R
Rex Ballard
On Oct 7, 6:12 pm, "HeyBub" <hey...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Rex Ballard wrote:
> > On Oct 7, 3:16 pm, Oxford <colalovesm...@mac.com> wrote:
> >> ultim...@hotmail.com wrote:
> >>>> Agreed. Linux is the classic case of "too many cooks in the
> >>>> kitchen."
> >>>> If Linux were going to succeed in the consumer market it would
> >>>> have done so already.
>
> > Not necessarily. Remember, Linux competes with a company who blocks
> > all access to the retail display space. A Linux customer must
> > purchase and install Linux without the benefit of an OEM preinstalled
> > system.
>
> I certainly see your point. But, if you don't like Microsoft's terms, don't
> agree to them. Kick MS out the door. Do the right thing.
Not as easy as it sounds. Remember, Microsoft gets less than 1% of
it's revenue from Windows licenses sold directly to retail customers.
Remember, those customers would be those who went to CompUSA, Staples,
or BestBuy and purchased a "Full Version" of Windows XP or Vista. Of
those, even most of those purchases are made as emergency recovery
media for systems that have already been licensed under OEM or
Corporate licenses. Typically, those who would pay $500 for Windows
at a retail store are those who are likely to lose thousands or
hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions or bonuses if they are
unable to make a critical presentation to a prospective customer on
the verge of signing a contract.
For 99.9% of all PC users, the Windows operating system was installed
whether they wanted it or not. Even if they wanted a PC without
Windows, the OEM had to pay for the license, not for that specific
machine, but for a pool are "bucket" of licenses that often exceeds
the number of machines actually produced by as much as 20%. OEMs do
this to get deeper discounts. In many cases, the cost of 120% of
their need has a lower total cost than an order for 80% of their need
due to steep discounts for exceeding the minimum threshold.
Microsoft uses similar tactics with corporate customers. Many
companies must license PCs for every employee, even if many of those
employees don't use PCs as part of their job. Even the Janitor gets a
Windows license.
Even in the face of all this, end users still install Linux, often
using VMWare converter to relgate Windows or Vista to a secondary role
as a virtualized "application". Even many corporations are
discovering that the same advantages of virtualized server systems
provides similar benefits to those using virtualized desktop and
laptop systems. With USB drives dropping to $100 or less, VMWare
player available for free, and VMWare converter also available for
free, it's now quite trivial to generate a virtualized VMWare client,
save it to a USB drive, convert the machine to Linux, install VMware
Player, recover the VMWare client, and have a Windows system that can
be fully recovered as often as needed.
The bigger advantage is that different appliances can be created for
different systems. For example, one can be customized for
presentations, another for collaboration, another for project
management, and another for application development or other
specialized uses.
Micrsoft is beginning to realize that Linux has created a "Better
Windows than Windows", but realizes that it still controls licenses
and intellectual property rights critical to the success of such a
strategy. This may be one of the reasons why Microsoft expressly
forbids the use of Vista Home edition as a Virtualized client (pushing
the client to order directly from OEMs and upgrade to Vista Business
Edition rather than purchasing retail PC versions).
The irony is that rather than hurting Microsoft, Linux has actually
turned out to be a BOON to Microsoft. Microsoft is now getting
premiums, possibly as much as 20% (anyone have hard numbers?) for the
Vista Business edition upgrade, from OEMs. The premium also gives
OEMS the ability to sell the same machines with XP Professional
instead of Vista Business.
Ironically, the Retailers are the ones getting burned badly. Home
Basic is sitting on the shelves and prices of "Vista Only" systems
have fallen drastically. Meanwhile, "Linux Ready" machines,
especially those with higher resolution monitors, are back-ordered,
hard to keep in stock, and prices are remaining quite firm (producing
higher profits than Vista only machines).
It could be interesting to see how much longer the OEMs continue to be
willing to let Microsoft continue their anticompetitive practices.
There seems to be a substantial market for "Linux Ready" machines
using 64 bit processors, WSXGA and WUXGA displays, OpenGL or FireGL
graphics cards, Linux friendly WiFi cards such as Intel's, and Linux
optimized storage, such as SATA/300 hard drives and SATA laptop
drives.
Microsoft designed Vista Home edition to be a "Showdown" with Linux,
and has found that they have lost. Vista Friendly Linux hostile
systems containing DirectX-10 video cards, WXGA graphics, Atheros WiFi
cards, and Linux hostile versions of Intel Core 2 chips have not been
selling well, in fact, they have now been reduced to clearance
prices. Many retailers are even having a hard time selling the
display models.
> Rex Ballard wrote:
> > On Oct 7, 3:16 pm, Oxford <colalovesm...@mac.com> wrote:
> >> ultim...@hotmail.com wrote:
> >>>> Agreed. Linux is the classic case of "too many cooks in the
> >>>> kitchen."
> >>>> If Linux were going to succeed in the consumer market it would
> >>>> have done so already.
>
> > Not necessarily. Remember, Linux competes with a company who blocks
> > all access to the retail display space. A Linux customer must
> > purchase and install Linux without the benefit of an OEM preinstalled
> > system.
>
> I certainly see your point. But, if you don't like Microsoft's terms, don't
> agree to them. Kick MS out the door. Do the right thing.
Not as easy as it sounds. Remember, Microsoft gets less than 1% of
it's revenue from Windows licenses sold directly to retail customers.
Remember, those customers would be those who went to CompUSA, Staples,
or BestBuy and purchased a "Full Version" of Windows XP or Vista. Of
those, even most of those purchases are made as emergency recovery
media for systems that have already been licensed under OEM or
Corporate licenses. Typically, those who would pay $500 for Windows
at a retail store are those who are likely to lose thousands or
hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions or bonuses if they are
unable to make a critical presentation to a prospective customer on
the verge of signing a contract.
For 99.9% of all PC users, the Windows operating system was installed
whether they wanted it or not. Even if they wanted a PC without
Windows, the OEM had to pay for the license, not for that specific
machine, but for a pool are "bucket" of licenses that often exceeds
the number of machines actually produced by as much as 20%. OEMs do
this to get deeper discounts. In many cases, the cost of 120% of
their need has a lower total cost than an order for 80% of their need
due to steep discounts for exceeding the minimum threshold.
Microsoft uses similar tactics with corporate customers. Many
companies must license PCs for every employee, even if many of those
employees don't use PCs as part of their job. Even the Janitor gets a
Windows license.
Even in the face of all this, end users still install Linux, often
using VMWare converter to relgate Windows or Vista to a secondary role
as a virtualized "application". Even many corporations are
discovering that the same advantages of virtualized server systems
provides similar benefits to those using virtualized desktop and
laptop systems. With USB drives dropping to $100 or less, VMWare
player available for free, and VMWare converter also available for
free, it's now quite trivial to generate a virtualized VMWare client,
save it to a USB drive, convert the machine to Linux, install VMware
Player, recover the VMWare client, and have a Windows system that can
be fully recovered as often as needed.
The bigger advantage is that different appliances can be created for
different systems. For example, one can be customized for
presentations, another for collaboration, another for project
management, and another for application development or other
specialized uses.
Micrsoft is beginning to realize that Linux has created a "Better
Windows than Windows", but realizes that it still controls licenses
and intellectual property rights critical to the success of such a
strategy. This may be one of the reasons why Microsoft expressly
forbids the use of Vista Home edition as a Virtualized client (pushing
the client to order directly from OEMs and upgrade to Vista Business
Edition rather than purchasing retail PC versions).
The irony is that rather than hurting Microsoft, Linux has actually
turned out to be a BOON to Microsoft. Microsoft is now getting
premiums, possibly as much as 20% (anyone have hard numbers?) for the
Vista Business edition upgrade, from OEMs. The premium also gives
OEMS the ability to sell the same machines with XP Professional
instead of Vista Business.
Ironically, the Retailers are the ones getting burned badly. Home
Basic is sitting on the shelves and prices of "Vista Only" systems
have fallen drastically. Meanwhile, "Linux Ready" machines,
especially those with higher resolution monitors, are back-ordered,
hard to keep in stock, and prices are remaining quite firm (producing
higher profits than Vista only machines).
It could be interesting to see how much longer the OEMs continue to be
willing to let Microsoft continue their anticompetitive practices.
There seems to be a substantial market for "Linux Ready" machines
using 64 bit processors, WSXGA and WUXGA displays, OpenGL or FireGL
graphics cards, Linux friendly WiFi cards such as Intel's, and Linux
optimized storage, such as SATA/300 hard drives and SATA laptop
drives.
Microsoft designed Vista Home edition to be a "Showdown" with Linux,
and has found that they have lost. Vista Friendly Linux hostile
systems containing DirectX-10 video cards, WXGA graphics, Atheros WiFi
cards, and Linux hostile versions of Intel Core 2 chips have not been
selling well, in fact, they have now been reduced to clearance
prices. Many retailers are even having a hard time selling the
display models.
