sorry to burst your bubble, and i'm sure you meant no disrespect to the troops, because I have lots of friends who fought in Vietnam, but the will of the troops was fine. it was the political will. now, i'll grant you, by the 70's, everybody knew we had no intention (politically) of winning the damn thing, and since that traitorous bastard cronkite, and his buddies in the press, who reported tet as a huge VC win, when in fact, it was a huge US victory (keep in mind, we had a few hundred killed, the VC had 15,000 killed. general giap, the north's hero was fired) public sentiment turned. don't confuse the radical anti-war assholes. they represented a minority then, as they do now.
we "lost" in vietnam because the government never had any intention of winning. had we, we'd have finished the job in 6-12 months.
it's not about hanging out with superficial people. if you walk into an office environ, you want to be taken seriously. and yes, it sometimes others around yoy matter.
apparently he got a stream of video from downloading a program from the internet. well, duh. don't download crap off the interent like that. the dude's a programmer? he MUST be a windows programmer. probably visual basic too.
oh yeah, obligatory open source reccommendation too.
most people who purchase laptops are not purchasing their first machine. onw, where most people who buy the emachines $399 at best buy, or the microtel (?) special at wal-mart for $199 are not going to jump on a $799 laptop. in some markets, price is everything, like gasoline. but in some markets, there are other intangible factors. not the least of course is the fact that going into most laptop type environs (offices, coffee shops, college classrooms, etc.) there will be a stigma.
let me give you an example. in william grieder's book "secrets of the temple" about the federal reserve, (great book), he tells the story of bluefish. now, for those of you who don't kow much about bluefish, it is plentiful on the east coast, but not the best eating fish. but, when bluefish prices were higher, it sold more. as it price dropped, it actually sold less. why? well, it became a "cheap" fish. when it's price went back up, its sales did too. with the laptops, apple is selling tons, and they are not the cheapest. i don't think wal-mart will sell lots of laptops. people are looking for something a little more. for me, the clincher on the ibook was the screen. i couldn't deal with the cheaper laptop screens. my guess is that most laptop buyers are a little more discriminatory.
we had a gateway store near where i live (north of L.A.). it closed down. i understand that they are closing lots of stores. and yes, apple has stores. i bought my ibook there last month. but, they are opening stores, not closing them. AND, they are still selling apple computers, not plasma tv's.
too true. they are in the process of totally revamping their product line and market position. they are sorta trying to be an online best buy, without the floor space overhead. but i personally won't buy electronics from anyplace i can't walk into, not because i'm into the local economy thing (though that helps), but invariably, we've all had somehting not work right, and it sure as hell helps to talk to a person, in person, withthe item in hand (or on cart). they can't compete at 3-4% share like apple can, because apple sells 1) a much higher margin product, and 2) apple's and "PC's" aren't really in direct competition. they are differentiated products.
it is far harder to maintain a windows based client network. period. 2 examples: remote access and powerful scripting. windows has nothing nearly as powerful. as for virus problems: not even close. the *nix model by its very nature precludes the tricks for most viruses. one, you have to make it executable (beyond most users), two, to make it work on system files, you'd have to sudo exec, it, and then you don't got root, three, most windows viruses, trojans, etc., come from intrgration model and a homogenous environment. there is one email client for 99% of windows users. for linux, there are hundreds. and no, there won't be viruses once linux gains share. that's pure FUD. apache ownz the web server space, and they are nowhere near IIS in hacks.
comparing Xp vs. mandrake (or any distro) upgrades is BS. upgrades will affect tons of packages, not just core system files like XP. and if you didn't install dhcpd then you don't update it. duh. and as far as apps are concerned, most large firms buy lots of cloned boxen, and then ghost an image. if you don't have identical boxen, nothing beats kickstart. you can dup any install without having to have the same hardware. i'm sure there is something from redmond, but then again, it another expense. now, it is vital that apps get ported to linux, specialty apps, not shrink wrapped apps.
the path to the desktop is through the enterprise. sure, there are HUGE differences in needs, but, this is where windows started. wince it was used at the office, you needed it at home. now, with open source desktops, it is even better. sure, for many users, linux can do most things, but where it fails, i.e. video editing, plugging in a usb camera, etc. is crucial for the home users. but it does suffice for many though. now, go back to the office. linux is perfect. far better security, far easier maintanance, lower costs, etc. so, joe user needs to work on something at home, the boss says, here's a cd, install this on your computer. then linux makes headway into the home. and as that happens, drivers will be written, and maybe the bundled software will be written in cross-platform toolkits (QT, gtk, etc.) rather than win32/.NET. the tipping point my guess is somewhere around 5%.
you sir offer wisdom far beyond what is expected here at/. i hereby nominate you for "Post of the Year". damn, i have mod points, do i hose them by posting, or do i mod you up. ah, somebody else'll mod you up.
well, a power supply and a cpu ar certainly different. and intel doesn't make power supplies. now, i'm not defending intel, especially since they won't write a linux centrino driver (the bastards), but whether its AMD or intel, if you build a good box, it will cost alot less than a sun, and it should be every bit as reliable.
i have a buddy who wordked in a shop that had a mail server running redhat 5.2 or 6.0,and it was a pentium 100 with 128 mb ram. it was locked in some dusty closet without a mouse, keyboard, moniror, or anything attached. it had a power cord and network cable. it had run no-stop for over 5 years strait. it had only two reboots, both due to power outages. they had over 300 employees, and sure, running a mail server is not huge, per se, but it was running for over 5 years, and still going fine. intel hardware will last. maybe it isn't "sun", but this notion that intel is sorta throw away hardware i think is not true. it is CPU envy. to quote (badly) freud.
I'll start by saying that I work for Microsoft, in the DRM group, so I am certainly not biased against WMA in any way.
what, are shitting you us. you're web site lists all linux stuff. like your laptop. WTF. you bring that thing to work? did you buy the ximian connector to check your email? now you might be a microserf, and you might be in the DRM dept., and if you've been to MIT and harvard, you're a helluva lot smarter than i am, but are you telling us microsrfs go home at night to a real OS? oh, please say it is so!! oh wait, you're the one of the guys they bought those 20 G5's for!!
why would you pay twice as much for a crappy iPod and not pick up one of their competitors' products for much less
you don't have an ipod do you? i shopped around for mp3 players for a long time, and nothing even compares to the ipod. especially hen coupled with itunes. it is the most thought out and ergonomically well designed player. period. it is worth the extra dollars. if it wasn't, then it wouldn't be the best selling mp3 player. it is also the most expensive, so apple must have done something right. as for supportig other formats, there is no need. it supports MP3 and ACC. I can take all my mp3's, burned under grip on my linux desktop, ftp them into my music folder, and itunes will look at the folder, automagically get the mp3 names and albums, etc., and copy them into a new folder under the artist name. i am not one to buy songs. i prefer albums. and if i did buy a song, i would prefer it come in drm friendly formats.
iPods only work with iTunes for a reason.
of course. they want the whole thing to just work. and btw, i am not some mac bigot. i have used linux exclusively for over 5 years, even in my classroom. i only bought an ibook last year because every pc notebook just plain sucks(excpet maybe a stinkpad. dell's are shit nowadays). and since i had unix underneath, it was an easy transition. though i still have linux on my desktop.
well, first off, it is trying to be funny in that people are always giving/getting legal advice here and almost all of it comes with the IANAL disclaimer. so, it is an attempt at humor. as for the saddam thing: his first war, against iran, wa a dismal failure. while they were all out protesting the US and burning our flag, iraq couldn't defeat them. 8 years of war left his country and army in shambles. then 3 years later he invades kuwait. in desert storm, he gets crushed in a few days. so that strategy is shot. then with the latest war, he totally misread our intentions, and in probably the most dynamic armored assault in history, he is defeated in a few weeks. so 3 wars, 1 horrible stalemate, 2 ass whoppins. now, as for his latest hide and seek gamble. i would consider that a plan for survival. considering that a recent nbc news story has abotu 80% of iraq doing well, and almost, well, peaceful, the remaining 20% remains tough. but, i would hardly call it success that he is running for his life, hiding like a coward, and only able to conduct a guerilla war of desperation. so yes, there is humor intended. you just have to see the logic.
I have to post this every now and then, but for those of you not in education, you have no idea the lengths microsoft will go to push their products. Let me give yo a few examples:
1) I am finishing a Master's in Ed Technology. We are required to submit our work, etc. in either.doc,.xls or.ppt. Because the profs get lots of perks from Microsoft. (hint: they get whatever software they like for, well, um, free)
2) Everyone in the Master's program, and I think in the credential program, canget Office for $20.
3) In my district, the district technidiots (the same ones who didn't understand how my linux box could get internet access on the school network, and had no idea what TCP/IP was) get thrown all sorts of freebies at the tech conferences. The tech at my school laughed about getting XP Pro, VS.NET, etc., all no reg key type.
Those are a few examples. I could go on. Microsoft has gotten the Ed. crowd the way Apple did years ago. Worse is the way technology is used in schools. PowerPoint has become the favorite tool of choice for projects. Plus Microsoft gives lots of money to schools, and has VERY long tentacles. They get involved in many ways. You can be sure, this guy is not on Microsoft's payroll directly, but he is certainly the recipient of much Microsoft "benevolence". Teachers are just like everyone else really, just a few freebies, and we're yours.
But here's the biggest rub. The truth is that it takes far more techs to maintain a windows network, then say, a *nix network. Which means the tech department get more jobs, money, etc. And if something breaks, and they fix it, it only reinforces their importance. F***ed up? You bet. And the sad truth is that most school personell are not the best qualified. So, you try to give them linux, which requires more "expertise", they're gonna reject it. Simple really. You'd think that schools would care about cost, security, etc. But they don't.
i am reminded of that old saying, "what's the best part of banging your head against a wall? when you stop."
trying to ask anti-war folks to use a little logic or reason and look at the facts is just banging your head against a wall. for all their blathering, the truth is that there is not a single lie bush told. there were intel failures for sure, but the antis are just full of bush hatred. period. they were nowhere to be found when clinton bombed serbia for 78 days, killing many civilians, and destroying the infrastructure of serbia for a presumed war criminal, whose mass graves we can't seem to find. hmmm...where's the story there? yet, when mass graves turn up all over iraq, and kay's interim report shows definite weapons programs, even if nothing is found, and yet you want these people to use a little common sense. their boy clark, suddenly an anti, was fired from nato. one of the reasons. he wanted the airport where the russian troops were, and he wanted to go to war against the russian troops. WTF!! british general refused, and our own general staff backed the british general. when shelton fired him, the story was that he was using the campaign to push his own personal agenda, and turn it into a larger campaign, wanting to be another schwarzkopf type. but where's the mention of that? hmmm...
hey, cruise/. for the tech news, and for kicks. most of the people here have no idea what saddam really wanted. to be the caliph of the abassid empire. anyone on/. who konws of the abassids probably thought the war was a pretty good idea. but hey, i'm a history teacher by trade, geek by desire!!
The project, using what IT pros call a Beowulf-style, parallel-computer approach
\
damn, imagine that. a real beowulf cluster of those!!
Re:so, when will we see GNU's version
on
Microsoft's new CLI
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
sadly, the opposite will be true. microsoft will sell it to the PHB's as the "best of both worlds" sorta thing. "keep your *nix geeks happy, and get real work done". crap like that. the real questions are can you run the system from the command line without the GUI, doe sthe GUI need to be loaded, can you remotely admin the machine, and will it play nice with others. those are the real questions. and i don't think that is in microsoft's strategy.
it is becoming even more obvious that microsoft realizes that its old model, i.e. box software sales and license fees is ending. not next week, nor next year. but microsoft clearly is looking at the long term, as they frequently do. which is interesting that most US companies don't. anyways, they are looking at 5 years from now. where is the IT world going. who knows, but will it be radically different. and microsoft has a few things going for them:
1) TONS of cash to weather some, many, screw ups. i.e., if xbox never turns a profit, it won't kill them. they aren't a one trick pony.
2) they are the 800 pound gorilla. if they enter a market, it essentially squashes everyone else. they will let you play (i.e. dell, gateway) so long as it benefits them. but the list of firms that put their cargo in microsoft's truck, only to get screwed is long.
3) they still have the golden egg in office. as long as they don't kill the goose, or someone else offers another goose, they have the opportunity to branch out, and the more they tie office in to their "stack", they know they will never die.
my wife's uncle is a big wig for chrysler back in home office in detroit. he told me that they lose money, when you figure in the cost of the retail showroom, the sales staff, etc. maybe ford makes money, but the DEALER loses. that is why they push all the extra crap. ford makes nothing on ext. warranties, etc. at least that is what i've been told by him.
great point. this isn't software, where exact digital copies can be made at no cost. we're talking hardwre. lexmark is specifically selling the printer at a loss, to sell you the cartridges at a profit. otherwise, you'll be paying $500 for a simple ink jet. this is common practice in many industries. most autos are sold at a loss, money made up in finance, ext. warranties, etc. and think about the xbox. i don't think there is anything wrong with lexmark wanting to make you buy lexmark cartridges. it's not like they haev a monopoly. there are many printers to choose from.
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sorry to burst your bubble, and i'm sure you meant no disrespect to the troops, because I have lots of friends who fought in Vietnam, but the will of the troops was fine. it was the political will. now, i'll grant you, by the 70's, everybody knew we had no intention (politically) of winning the damn thing, and since that traitorous bastard cronkite, and his buddies in the press, who reported tet as a huge VC win, when in fact, it was a huge US victory (keep in mind, we had a few hundred killed, the VC had 15,000 killed. general giap, the north's hero was fired) public sentiment turned. don't confuse the radical anti-war assholes. they represented a minority then, as they do now.
we "lost" in vietnam because the government never had any intention of winning. had we, we'd have finished the job in 6-12 months.
if you think about, he did.
stuff that your woman is into.
you don't hang around here much, do you?
it's not about hanging out with superficial people. if you walk into an office environ, you want to be taken seriously. and yes, it sometimes others around yoy matter.
apparently he got a stream of video from downloading a program from the internet. well, duh. don't download crap off the interent like that. the dude's a programmer? he MUST be a windows programmer. probably visual basic too.
oh yeah, obligatory open source reccommendation too.
most people who purchase laptops are not purchasing their first machine. onw, where most people who buy the emachines $399 at best buy, or the microtel (?) special at wal-mart for $199 are not going to jump on a $799 laptop. in some markets, price is everything, like gasoline. but in some markets, there are other intangible factors. not the least of course is the fact that going into most laptop type environs (offices, coffee shops, college classrooms, etc.) there will be a stigma.
let me give you an example. in william grieder's book "secrets of the temple" about the federal reserve, (great book), he tells the story of bluefish. now, for those of you who don't kow much about bluefish, it is plentiful on the east coast, but not the best eating fish. but, when bluefish prices were higher, it sold more. as it price dropped, it actually sold less. why? well, it became a "cheap" fish. when it's price went back up, its sales did too. with the laptops, apple is selling tons, and they are not the cheapest. i don't think wal-mart will sell lots of laptops. people are looking for something a little more. for me, the clincher on the ibook was the screen. i couldn't deal with the cheaper laptop screens. my guess is that most laptop buyers are a little more discriminatory.
we had a gateway store near where i live (north of L.A.). it closed down. i understand that they are closing lots of stores. and yes, apple has stores. i bought my ibook there last month. but, they are opening stores, not closing them. AND, they are still selling apple computers, not plasma tv's.
too true. they are in the process of totally revamping their product line and market position. they are sorta trying to be an online best buy, without the floor space overhead. but i personally won't buy electronics from anyplace i can't walk into, not because i'm into the local economy thing (though that helps), but invariably, we've all had somehting not work right, and it sure as hell helps to talk to a person, in person, withthe item in hand (or on cart). they can't compete at 3-4% share like apple can, because apple sells 1) a much higher margin product, and 2) apple's and "PC's" aren't really in direct competition. they are differentiated products.
it is far harder to maintain a windows based client network. period. 2 examples: remote access and powerful scripting. windows has nothing nearly as powerful. as for virus problems: not even close. the *nix model by its very nature precludes the tricks for most viruses. one, you have to make it executable (beyond most users), two, to make it work on system files, you'd have to sudo exec, it, and then you don't got root, three, most windows viruses, trojans, etc., come from intrgration model and a homogenous environment. there is one email client for 99% of windows users. for linux, there are hundreds. and no, there won't be viruses once linux gains share. that's pure FUD. apache ownz the web server space, and they are nowhere near IIS in hacks.
comparing Xp vs. mandrake (or any distro) upgrades is BS. upgrades will affect tons of packages, not just core system files like XP. and if you didn't install dhcpd then you don't update it. duh. and as far as apps are concerned, most large firms buy lots of cloned boxen, and then ghost an image. if you don't have identical boxen, nothing beats kickstart. you can dup any install without having to have the same hardware. i'm sure there is something from redmond, but then again, it another expense. now, it is vital that apps get ported to linux, specialty apps, not shrink wrapped apps.
the path to the desktop is through the enterprise. sure, there are HUGE differences in needs, but, this is where windows started. wince it was used at the office, you needed it at home. now, with open source desktops, it is even better. sure, for many users, linux can do most things, but where it fails, i.e. video editing, plugging in a usb camera, etc. is crucial for the home users. but it does suffice for many though. now, go back to the office. linux is perfect. far better security, far easier maintanance, lower costs, etc. so, joe user needs to work on something at home, the boss says, here's a cd, install this on your computer. then linux makes headway into the home. and as that happens, drivers will be written, and maybe the bundled software will be written in cross-platform toolkits (QT, gtk, etc.) rather than win32/.NET. the tipping point my guess is somewhere around 5%.
everyone musta been out voting...early and often.
you sir offer wisdom far beyond what is expected here at /. i hereby nominate you for "Post of the Year". damn, i have mod points, do i hose them by posting, or do i mod you up. ah, somebody else'll mod you up.
well, a power supply and a cpu ar certainly different. and intel doesn't make power supplies. now, i'm not defending intel, especially since they won't write a linux centrino driver (the bastards), but whether its AMD or intel, if you build a good box, it will cost alot less than a sun, and it should be every bit as reliable.
i have a buddy who wordked in a shop that had a mail server running redhat 5.2 or 6.0,and it was a pentium 100 with 128 mb ram. it was locked in some dusty closet without a mouse, keyboard, moniror, or anything attached. it had a power cord and network cable. it had run no-stop for over 5 years strait. it had only two reboots, both due to power outages. they had over 300 employees, and sure, running a mail server is not huge, per se, but it was running for over 5 years, and still going fine. intel hardware will last. maybe it isn't "sun", but this notion that intel is sorta throw away hardware i think is not true. it is CPU envy. to quote (badly) freud.
I'll start by saying that I work for Microsoft, in the DRM group, so I am certainly not biased against WMA in any way.
what, are shitting you us. you're web site lists all linux stuff. like your laptop. WTF. you bring that thing to work? did you buy the ximian connector to check your email? now you might be a microserf, and you might be in the DRM dept., and if you've been to MIT and harvard, you're a helluva lot smarter than i am, but are you telling us microsrfs go home at night to a real OS? oh, please say it is so!! oh wait, you're the one of the guys they bought those 20 G5's for!!
why would you pay twice as much for a crappy iPod and not pick up one of their competitors' products for much less
you don't have an ipod do you? i shopped around for mp3 players for a long time, and nothing even compares to the ipod. especially hen coupled with itunes. it is the most thought out and ergonomically well designed player. period. it is worth the extra dollars. if it wasn't, then it wouldn't be the best selling mp3 player. it is also the most expensive, so apple must have done something right. as for supportig other formats, there is no need. it supports MP3 and ACC. I can take all my mp3's, burned under grip on my linux desktop, ftp them into my music folder, and itunes will look at the folder, automagically get the mp3 names and albums, etc., and copy them into a new folder under the artist name. i am not one to buy songs. i prefer albums. and if i did buy a song, i would prefer it come in drm friendly formats.
iPods only work with iTunes for a reason.
of course. they want the whole thing to just work. and btw, i am not some mac bigot. i have used linux exclusively for over 5 years, even in my classroom. i only bought an ibook last year because every pc notebook just plain sucks(excpet maybe a stinkpad. dell's are shit nowadays). and since i had unix underneath, it was an easy transition. though i still have linux on my desktop.
well, first off, it is trying to be funny in that people are always giving/getting legal advice here and almost all of it comes with the IANAL disclaimer. so, it is an attempt at humor. as for the saddam thing: his first war, against iran, wa a dismal failure. while they were all out protesting the US and burning our flag, iraq couldn't defeat them. 8 years of war left his country and army in shambles. then 3 years later he invades kuwait. in desert storm, he gets crushed in a few days. so that strategy is shot. then with the latest war, he totally misread our intentions, and in probably the most dynamic armored assault in history, he is defeated in a few weeks. so 3 wars, 1 horrible stalemate, 2 ass whoppins. now, as for his latest hide and seek gamble. i would consider that a plan for survival. considering that a recent nbc news story has abotu 80% of iraq doing well, and almost, well, peaceful, the remaining 20% remains tough. but, i would hardly call it success that he is running for his life, hiding like a coward, and only able to conduct a guerilla war of desperation. so yes, there is humor intended. you just have to see the logic.
I have to post this every now and then, but for those of you not in education, you have no idea the lengths microsoft will go to push their products. Let me give yo a few examples:
.doc, .xls or .ppt. Because the profs get lots of perks from Microsoft. (hint: they get whatever software they like for, well, um, free)
.NET, etc., all no reg key type.
1) I am finishing a Master's in Ed Technology. We are required to submit our work, etc. in either
2) Everyone in the Master's program, and I think in the credential program, canget Office for $20.
3) In my district, the district technidiots (the same ones who didn't understand how my linux box could get internet access on the school network, and had no idea what TCP/IP was) get thrown all sorts of freebies at the tech conferences. The tech at my school laughed about getting XP Pro, VS
Those are a few examples. I could go on. Microsoft has gotten the Ed. crowd the way Apple did years ago. Worse is the way technology is used in schools. PowerPoint has become the favorite tool of choice for projects. Plus Microsoft gives lots of money to schools, and has VERY long tentacles. They get involved in many ways. You can be sure, this guy is not on Microsoft's payroll directly, but he is certainly the recipient of much Microsoft "benevolence". Teachers are just like everyone else really, just a few freebies, and we're yours.
But here's the biggest rub. The truth is that it takes far more techs to maintain a windows network, then say, a *nix network. Which means the tech department get more jobs, money, etc. And if something breaks, and they fix it, it only reinforces their importance. F***ed up? You bet. And the sad truth is that most school personell are not the best qualified. So, you try to give them linux, which requires more "expertise", they're gonna reject it. Simple really. You'd think that schools would care about cost, security, etc. But they don't.
i love you, you love me, we're all one big family...
i am reminded of that old saying, "what's the best part of banging your head against a wall? when you stop."
/. for the tech news, and for kicks. most of the people here have no idea what saddam really wanted. to be the caliph of the abassid empire. anyone on /. who konws of the abassids probably thought the war was a pretty good idea. but hey, i'm a history teacher by trade, geek by desire!!
trying to ask anti-war folks to use a little logic or reason and look at the facts is just banging your head against a wall. for all their blathering, the truth is that there is not a single lie bush told. there were intel failures for sure, but the antis are just full of bush hatred. period. they were nowhere to be found when clinton bombed serbia for 78 days, killing many civilians, and destroying the infrastructure of serbia for a presumed war criminal, whose mass graves we can't seem to find. hmmm...where's the story there? yet, when mass graves turn up all over iraq, and kay's interim report shows definite weapons programs, even if nothing is found, and yet you want these people to use a little common sense. their boy clark, suddenly an anti, was fired from nato. one of the reasons. he wanted the airport where the russian troops were, and he wanted to go to war against the russian troops. WTF!! british general refused, and our own general staff backed the british general. when shelton fired him, the story was that he was using the campaign to push his own personal agenda, and turn it into a larger campaign, wanting to be another schwarzkopf type. but where's the mention of that? hmmm...
hey, cruise
The project, using what IT pros call a Beowulf-style, parallel-computer approach
\ damn, imagine that. a real beowulf cluster of those!!
sadly, the opposite will be true. microsoft will sell it to the PHB's as the "best of both worlds" sorta thing. "keep your *nix geeks happy, and get real work done". crap like that. the real questions are can you run the system from the command line without the GUI, doe sthe GUI need to be loaded, can you remotely admin the machine, and will it play nice with others. those are the real questions. and i don't think that is in microsoft's strategy.
it is becoming even more obvious that microsoft realizes that its old model, i.e. box software sales and license fees is ending. not next week, nor next year. but microsoft clearly is looking at the long term, as they frequently do. which is interesting that most US companies don't. anyways, they are looking at 5 years from now. where is the IT world going. who knows, but will it be radically different. and microsoft has a few things going for them:
1) TONS of cash to weather some, many, screw ups. i.e., if xbox never turns a profit, it won't kill them. they aren't a one trick pony.
2) they are the 800 pound gorilla. if they enter a market, it essentially squashes everyone else. they will let you play (i.e. dell, gateway) so long as it benefits them. but the list of firms that put their cargo in microsoft's truck, only to get screwed is long.
3) they still have the golden egg in office. as long as they don't kill the goose, or someone else offers another goose, they have the opportunity to branch out, and the more they tie office in to their "stack", they know they will never die.
my wife's uncle is a big wig for chrysler back in home office in detroit. he told me that they lose money, when you figure in the cost of the retail showroom, the sales staff, etc. maybe ford makes money, but the DEALER loses. that is why they push all the extra crap. ford makes nothing on ext. warranties, etc. at least that is what i've been told by him.
great point. this isn't software, where exact digital copies can be made at no cost. we're talking hardwre. lexmark is specifically selling the printer at a loss, to sell you the cartridges at a profit. otherwise, you'll be paying $500 for a simple ink jet. this is common practice in many industries. most autos are sold at a loss, money made up in finance, ext. warranties, etc. and think about the xbox. i don't think there is anything wrong with lexmark wanting to make you buy lexmark cartridges. it's not like they haev a monopoly. there are many printers to choose from.