On Tuesday January 28 2003 01:49 pm, Charlie wrote:
> AFAICR the agreement between Dell and Microsoft says that Dell
> can't ship barebones boxes; but doesn't exactly specify what
> operating system must be included. Note: included, not installed.
> One of the ways that's been found to circumvent MS's heavy handed
> interference was to just toss a copy of FreeDOS in with the tower
> and ship it.
>
> A 70 to 80 Euros discount is certainly better than none; but I'd be
> curious to know how much of the actual OEM price they're passing
> along in that discount. Last I checked here in Canada Retail Win XP
> Home Edition goes for CDN$159.00.
The main reason OEM's sign up with M$ is to get discounted
licences, but also "either sign up or get none". So about half price
seems sort'a reasonable (CDN$159.00 = 100 USD = about the same in
Euros, roughly). OTOH, it's also a tool M$ uses to force them to only
load winsux ...either do, or loose your discount. 'Course if you
don't sign you also get none. Most OEM business is still with the
unwashed M$ users worldwide, so there's no alternative except to sign
up.
M$ keeps a vigilant eye on what percent of units an OEM like Dell
ships (brokers is more accurate, they don't really manufacture 'em,
particularly laptops) without their OS. The legal aspects mean
little, the discount and availability from M$ does. One'a them under
the table deals and arm twisting M$ is infamous for. Unfortunately
not known of, or cared to know about by the unwashed masses. I also
suspect there's a M$ tax, that "even if you do ship an allowed
percentage without M$ OS, you still gotta cough up x $$'s per non M$
unit" ... to keep your M$ discount.
--
Tom Brinkman Corpus Christi, Texas
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft?
Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
