Hi,<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 4:48 PM, Brenda Aynsley <<a href="mailto:bpa@iss.net.au">bpa@iss.net.au</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d">Bret Busby wrote:<br>
> On Sun, 11 May 2008, Glen Turner wrote:<br>
><br>
>> Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 22:29:36 +0930<br>
>> From: Glen Turner <<a href="mailto:gdt@gdt.id.au">gdt@gdt.id.au</a>><br>
>> To: Linux Australia <<a href="mailto:linux-aus@linux.org.au">linux-aus@linux.org.au</a>><br>
>> Subject: [Linux-aus] Microsoft drops prices to compete with Linux on low-cost<br>
>> laptops<br>
>><br>
>> <<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/145719/microsoft_to_limit_capabilities_of_cheap_laptops.html" target="_blank">http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/145719/microsoft_to_limit_capabilities_of_cheap_laptops.html</a>><br>
>><br>
>> Microsoft Xp Home to be US$32 (US$26 in China & India). Minus another<br>
>> US$10 if signs Market Development Agreement [Importantly, the MDA<br>
>> prevents the signatory from recommending Linux if a Windows alternative<br>
>> is available.]<br>
>><br>
>> Offer restricted to<br>
>> CPU = Via | Intel Atom | others <= 1GHz<br>
>> RAM <= 1GB<br>
>> Hard disk <= 80GB<br>
>> Screen <= 10.2in<br>
>><br>
>> Interesting how low Microsoft will go when faced with real<br>
>> competition.<br>
>><br>
>><br>
><br>
> Interesting, given that I understand that, as from the end of next<br>
> month, Microsoft Windows XP is no longer allowed by Microsoft, to be<br>
> sold.<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>keep up Brett ;), XP Home is to remain on the market until 2010 I think<br>
it is, XP pro is withdrawn at the end of this financial year but<br>
security updates continue to 2014 or something like that<br>
<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3221" target="_blank">http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3221</a><br>
<br></blockquote><div>That site has been up since '98 and the dates change regularly. What they say on that particular page and what they do are not related.<br>We gave up on trusting these dates many years ago. I'll bet now that they will change again before June 30.<br>
</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Ballmer: You want XP, we'll keep XP<br>
<a href="http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9927721-7.html" target="_blank">http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9927721-7.html</a><br><div class="Ih2E3d"></div></blockquote><div><br>No they won't...Vista has been a disaster and the only way they can recoup the cost to develop it is to force it on people.<br>
They need to get XP out of the market as quickly as possible, this is their business model and their achilles heel. What will happen is the cost of XP will rise....and become more difficult to obtain/use/support. They will tell you its available...but it may only be via OEM and under very specific terms. You will still have to pay for a Vista licence any way...which means all businesses will have to take on software assurance whether they like it or not come June 30 this year for every new PC purchased...even though they get a downgrade to XP. Why run XP when it costs the same as Vista?<br>
<br>MS just released their worst quarter results ever. <br><br>A 24% drop in the Operating Systems division profit! <br><br>It has accelerated their share price decline even more...and it's being heading south slowly since 2000.<br>
In fact, the equities market talk is getting quite loud about Balmer. There is a lot of gossip getting around that he will be asked to leave to either get Bill back or someone else. Either way, Balmers poor performance has institutional investors baying for blood. My bet is that he will fall on his sword ( or get pushed onto it by the institutional investors) by end of this calendar year unless he comes up with something spectacular. Watch out for some radical and or big spending/deep cost cutting announcements from Balmer over the next few months....these will be specifically designed to make him look good and not much else, they will be specifically designed to show that he is doing something to try and stop the companies now rapidly accelerating decline.<br>
<br>As of this date:<br>HP will not supply XP pre-installed past June 30 this year,<br>Dell were going to do the same but have announced only last week that they will do a downgrade past that date.<br>Lenovo have not announced anything yet.<br>
<br>I reckon HP and IBM will follow Dell....too many sites out there that would suffer if Vista was forced onto them. There are too many techs in MS land that havent even looked at Vista yet..there are many apps out there that just won;t work with it and probably never will. <br>
<br>You also can not get XP eOpen licences any more nor can not get anyone to sell you a boxed XP professional nor can you buy media for installing same.<br><br>The ONLY reason MS have done the thing with XP home on ultra low cost PCs is the major threat that emerging low end market has on their entire business. (reread the Cathedreal and the Bazaar....the emergence of the Eee PC/OLPC ....very low cost consumer computing was for put forward in that doc as a possible outcome of the Open Source movement and the beginning of the end for the OS as being the be all and end all of personal computing...a place where MS can;t go without killing themselves outright). The word is that the Asus offering has found a market that others want to play in...its a market that has found a very surprising and strong consumer demand....rumour has it that the other majors are looking at over 200 different models of ultra low cost PCs between them that could be released onto the market over the next 2 years. They are doing the work in that area because the Vista's poor sales have affected their own sales.<br>
</div><div><br>The best part of all is that the XP home versions can NEVER be as featured or complete as the Linux versions on low cost PCs.... MS will fail in this market, (or try and wreck it) because it is at 90degrees to their established business model. If the ULCPC market really takes off, it invalidates their idea of what an OS is supposed to do in the MS business model..... I reckon we have found a niche where they can not go...the hallmarks of a true market change are in the wind...it depends on how the hardware boys play the game because their fortunes could be affected just as much as MS's. <br>
<br>Interesting times indeed...:-)<br><br>Rgds<br>BW<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="Ih2E3d">
cheers<br>
brenda<br>
<br>
--<br>
Brenda Aynsley, FACS, PCP<br>
Director Oz Business Partners <a href="http://www.ozbusinesspartners.com/Mobile:+61%280" target="_blank">http://www.ozbusinesspartners.com/<br>
Mobile:+61(0</a>) 412 662 988 || Skype: callto://baynsley<br>
Phone:08 8357 8844 Fax:08 8272 7486 Nodephone:08 7127 0107<br>
<br>
Chairman Pearcey Foundation, SA Committee <a href="http://www.pearcey.org.au" target="_blank">www.pearcey.org.au</a><br>
Immediate Past Chairman ACS SA Branch <a href="http://www.acs.org.au/sa" target="_blank">www.acs.org.au/sa</a><br>
<br>
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