[Linux-aus] Microsoft drops prices to compete with Linux on low-cost laptops

[Brent Wallis]

I reckon this time is different to the start of Win 2000 and XP.

For a start, Vistas install numbers are only slightly more than XP was at
this point in time past XPs launch...(if that makes sense...:-))
The overall market has grown 40% plus since XP...meaning that the actual
Vista install numbers when adjusted for market growth since XP, in terms of
share of the overall market, are dismal to say the least.

The only 2 divisions out of the 7 in MS that make a profit are the OS
division and the Office Software Division. For the first time I can
remember, the OS division has suffered a dramatic fall in qtr profit.
That leaves only 1 strong profit centre....probably the reason why they
spent so much effort on the ISO stamp for OOXML....
..Linux and Apple have come far since the launch of XP....

Ubuntu didnt really exist when XP was launched did it?...look how far they
have come in such a short time....
...zero to top of the Linux distros...

IMHO...this time is definitely different

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 11:10 PM, David Newall <davidn at davidnewall.com>
wrote:

> Brent Wallis wrote:
> > HP will not supply XP pre-installed past June 30 this year,
> > Dell were going to do the same but have announced only last week that
> > they will do a downgrade past that date.
> > Lenovo have not announced anything yet.
> >
> > 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.
>
> It was much the same when XP came out, when people stayed with 2000
> instead of switching to XP.  It didn't hurt MS then and it probably
> won't hurt them now, either.  I think MS Office is what drives their
> income, anyway.  People want (are convinced to get) the latest Office;
> and that drives them to the latest Windows.
>
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