your jobs are going overseas because of child labour.
Normal labour doesn't even cost that much in China.
Even with a brain dead CD installation method I'm sure you can install Linux on more than 10 computers in one day. Low cost labour in China doesn't cost USD50/day.
A decent ready-made meal probably only costs USD1.
Yes most chinese workers can't afford two SUVs/trucks, a big house with a TV in each room (and the heating/cooling bill), a big slab of meat for every meal. But perhaps with the current energy infrastructure, maybe the world can't afford it either.
If I can get paid USD5 per PC install of Linux, bring em on, I'd easily do 100 a day, and still have lots of time to nap, post on Slashdot, play games etc.
May not be a lot of money for you, but it's good money where I am.
While twitter may be a PITA,and his talking to himself with sockpuppets is just....well,it is pretty obvious the guy needs mental help, this does point out something I've been saying for a long time: MSFT is pricing their goods WAY too freaking high! $99 for XP Home? $199 for XP Pro? Is there ANYBODY else who charges THAT much for software THAT old? The MSRP retail hasn't changed since it came out in '01! And then they total crazy BS of Vista,with its,what? Six different versions? And the cheapest one is STILL $100? Totally freaking crazy.
If MSFT doesn't want to get their asses handed to them they better learn to accept normal profit margins on their software. Not to mention giving the public what they want. I mean,have you EVER heard of any other company killing off a product that was still selling quite well after 7 years? Most companies would kill for a product like that!
Mark my words: The netbooks and nettops are going to take up a serious chunk of the lowend. Because with even a half ass GPU added(so they can play High Def vids) they will do everything your average Joe wants to do with his machine. Last year when I walked through the college I saw full size laptops everywhere. Now I see very few full size while everyone has a netbook sitting on their lap. If MSFT doesn't learn to take a normal profit like everyone else then the custom Linux distros like the EEE Xandros(which is the most popular model at the local college) are going to seriously kick their ass. After all,they have a couple of years old desktop at home to run their Windows software on,so why should they pay so much more just for an old MSFT product?
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Equipping Linux on a computer, USING CHILD LABOR IN CHINA, costs $5 each.
There's nothing wrong with child labor. Children worked their ass off to build the united states and bring it to where it is. It is our holier than thou attitude that pisses the world off. Let children work for a better world, for their children.
It seems to me they would make a great non-geek spouse machine, especially if you can't justify the cost of a Mac. I'm looking at picking one up myself, just for something I can carry around for reading slashdot in coffee shops and running VNC, Penguinet etc. to access the machines on my home network remotely.
I don't care why you're posting AC
But Microsoft don't make much money on home sales or oem sales (its something like $10-$20) they make their money on corporate sales, which are unaffected by the netbook trend. So this article IS just twitter bullshit.
And this isn't the 1st time timothy has been caught.
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
Guess what? Some of us have lives, and recognise the fact that, hey, it's just a website. If you don't like it, find a different one. I hear that there are several to choose from on this Internet thing.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
You can't blame the recession when M$ underperforms the economy in general and other companies do better.
Over the year, PC shipments were up by 12% but M$'s software profits were only up 2%. Those profits were actually down over the preceding quarter. Then again, it's not like you can trust M$ numbers because they have been caught cooking the books before. Vista is a failure, so I'm not sure how they managed to do keep themselves from sinking, other than squeezing their existing customers harder than ever. That's bad for good will, you know.
Red Hat, IBM, Google and other companies are doing just fine and are growing.
So, the simple answer is best. M$ is having a hard time competing with free software, just like everyone knew they would.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Oh, wait. No, I'm not.
#DeleteChrome
Yet you almost need 4 years of collage to get Windows running
O.o
They mine those machines?
Those are some damn good mines the Chinese have...
Ignore this signature. By order.
Should we take up a collection?
There's nothing wrong with child labor.
Sure there is. What's wrong with child labor is that children can't defend themselves, can't protect themselves from predatory employers. Hell, adults have a hard time doing that: it's why the U.S. has labor laws (and unions, of course, which came first.) Sure, the U.S. used child labor for a long time, but stopped it when those kids were found to be mistreated and suffering terribly.
... it's just that the obnoxious members of our society get more airtime.
And I'd appreciate if you, as an American, would stop lumping all of us into whatever stereotypical preconception you've invented for yourself. I don't like it when people from other parts of the world do it, I don't do it to them, and I sure as hell don't like when one of us does it.
We're not all the same, not all arrogant, not all self-serving, not all in the throes of holier-than-thouness
...some CEO is going to be facing the whole board and a flock of big shareholders, and they are going to ask why, after he dropped millions on windows licenses, plus did updates, that they lost a million customer records that the bad guys got and did something with them, and microsoft goes "tough shit, read the EULA". He is going to go ballistic at that point.. He will then push what will be a land mark case that is going to the supreme court, and they will *force* software makers to offer bare bones warranties, as in "suitable for purpose" to be connected to the internet and not get owned easy. That EULA and license to use stuff that insists you have zero rights or means for recompensation due to bad design will be found to be utterly bogus, and there is precedent, you can't contract your rights away, especially on top of the fact that they are awarded *patents* on software like it is a real product and not just a "work of art" as would be the case if it was copyright only. That's the big ass difference there, once they insisted on patents. It is a product, it should perform like a product, it should have minimum warranties like any other product, and be free from glaring defects if it is sold or leased. And MS and others will then have to suck it up, always offer fast good updates, not charge for them, and even be forced to give rebates back if they exceed some computer lemon law, which will be coming right after that first ruling. They could very easily be charged for damages at that point, if the law is something like no more than three major defects per release, after that, it is a lemon. That will slow release cycles and force the software industry to grow up and write really good code, and get rid of the release often, fulla bugs, charge up the wazoo business model they have now. Now FOSS might be-I would think so anyway- a different story if it is given away for free as in cost, probably no damages or warranty if you accept it is a perpetual free beta, but stuff that costs large folding money..nope..eventually all it is going to take is one really freaking annoyed CEO whose fleet of MS PCs got hosed to get this normal product warranty yes, stupid EULA no, nonsense into the courts. Either that or all the software makers will universally drop all notions of patenting, one or the other, and all of them will offer free as in cost copyright only software and make their loot offering customization and other services.
Monopoly, meet perceived value.
Before MaBell was broken up, only Bell System phones could be connected to the phone line. And they charged arms and legs for that phone. Why? One, you didn't have alternatives, and two, if they charged too little, then customers wouldn't appreciate the service as much.
The price of something has very little to do with cost, especially in software. How much is an accounting program worth it to you? How much is it worth to a business? What if that software cost $20,000, and runs only on Windows with no alternatives? $200 is cheap in comparison.
Add to this the fact that OS is bundled with the computer (no direct means of perceiving the cost), it's very wise to set the retail price high. See, our product must be good to cost that much.
As much as I like GNU/Linux (3/4 of my boxes boot Linux), for most people, it's worth paying the $100 -$200 to get an OS that runs all the other popular software.
In Soviet Russia, articles before post read *you*!
give me a break. even with a 10" eeepc stuffed with microsoft bloatware, im going to do the same thing ive always done with my new windows laptop: return the OS for a refund.
funny though how with my eeepc 901 they have a section in the manual at the end guiding users on how to get back to a windows installation. not certain if it correlates with their statements on "no one is buying these linux laptops" or not, but id be curious to see an unbiased (read: not in bed with redmond) party evaluate whether anyone is buying laptops with linux.
the one thing redmond cant fight on this is i believe price. as a wise man once said, "if your going up against 'free' you'd better have a damned good product."
Good people go to bed earlier.
microsoft's exorbitant prices and chronic vulnerabilities made it necessary...
people want to use their computers, not be used by a corporate giant and third parties nickeling & dimeing them to the limit at every corner...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
It's slashdot, don't take it so seriously. You're allowed to say M$. You're allowed to hang out here when the pub's shut and there's nothing on TV.
Vista is a failure by most standards and Microsoft's OS monopoly is gradually being eroded. This recession is helping.
Vista only "sells" because PeeCees come with it installed by default. Don't kid yourself that the situation has changed in the last few years. MS still has a monopoly and uses every dirty trick in the book to keep competing operating systems off of new machines.
Also, remember that a substantial proportion of new (Vista) machines get reinstalled with Windows XP legally or not.
Never mind, the future is bright. Windows 7 will come with 256 threads, comrade. Double-plus good!
My Communist-Anti-American-Virus-Cancer Linux PeeCees eat 256 threads for breakfast. So do my All-American Sun SPARC/Solaris boxes. 10 lines of C says so.
I don't like Microsoft, and I hate Windows. Bill Gates, Steve Balmer et. al. are a bunch of crooks. I'm human, I have opinions. Twitter's cool. It's allowed opinions, and it's nice to see them amongst the pro-M$ apology this site has become.
Stick Men
MSFT is pricing their goods WAY too freaking high! $99 for XP Home? $199 for XP Pro
I'm going to have to agree with you... I remember when I went down to finally buy a copy of Windows. My copy of 2000 was burnt for me at a repair shop in Beaverton, Ore.. The days before WGA were great... And that's what I call customer service! Either way XP Home was a big chunk of the money I had budgeted for upgradery, and lo and behold it didn't support dynamic disks, something I had nearly forgotten about. I really would of appreciated a little warning before losing all my data. So needless to say I don't buy Microsoft products anymore. A fucking warning, a note on the box, a real fucking manual. Anything to justify that price. I could give two shits about holographic stickers and CD labels.
That being said I believe the article is regarding the cost of the hardware to support the OS. More memory for XP, even more for Vista, etc..
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
They mine those machines
Haven't you heard about data mining before?
Most PC users aren't even aware of the concept of a filesystem. A good portion aren't aware of the possibility of installing programs and using them without an internet connection, or that needing an account on a website to use some basic thing is a loss of autonomy. Some users are getting more PC saavy, but many are barely hanging on as their boss tells them to type at the new-fangled glowy-box.
While they may have successfully tamed the Asus EEE PC but, they can't hold back everyone who wants to make a buck on cheap hardware and free software
Oww! GRAMMAR! Seriously, how hard would it be for the editors to actually, y'know, edit things?
Some companies do that when they feel that they need to make progress and their current product is holding back. Apple did it when they killed their iPod mini line even though it was their best selling line of iPods. Apple could see that flash was the wave of the future for smaller MP3 players and moved towards it. Unlike MS, Apple provided a better product at the same price. MS provided a product that was superior in some ways and inferior in others. However the cost was higher factoring hardware requirements. For those upgrading on older machines, Vista was not an improvement.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
It's Jim Allchin. Because he fled this train wreck by hopping off as the train left the station and is now enjoying his island paradise. He's so far away you can't hear him chuckle. But giggling he is.
He got his.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Can you please explain why you'd say "IBM, Google and RedHat are doing fine" when they
are clearly not?
Can you please explain why you've been doing this:
http://slashdot.org/~SockDisclosure/journal/214377
Can you please explain why you added a former XEmacs maintainer and
free software advocate here:
http://slashdot.org/~twitter/journal/204737
After he posted this reply to you:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1009565&cid=25537739
Can you please explain why you do things like these:
http://slashdot.org/~twitter/journal/206773
Can you please explain why you've spent years posting things like these to Slashdot:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=112229&cid=9521025
Can you please explain why after trolling Slashdot for so long you think you deserve to
have your submissions accepted and your comments modded up?
Average joe does not care about high def video.
Average joe cares that his DVD quality looks better than regular.
Therefore give them medicore 3d and 1/2 way video acceleration and you got a winner. Mine so far has played everything I can throw at it.. It freaked on a 1080p uncompressed video, but then I know of quad core machined that freak on that one.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
It's not true by any measure. It's just a lead-in meme, like so many others. That's how Slashdot works, if you haven't noticed. twitter says "M$ is underperforming the industry", provides no proof of that whatsoever and then the next guy uses it as the argument du jour. The mods think it sounds impressive, and that's that. The other part where IBM, Google, RedHat and everybody else is doing super great while "M$ is dying" is also not true, of course.
See how that works? False Assertion, False Assertion, False Conclusion, Profit!
Been that way for years. It's a form of mass hysteria, I suppose. I don't know why people are still surprised when they see it.
- JM (posting AC because I can see where the moderation on this one is going)
All Hail the fall of Microsoft and the Beginning of the Linux and OS X/etc... generations. I long for the day when most users use Linux on a PC or a MAC, and the lame Windows dies. Imagine a day when Linux is the main Desktop or Server OS and Wine has been perfected to run your old windows applications. There will be no need to the hassle that is Microsoft and its' products.
My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my Father! Prepare to die!
Really? show me where to buy a G4 iBook with 1 gig in it for $350.00 in new shape with a new battery and 160gig hard drive.
Oh and make it very portable and have a very bright screen instead of the very yellowed ones that G4's are known for when they are used.
Also the G3 toilet seats are incredibly slow compared to these netbooks, and again only come with dead batteries and no ram or hard drive space.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
As you describe, I still run and require my desktop setup. I only picked up a netbook to replace my worn out but trusty old WindowsCE portable word processing device from 1998. I was never in the market for a new machine capable of running Vista in the first place.
Although, when the new school term began this Fall, the guys at the computer store told me that university students descended like a plague of locusts and cleaned out their stock of netbooks in under a week. --Sales which would likely have been Vista laptops otherwise, so I can see that as a source of MS misery. I have not talked with any student owners of netbooks, so I don't know how happy they are with them, but I know that mine has become indispensable to me.
I might also be led to believe that with the influx of Linux netbooks, it has raised general public awareness of Linux which by extension lowers the fear-of-new-things for people buying fresh desktop systems. I bet Ubuntu has gotten a boost from emboldened regular consumers of new regular systems as a result. I do know a couple of young twenty-something year-olds who talk about their Ubuntu systems without any trace of irony or awareness that it might be seen as unusual.
This post was written on an eee1000 running XP.
-FL
.
AT&T in its prime delivered the best telephone service in the world - and, because your phone was leased - not sold - it was built to last.
It is almost trivially easy to find handsome - and still functional - examples from the 1930s, the 1920s, and even earlier.
My Linux-based eee 901 is the best computer I ever had. The Atom chip sucks compared to the multicore CPUs in my other computers. Its SSD is tiny compared to massive 1TB drives I have in other computers. Its graphics capabilities suck compared to my game desktop. But (a biiig but) it is so
lightweight that I carry it with me all the time, and the battery lasts me a full day! In a month I have been assimilated and now am part of the
symbiotic Me-and-my-EEE borg. It is amazing to be able to have a real computer with me even in the toilet. The Nokia 800 tablet was the closest I got before to this but it was not a full-capability computer, and it showed. There is reason for Microsoft to be scared because they see resistance will be futile. I sometimes walk while typing on my EEE without fear of breaking my hard drive. I always drive with my EEE on the dashboard. More powerful netbooks miss the whole point. They are just laptops, maybe cheaper and less heavy, but not good enough for assimilation.
Combine the netbook and OS X trends with the Linux becoming increasingly easy to use for novices and a worldwide recession, and one has problems brewing for Microsoft. Not fatal problems, to be sure, but problems nonetheless, and problems whose solution is not obvious.
In consumer electronic stores there are $350 Laptops (after rebate) with Intel Graphic chips and 2G of RAM a 120G HD. that run Vista and cost less than a Netbook.
The $350 Laptop can easily be reformatted to run XP, Linux, AROS, or whatever.
If it is an open box special you can get one for as low as $300.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Exactly, the retail price is propped up. Partly because when you buy retail you actually get support, but mostly because the high price props up Microsoft's real customers, the OEMS. Why pay $200 for an OS when you can get a "deal" on a $500 desktop with that $200 OS "free"?
The second effect since Linux is on the scene, is that the high price of Windows (but PC users get it for "free") make Linux look like a bad, cheap product when it's free or even $50. Why would you want to use a $50 OS when Dell includes a $200 OS for FREE with it's computers!!!! Because new PC owners get such a good deal, anybody not going along with Microsoft's plan is stupid and clearly can't see good value.
They mine those machines
Haven't you heard about data mining before?
Sure I have. But laptop mining? That's a first.
Ignore this signature. By order.
Analysts have predicted the fall of MS's business model when computers break below $250/unit retail. We are there now, and it has shown in the bottom line."
If I remember, the Commodore 64 was not priced much higher than this. Look at the revolution it caused.
Should be powerful enough to run a Commodore emulator too.
Compatibility has value, and those are still the most-compatible operating systems there are.
Compatible with each other and with all of the installed copies of Windows in the world.
As Windows' installed-base share erodes, this compatibility factor will decline, and the price Microsoft can command for it will be reduced.
Time for Microsoft to start thinking about using its development and marketing might to do something game-changing. Something that reverses the bleed to other OSes. (But isn't as lame as .net and C#.)
Don't bet on that lasting.
I'm looking at getting a netbook for portable use for work. It's a brilliant idea for bringing a real computer wherever I need to be without any "lug" factor.
And if it works for me, I will be recommending that the IT department do it for everyone.
Price of a cell phone, power of a business-class desktop. And you can bet IT will be insisting on Windows, not Linux, on those netbooks, so they're compatible with the enterprise system in place.
I can only change one form of corporate inertia at a time, and I bet that's a common thing. Microsoft could buy a lot of time by selling this model to its existing business-customer base.
Customers will blame YOU, not them.
Everyone knows that Windows has lots of bugs and BSODs. Hell, I'd try to cut a deal with Apple and have my techs say, "Vista has lots of problems. Have you considered getting a Mac?"
Since you went from 2000 to XP Home, you weren't upgrading, you had to reinstall from scratch. If you're doing that, you're beyond warning notes anyways.
Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
Yeah,nice idea,but MSFT purposely boned the netbooks so as not to take business from their Vista Business offering. XP Home lacks AD login,most of the Group Policy settings,etc. See this link for a list of differences. Pretty worthless in a business setting. On the other hand the Xandros EEE is just Xandros with a different shell. Now I don't know if they based it on Xandros Home or Business,but I can tell you from experience that Xandros Business plays REAL nice with Windows server based networks. I've never had any trouble logging onto an AD domain with Xandros Business,in fact it would log in faster than my XP partition would.
So if all you are wanting to do with the laptop is work on the road you'll be fine. But if you are going to be logging into the AD Domain at work you'll have to install XP Pro on it or one of the Linux distros like Xandros Business that plays nice with Windows Domains.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
FYI: For most, average, customers MS Windows is the "computer thingy" that came with their $500 "box". And you are talking about appreciation...
Businesses are another issue, but that may be changing... And not all businesses really need Windows to run their software...
yeah, as much as I'd like to argue with you and call your pets and loved ones names, you're basically right.
piracy behaviour, in some ways, supports and correlates to what you're saying - if people can pirate a program that costs 500 bucks (vista something great corp does magic version) or 'pirate' a program that costs nothing to begin with (generally anything oss), people will usually choose the program that costs "teh bazillions", even if the costly version is vastly inferior to the free alternative (or vice versa). it's all about the price tag, not the functionality.
for instance, if bentleys were suddenly sold for 100 bucks, who would still buy them?
and if you had the choice to have a ferrari or a bentley for free (as in yummy beer) and then sell it on the second hand market (previous conditions apply), which one would you choose?
the business world might have a differential opinion, but this is mostly because corps usually go the legal way. having said that, guess who subsidizes the major players.
It's not about fate, it's about character.
there be no shelter here, the frontline is everywhere!
Another one of twitter's "special" friends. Great.
In consumer electronic stores there are $350 Laptops (after rebate) with Intel Graphic chips and 2G of RAM a 120G HD. that run Vista and cost less than a Netbook
Handbag?
Or is it 30cmx30cm, weighing in at 3kg?
Deleted
But Microsoft don't make much money on home sales or oem sales (its something like $10-$20) they make their money on corporate sales, which are unaffected by the netbook trend. So this article IS just twitter bullshit.
Why you are wrong: Microsoft gained its hold on the Server space because users were familiar with Windows 3. You could get a server OS which looked like your desktop OS and ran many of the same programs. Apple gained what hold it had "back in the day" through its school programs. Users who became familiar with the Mac in school tended to want to keep using it throughout their life; whether it's better or not is an argument for another story, because it is well-known that retraining is harder than training, and the users tend to stick with what they know. If users buy devices on a feature set, find that they run Linux, and then find that they are more reliable than their Windows-based counterparts and cost less to boot (literally, ha ha) then they will accept Linux and it will gain further inroads in business.
Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to look like an idiot on slashdot. Comment moderation is no defense - it is well-known that idiocy is no bar to moderation on slashdot.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I mean,have you EVER heard of any other company killing off a product that was still selling quite well after 7 years?
Car companies do it as SOP. They take a perfectly good car and instead of just updating the power or the styling as necessary, they redo the whole thing and tell you that you need the new one.
Why do they do this? Because people will buy it. Microsoft did the same thing, and while the clueful parts of the market have rejected Vista, people still buy it since it comes bundled with new computers, and people will often just toss out a computer and buy a new one when it becomes stunk up with malware, because it can actually be cheaper to buy a newer, faster computer than to take it in to the shop to have it cleaned. Thus, the "sales" numbers make Microsoft look successful, which is all that is necessary to keep it moving in the stock market.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Nothing new - it's like any other traditional mining method.
Step #1: "That laptop is mine".
Step #2: ???
Step #3: Profit!
Seriously though - what is done to discarded laptops and other electronics is similar to mining.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/04/10/ewaste/
Why innovate? I say, ban the notebooks. Progress? Let's stop progress, who told you progress could stand in the way of profit?
Great Quote!
If the telcos are intent on offering netbooks subsidized with service fee... why even bring MS into the phone booth in the first place? It's not like the telco is selling their plan based on MS's brand (which Apple advertising is squashing daily). MS doesn't have the best reputation among hardware vendors and strategically would a telco want to risk getting tied to MS? The telcos will be selling their service and their brand.
So the telcos may even offer "ATT-buntu" as a privately branded Linux, which they could do as long as they abide by the GPL requirements. Or just offer standard Ubuntu/etc "for free" and still sell the connection, voip, and long distance services - since that is where they plan to make their money anyway.
Guys, I think we need a windows-proof laptop. POWER, SPARC, maybe PA-RISC?
I know tobacco is bad for you, so I smoke weed with crack.
Or just offer standard Ubuntu/etc "for free" and still sell the connection, voip, and long distance services - since that is where they plan to make their money anyway.
That would be their best plan of action. Since they are selling a data plan, a smart move for them would be to make a lot of programs easily accessible. The more applications people have access to, the more they need to access the net for tutorials and sharing what they create. It'll be in the telco's best interest to pack the PC's with useful applications vs the typical crapware that has been shoveled into new boxes over the years.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
As a new owner of a Linux EEE PC 1000 I bite my thumb at Microsoft!
That said, the mandriva interface was a bit bubbly for my tastes. I put Ubuntu EEE 8.0.1 on it instead. But the wireless was shoddy. Upgraded to 8.10 and installed adam's kernel and the proper wireless drivers and it works perfect now. I'm still tweaking it to get the battery life up higher but I'm surprised and relieved at the processing power of the atom cpu. My linux netbook seems to run considerably faster than most of the more powerful xp laptops my friends have. At first I thought having no optical drive was madness, but after using it I have trouble understanding why I even need to use one (barring music and video backup). I install from the internet or transfer over the home network.
learn to read: my comment was a reply to
MSFT is pricing their goods WAY too freaking high! $99 for XP Home? $199 for XP Pro? Is there ANYBODY else who charges THAT much for software THAT old? The MSRP retail hasn't changed since it came out in '01! And then they total crazy BS of Vista,with its,what? Six different versions? And the cheapest one is STILL $100? Totally freaking crazy.
If your too retarded to read then you are the one who looks like an idiot trolling on slashdot.
I said nothing about the effect of home market share on corporate/server use, getting users familiar with only their products is they key to their stronghold, its why they allow piracy to run rampant and why they cut deals with poor countries to virtually give their stuff away. But that is all irrelevant, and unless you were desperate to troll Microsoft you would have seen that too, my point was that the price of putting windows on a netbook IS $10-$20 (for an OEM) not $100-$200!
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
No flash and no windows compatibility. But i personally see those as features
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
What if that software cost $20,000, and runs only on Windows with no alternatives? $200 is cheap in comparison. {...} for most people, it's worth paying the $100 -$200 to get an OS that runs all the other popular software.
There lies the entire problem Microsoft is encountering. When "all the popular software" include tons of high cost extremely cool softwares, indeed those mere 100$ aren't much.
But suddenly there's a whole new wave of users whose entire library of "all the software" which is "popular" in their segment boils down to activities such as...
browsing blogs, reading mails, calling with skype.
Things that only require a webbrowser, a mail client and skype. And with the big trend toward Web2.0 mail platforms like GMail, you can even scratch the mail client (as you can already scratch the IM client : almost any chatting system today has a Web implementation : either web-only like facebook, 1rst party like GTalk or 3rd party like multi-protocole Meebo).
Today there's almost NO OS which lacks a web browser. You have covered 99% of uses for which people buy netbooks. And you can even toss in more functionnality to make the machine more attractive : displaying picture from the camera, a small light word processor, etc. All this still trivial on most operating systems.
Even Skype although being closed source, is ported to Linux.
Everything these users needs can be done with any modern OS.
No-one of them is going to need anything more. Any "serious" business is going to be done on their home computer. Nobody is going to install a 20'000$ business tool on a small "email machine".
The 20k $ tool goes on the 2k $ machine.
Same for gaming (the other major market at which Windows is strong). WoW goes on the huge gamestation at home.
Their Eee PC is only to quickly check e-mails between lectures. If they need playing so much, there are Flash mini-games.
All the traditional advantages of Windows aren't relevant on a netbook.
Add to this the fact that OS is bundled with the computer (no direct means of perceiving the cost), it's very wise to set the retail price high.
Unless the computer itself gets so cheap that it cost the same order of price range as the OS.
And that's the case with netbooks.
So now you understand the choice of hardware manufacturer :
either you go for the OS which :
- covers everything your users wants
- cost nothing in terms of license
- has minimal cost for deploying
- and can be easily scaled down to run on cheap hardware (for fuck's sake, it can be even further scaled down, to run as a firmware on most DSL routers)
- is the cheapest solution (specially taking into account that your target market are poor students who'll be interested in the cheapest email machine as possible)
- and you probably have already experience scaling and customizing it, because you're a cheap Asian manufacturer and probably also sell a whole legion of network enabled gizmo (routers, RAID server, print servers, webcams, etc.) which use some form or other of Linux as their firmware.
or you go for an OS which :
- could run tons of additional applications that your user will never install anyway (and that probably won't be handled by the cheap hardware anyway)
- has a OEM licensing cost which is nearly as high as the hardware it self
- has either scaliability or maintenability issue (WinXP is deprecated, Vista can't run on minimalistic hardware).
The choice is clear and it explains the sudden massive success of Linux in the netbook segment.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]