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Windows Cheap Enough For $2B Aussie Laptop Deal
An anonymous reader writes "Windows-based netbooks aren't too expensive to be ruled out of the Aussie government's billion dollar promise to give a laptop to every school-aged child, according to several education departments. The admission follows an earlier report that open source machines based on Ubuntu or Mandriva are the only option to deliver up to four million computers to students for under $2 billion. Microsoft itself claimed it will keep costs per unit down by hosting a lot of the educational software in the cloud rather than on the netbook devices."
"We're thinking of using Linux" == "Hey Microsoft, we want a discount!"
How we know is more important than what we know.
The cheapest EEE should be around $380AUD which should leave plenty for bureaucratic overhead, graft, and kickbacks. However that's the Linux version, the ones that can actually run XP would be around $530AUD which is over budget.
No joke. I just picked up three Acer Aspire One netbooks (Linux edition) for $250 apiece at Newegg.
Let us not become the evil that we deplore.
But negative prices are still possible! Microsoft should offer the netbooks with Windows away for free to schools. Otherwise the schools pay the lock-in costs and do product training and platform marketing for the monopolist for free. It is like paying for a galley seat and workout.
You only have to mouse over to Walmart.com to see Windows becoming very competitive with Linux in the netbook sector.
It's a familiar story.
The OEM Linux box enters the retail market with bottom-feeder specs.
It is never upgraded - even as the entry-level Windows PC approaches the same price point with hardware that was mid-line or better six months or so back.
Yeah, I guess you're right.
But are there any studies showing that students having laptops improve their learning to justify such an expense?
Do the students keep the laptops post-graduation?
And, could some overcrowded schools benefit from more teachers to reduce class size? Not all schools, but some.
And, where precisely is this money coming from? The taxpayers, right? Is Australia in a recession like America? Maybe it's time to conserve rather than spend.
and I for one would make a phone call if I knew who to. I would recommend using Linux and in particular striking a deal for support from Ubuntu or Redhat to get a custom OS running on 10" eees or U100 Winds. This way you would pay ~$500 AUD for each and the OS would be top notch. An issue with the Linux on these little laptops is that it seems rushed together. Using a full fledged Linux distro with package management would empower kids like nothing else! What with 2 million kids banging away at python and the few of them who contribute patches contributing patches to Ubuntu it would be a very great thing! Next they support their parents and grandparents building and maintaining their Ubuntu Pcs ... I recommend Microsoft should pay to get Windows on these things!
like phosphorescent desert buttons singing one familiar song
But he revealed for the first time that cloud-based applications may be used alongside traditionally licensed software to make Microsoft-based tender proposals more attractive and cost-effective.
âoeNot everything has to run [locally] on the device,â said Watson.
âoeWeâ(TM)ll have software that runs on the device but also leverage Live Services and other applications that run in the cloud.â
If it's a common educational application that could be run locally on the machine anyway. How is it cheaper to run it in the cloud? Remember the context here seems to be about the purchase price of the laptop. It's conceivable that MS is reducing support load but I doubt by very much.
The cloud hosted application is going to have an ongoing cost that the local application isn't.
To me this sounds like MS using a different delivery mechanism to justify a discount that would probably anger their other channel partners.
But really it seems much cheaper to simply send an OS image to the laptop maker.