On Wednesday 01 March 2006 22:37, Andrew Cady wrote: > On Wed, Mar 01, 2006 at 07:29:15PM -0800, Paul Johnson wrote: > > On Wednesday 01 March 2006 19:24, Andrew Cady wrote: > > > On Wed, Mar 01, 2006 at 05:56:05PM -0800, Paul Johnson wrote: > > > > On Wednesday 01 March 2006 13:25, Star King of the Grape Trees wrote: > > > > > Windows is very expensive *UNLESS* you get some sort of > > > > > volume discount or you purchase it with your computer. I > > > > > have heard of places where windows cost $30 AUD or less, due > > > > > to these deals with MS. > > > > > > > > Microsoft's OEM list price for Windows XP Pro is US$135.00 > > > > right now, generally speaking, subtract that amount for the > > > > fair market cost of the hardware without Windows. > > > > > > Dell is not paying $135 for a copy of Windows. > > > > Are you sure? Look how they cut corners on hardware right up > > through the midrange. > > Dell has immense negotiating power. We can't know what exactly they > do pay for Windows, or for an Intel CPU, but it's certainly going to > be less than anyone else. > > (If you're thinking that just because Dell can't switch to Linux they > have no power, consider that they *could* start shipping PCs with > Firefox, or servers optionally with Linux, or PCs without OSes).
I think it's specifically in the licensing agreement with Microsoft that they can't sell a PC without an OS. They were for a while, and MS jumped on them, so they started shipping them with unformatted drives and FreeDOS on a CD that came with the computer. Slight technicality, but an entertaining one. It made several stories on RumorDot -- er, Slashdot. Hal -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
