[wplug] HP to offer Linux desktops....

[Alexandros Papadopoulos]

On Thu, 24 Jul 2003, Tim Lesher wrote:

> On Thu, Jul 24, 2003 at 08:36:50AM -0400, Russ Schneider wrote:
> > I think if HP was offering laptops with Mandrake on them and that made
> > them considerably cheaper than another because of the Windows OS that
> > they HAVE to sell it with, then HP just moved to the front of my
> > considerations as to whom I'd buy a laptop from.
>
> I don't think it _would_ make them considerably cheaper.  AFAIK, the
> cost of an OEM license of the latest consumer Windows OS is well under
> $100.

Let's hypothesize $50 per licence.
On the next batch of machines we're ordering (20 of 'em), that's $1K.
Extrapolate that to the size of the market, and you get the Microsoft tax.

Sure, if it was a one-off deal it wouldn't matter, but this is becoming
just one more tax.

-A