On Sun, 2004-04-18 at 20:57, Owain Sutton wrote: > Another perspective - doesn't Microsoft *already* EFFECTIVELY give away > its desktop environment? The vast majority of new shipments of Windows > are OEM installs. Microsoft charges peanuts for these (compared to a > retail copy), and as far as the end user can see, they're getting the OS > for free along with their new computer. Tell them they can install > Linux for free instead (or as well), and they'll respond with 'Why > should I bother with that hassle when Windows is working happily?'
OEM packages do cost - XP Pro is around $150 AUD; at any computer show here, you can get a box without it - and save that money - and if so inclined, install linux for free. There are an increasing amount of folks here that do everything they can to save a buck; and of course, there are large amounts of Windows disks floating around town so most likely they're not going to pay for Windows anyways - but given the situation, there ARE those that are happy to buy a box without Windows to save the bucks and take the rest into their own hands. MOST of the sellers are the computer fairs here (MOST - not all) build boxes with hardware that's mostly linux compatible...and there are a large amount of "upcoming geeks" that are game to give it a whirl. Aside from that, "Windows working happily" is not the reflected response I get from MY customers - there's always something freaking out, or breaking, or causing havoc. They live with the faults, but whinge constantly. I'm always glad to show them my uptime on this box - and tell them about the uptime on servers and other linux boxes I deal with - THAT gets them...along with the fact that we're rather impervious to the nasties that plague Windows boxes... TMOAISWI stephen kuhn - owner ============================== illawarra computer services a kuhn media australia company http://kma.0catch.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ * This message was composed on a 100% Microsoft free computer * We expressly refuse to utilise Microsoft DRM encoded documents ------------------------------------------------------------------ Life is the urge to ecstasy.
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